College Care Package & Nana's Cakery

This afternoon my mom and the older of my younger sisters are on their way from New York to Illinois to visit me on their way to Kansas. Currently they are in Ohio and still about 5 1/2hrs away. My mom is making the trip to take my sister to college at MidAmerica Nazarene University in Olathe, Kansas. This is her first year away from home for school after being at home for a year taking classes from local schools in NY. My mom also just got her conversion van that allows her to get in the van in her wheelchair as well as drive without getting out of it. So it's kind of a big trip.

Since they are coming to stay with me and see me, I decided that I needed to do a little something. It's one of those moments when I find it necessary to do a tangible big sister thing. So I decided to make a care package for her to take to college. I spent some time searching Pinterest for some ideas of things to put in it, as well as some ideas for what to use as the box. After spending a little time searching I decided to just head to the store and see what was available for a reasonable price. I ended up at Dollar General when I found what I needed to start it and I went from there. I was going to post pictures and explain how I did it yesterday, but since it is a surprise and they weren't on the road yet I decided to wait to post it. So today i'm going to share what I put in the care package. 

To start it off I picked up this small storage container from Dollar General ($2). It's a pinkish purple and white chevron print with a small piece of cork board on the front.

 

It's nothing huge but it's fun and it's functional. Two things that can be a big deal for a girl decorating her dorm room. As I was gathering the items to put in the box I wanted to make sure I had some fun things as well as some practical things. I also threw in some food and candy. What care package is complete without some??

First I got this navy blue floral tumbler from Dollar General. It was on sale for $1.87. Again, it is fun and functional...and it was a bargain! I then picked up some To-Go drink packets from Dollar General and Dollar Tree. They were all $1 a box. I got Tropical Punch Kool-Aid, Diet Snapple Peach Tea, and Wyler's Light Pink Lemonade. I used these to fill the cup.

I then grabbed some functional items from Dollar General & Dollar Tree. From Dollar General I got the following: Magnetic Dry Erase Board ($1), 3-Pack Kleenex ($1), 3-Pack Over The Door Hooks ($1), Sticky Notes ($1), and Thumbtacks ($1). From Dollar Tree: Student Calendar ($1), Outlet Extender ($1), and Halls Cherry Cough Drops ($1). These are some functional items that are practical for school and organization of a college dorm room.

While the dry erase board is functional, it is also fun. It has a cute blue and white polka dot print. It is a great item to put on the dorm room door so that she can leave messages for her roommate and her hallmates can leaves notes when they drop by and she isn't there.

I also picked up some other fun things from Dollar General, Dollar Tree, and JoAnn Fabrics. From Dollar General I got the deck of playing cards ($1). From Dollar Tree: Avengers Coloring & Activity Book ($1), Avengers Crayons ($1), Mini Jenga Game ($1), Blank Note Cards ($1), and Monsters University Hand Wipes ($1). From JoAnn Fabrics I got the Owl & Bee Sandwich Bags ($1) and the Blue Bracelets ($.97). These are just some fun items, although some are practical as well.

To fill up and round out the basket I got some food and candy. I got the Honey Teddy Grahams ($1), Spearmint Trident ($1), Peppermint Trident ($.50), and the Mega Smarties ($.38) at Dollar General. I got the Jolly Rancher Crunch & Chew ($1), Reese's Miniatures ($1), 3-Pack Jif To Go ($1), and 3-Pack Monsters University Fruit Snacks ($1) at Dollar Tree. It's not a lot of things, but enough to have a decent snack stash for the first couple of weeks.

I got home and took some time to arrange the basket with everything. It took a bit of time to arrange things so they fit and did so in a way that things weren't moving around while it is riding in the back seat of the bus tonight.

 

I tried not to show all of the fun stuff in an attempt to make her think I just got her practical stuff. For me that was hard because as I am going into my fourth year of college I would find all of it to be fun. Haha i've clearly been in on campus housing for far too long!! :)  Anyways, I then bagged it up using a Basket Bag that I got from Dollar Tree. They sell them in 2-Packs for $1. 

I then tied it with some ribbon that we had the office. This was not my first choice of ribbon, but the first choice didn't tie well and fell apart when being knotted. So I found this purple and pink striped ribbon. I actually think that I like this better. It turned out pretty cute! There are a lot of other things that I thought of that could be put in their, such as highlighters, pens/pencils, bubbles, and so on. It can truly be tailored to the student or individual that you are sending it to.

Also, just for fun since they are coming through and it may be the last time I see them for a few months, I picked up some desserts for them. I picked out two cupcakes from a local bakery in town that makes wonderful desserts and pastries! I have heard that their breakfast and lunch menu is delicious as well! This bakery is located in Downtown Kankakee and it is called Nana's 2 Cakery & Cafe. After a couple minutes of deliberation, I picked out a Peanut Butter Cup Cupcake and a Vanilla Cheesecake Cupcake. 

It's so hard not to eat these gorgeous cupcakes! Sorry for the long post and all of the pictures! I hope that y'all are having a great weekend before the school year starts in its entirety. 

God Bless!