COMM cheap gift ideas to start people building their BOB

[Knoxville's Joker]

I have found that you can get an emergency poncho here:
http://beprepared.com/emergency-poncho-with-hood.html

I am trying to find other cheap gifts. I find that during the holidays when giving gifts to prevent hurt feelings, giving everyone the same thing accomplishes two things. One it prevents the perception of favortism if you have a bunch of premadonas in your family and two it lowers the over all cost of your gift giving and allows you to get extras in case you forget a gift for that coworker or friend you only see once in a while.

One year a coworker gave everyone a box cutter to open boxes more easily.

 

[Barb]

I don't know a child who doesn't love a flashlight for a gift.

 

[Waz1152]

Something I gave our Son and Son in law was One of those A4 magnifying sheets, starts a fire in seconds, helps in removing splinters, helps when words are really small
Plus a compass, fire starter (million match)

 

[Dex]

A few years ago I took the time and effort to make altoid tin emergency kits as stocking stuffers. It wasn't expensive and was interesting to see what useful items would all fit in such a tin. I figured the tin itself could be used to boil small amounts of water in, included the standard stuff that we were taught to use in Boy Scouts in addition to other creative odds and ends. I managed to get about 20+ items in those things. Not only was it a useful kit to keep in ones glove box, I figured it might get some of the recipients to think in that direction. We keep one in each vehicle.

 

[Straycat]

One year we gave everybody a windup flashlight/radio. Very handy gift because everyone has a power outage at some point. Of course, it still does no good if they stuff it in a closet somewhere and forget about it. (BTDT - "The power was out all night and we didn't even have flashlights or know what was going on!" "What about those flashlight/radios I gave you?" "Oh, I forgot all about those, I don't know where they are..." ~facepalm~)

 

[Chair Warmer]

The flashlights that plug into an outlet to be charged are less likely to get lost.

 

[Millwright]

What is your success rate for giving a basic BOB as Christmas gifts?

The few times I've tried, they didn't make it to summer without being dismantled and scattered.