Good Deed Day: Cross-Country Travel Bag

I have a wonderful Graduate Assistant who is about to leave us for the summer and drive home to Minnesota from Central Pennsylvania. I wanted to do something for him as a "going away/end of the semester/thank you for all your hard work/paleeeze come back next year" gift so I decided to prepare him an (almost) cross country travel bag.

Here is what I put inside:

• Reusable grocery bag
• bottled water (for hydration)
• Mountain Dew (for energy)
• Capri Sun (for fun)
• An energy drink (for extra energy)
• A box of Triscuits
• Colgate Wisp (travelers with clean teeth are happy travelers!)
• Excedrin Back & Body (it's going to be a loooong trip!)
• Cereal Bars 
• Granola Bars
• Prewrapped cookies
• A Shout Wipe (I never leave home without one!)
• Wasabi Almonds (for a pick-me-up)
• A candy bar
• Prewrapped crackers & cheese
• Gum (I hear gum keeps you better awake while driving than coffee... I'm skeptical, but whatever works!)

I put everything in a reusable grocery bag I had lying around and added a roll of paper towels and a rolled up trash bag. I put like items into plastic bags with zippers (for easy access). I might also throw in a McDonalds or Dunkin Donuts gift card just in case the gum doesn't do the trick!

I had most of the items already on hand. All the snacky stuff and beverages were leftover from a Bachelorette Party road trip a couple weeks back and I just received a gift in the reusable grocery bag (so I'm regifting- I have plenty of grocery bags). The shout wipes, gum and Excedrin were from my personal stockpile. The only item I purchased specifically for this gift was the Colgate Wisp pack which I found on clearance at Target the other day for $1.14. Of course, I had a $.75 coupon which made them $.39. Add in a $5 gift card and the total cost for this gift is $5.39.

I love gifts like these- low cost but have a lot of thought behind them that really shows when you give it! A travel bag might also make a great gift for a recent high school graduate who will be going away to school in the fall. You could also easily adapt it into a car emergency kit for a summer sweet 16 party. Happy Good Deed Day!