A Mommy Must: A First Aid Kit for My Purse

There have been several times that I have wished that I had a mini first aid kit with me. The instance I remember most vividly was the time that Mini Me scraped most of her epidermis at the over-priced parent trap that is Sesame Place. I tried to clean her up as best I could, but wasn't very successful in stopping the bleeding (or the screaming, for that matter). Thankfully, a kind stranger handed me a couple of bandaids, saying, "I'm a teacher and so I'm always prepared with a first aid kit." It dawned on me then that a first aid kit would be a pretty smart thing to put in my purse.

That incident happened in July 2009. I made my first aid kit today. What can I say? I'm a slow learner.

This first aid kit is NOT meant for wilderness survival situations. It is NOT meant to get your family through TEOTWAWKI. I have a more extensive first aid kit in my car and even more first aid materials at home. This is a small, light kit that will easily fit in a purse and cover the minor first aid situations moms face on a regular basis.

I had read about people creating first aid or survival kits and putting them inside Altoids tins.

I thought that was a great idea. An Altoids tin is fairly strong, holds a bit, and will certainly fit in any purse I carry.

Contents:

1. Medication dosage instructions printed on card stock. 
2. Band-aids in several sizes
3. Alcohol Wipes
4. Tweezers
5. Dermabond. This is basically sterile Super Glue and is useful for closing some types of cuts.
6. A couple of packets of triple antibiotic ointment
7. Individually packaged medications, including: Children's Tylenol, Pepto Bismol, Pepcid Complete, Tylenol, Advil, Benedryl and Aspirin.

I tried to come up with the easiest, most space-efficient way of packaging each medicine separately. I found these baggies in the crafting section of Wal-Mart.

They are 2" x 3" in size. 1" x 2" would have been even better, but this was the smallest I could find. I labelled each baggie, rolled it up, and stuck it in the Altoids tin with everything else.

I originally had some cough drops that I wanted to put in the tin, too, but unfortunately they didn't quite fit.

Viola! Whether Hubby Dear gets heartburn or Mini Me has another one of her klutz-capades, I'm prepared. Mostly.