Potentially The Best Christmas Gift Ever: Mini Survival Kits

Christmas survival kits 1Usually for Christmas we buy presents for our household and for anybody that we’ll be celebrating Christmas with.

For example: last year, we went over to my parents house for Christmas dinner, so we got presents for each of them. Then my dad stopped by a couple of days before Christmas and we had gifts for him too.

I used to send out Christmas cards back in the day, but we haven’t really done that in years. I kinda feel bad about not getting gifts for everybody, but there’s no way we could afford that.

This year, we planned to do an early Christmas at my mom’s house before she went out of town; then celebrate on Christmas Eve at our house. I had a very hard time figuring out what to get her for Christmas, she has everything she could ever want.

Then I found out that my grandma was going to be coming over there too, so there’s another gift to figure out. My grandma is a notorious re-gifter, so it’s really hard to find something to give her. I don’t want to give her something that can be re-gifted because it just sucks. So I always try to find something that she will actually love enough to keep or is way too personal or unique for her to be able to give to somebody else.

Christmas survival kits 2I’ve been really into learning about survival lately, so I figured why not use that to come up with Christmas presents for the two of them. Then it hit me, survival kits. No, I wasn’t just going to buy them all ready to go…that can get really expensive.

I like to put some thought and work into the Christmas presents I give, so I decided to put them together myself. Waiting until the last minute really limited my options and available money to spend, so I did my best.

Originally, I was planning to do Survival backpacks and include most of the necessary items. Unfortunately, it would have cost a ton of money…so I had to improvise. Instead of backpacks, I found these cute little mini backpacks that can be carried by hand or over the shoulder.

Christmas survival kits 3I browsed around Walmart, the only place I really could get to and also attacked our kitchen and what is left of my stockpile from my extreme couponing days. I could have done much better if I had started earlier and had a bit more to spend, but I still think they turned out pretty awesome.

Here’s what I put in them:

  • Package of tuna
  • 3 small bags of almonds
  • 2 pure protein bars (20 grams of protein each)
  • 2 Jif To Go peanut butters
  • Emergency blanket
  • Pair of gloves
  • Hat
  • Pocket knife
  • LED flashlight
  • 2 AA batteries for flashlight in a sealed plastic bag
  • Sharpie
  • Mini hand sanitizer
  • Chapstick (pure luxury)
  • 2 Playtex sport body wipes
  • Box of matches in a sealed plastic bag
  • 4 pushpins and 6 safety pins (3 small and 3 regular size) in a sealed plastic bag
  • 2 13-gallon garbage bags in a zipped plastic quart-sized bag
  • Mini first aid kit containing: full size Neosporin, tweezers, 8 regular band-aids (Hello Kitty is much more cheerful in a disaster), 5 butterfly bandages, 2 large weird shaped bandages, 2 alcohol wipes and 2 gauze pads.

The best thing is that in a real survival situation, many of these things can be used for other purposes. There is so much missing from these bags, but there wasn’t much to choose from at our mini Walmart. If I would have gone to REI or purchased things from Amazon, it would have been easier.

I also made sure to fill them only about halfway so that they would have room to add more things. The fact that it’s a smaller bag makes it easier to store and grab in an emergency, plus it’s kind of cute. The bags also have a piece on the back so that it can be attached to a belt or a larger bag or backpack.

Even though there is so much necessary stuff missing, it got them both thinking about what they would need to survive if something ever happened. My mom actually wants me to take her and help her get the other things she would need. My grandma thinks the mini survival kit will be sufficient, even though I told her it wouldn’t be. Honestly I think she just doesn’t think anything will ever happen and doesn’t really care if it does.

In the end, I’m glad that I decided to make up mini survival kits for my mom and my grandma. It was a great idea, even if they would only keep them alive for a day or two…at least they have a better chance.

Do you have a survival kit?
Would you enjoy getting one as a Christmas present? 

About Jen Perkins

Likes: saving money, being debt free (aside from our house), zombies, travel, getting money, blogging and dogs. Dislikes: debt, being broke, bunnies, wasting money, not having enough money to travel the world and paying interest. Facebook  ♥  Twitter  ♥  Google+  ♥  RSS

Comments

Potentially The Best Christmas Gift Ever: Mini Survival Kits — 10 Comments

  1. Everyone in my line of work who has worked more than one season winds up having a bit of a survival pack. It happens bit by bit. Get a splinter? Put some tweezers in your bag for next time. Cut yourself? In goes a box of bandages. Forget your lunch? Add some granola bars.
    Edward Antrobus recently posted..The $3K Challenge: Final UpdateMy Profile

  2. The mini survival kits are a great idea! A couple of items I would add into the gift:
    1. A family photo in a Ziploc bag. Priceless.
    2. At least one bandanna. Bandannas can be used for so many things – a sling for an injured hand/arm, to keep the sun off your head, to dry off with — even to filter water in case you have to drink from a stream. You can purify water with a bandanna and activated charcoal, too – just strain it through the bandanna.

    Again – this was a great idea! I have a backpack I keep as my go-bag… being prepared comes from my days as a Firefighter in the Colorado mountains. I bet your mom and grandma were really excited to receive such a thoughtful gift.

    Question: have you been watching Doomsday Preppers? Lots of good tips there.
    Lisa @ Thriftability recently posted..Bread Machine Baking – Saving Time and Money!My Profile

    • A family photo is a great idea, I never would have thought of that. :-) Love the bandanna too, great idea.

      Doomsday Preppers, I haven’t actually heard of it. We don’t have cable, so I watch what I can find on Netflix. I’ll check around though, it sounds cool.
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