Nathalie Vanasse, St. John's East Area, Manuel Division, Newfoundland: In each canister (use Pharmacy pill containers) you put:
Around the outside you wrap six to eight inches of bandage tape (the white stuff)...making sure to trap a loop of twine so the whole thing can be hung on your hat.
Then write "First Aid" (the red cross symbol is copyrighted by the Red Cross) on the outside, and hang from your hat with a large safety pin! (note that the bandage tape and safety pin are also part of the kit)
I think this was in the Guider some time ago and I'm afraid I can't give credit to the originator of the idea....but our girls liked doing it!
Therese Preece, Surrey, British Columbia: We always contact our local health unit - they always make stickers available to us for sticking on the outsides of the canisters - Mostly we use the 911 Red stickers. That seems to be a great ID to put on the outside.
And we always put a quarter at the bottom of the canister - of course to make the 911 call (though I think 911 calls from a payphone are free) - but anyway, a telephone call in an emergency is available if needed.
Karen Hobson, Brown and Craft Owls, 15th Dartmouth Brownies, Dartmouth, NS:
In response, we weren't the originators of these, there were a number of posts concerning these on both this and the WAGGGS-L list. What we ended up doing was a combination from the different ideas submitted. Our kits contained:
You also need a safety pin.
Prep:
We (the Guiders) cut out pieces of paper measured to fit around the outside of the bottle (the labels), which we (the guiders) wrote "First Aid" on in red permanent marker. (Note: "First Aid", not a "Red Cross" symbol, thereby not violating any copyright laws, the meaning is still abundently clear).
We took a large needle, threaded it with yarn, drew the needle through the lid from bottom to top and then back down again, making a loop on the top of the lid, tie a knot on the inside of the lid so it won't pull through the lid. Take all the supplies in to your meeting.
At the Meeting:
Have the girls fill their containers with the items (explaining the purpose behind each if necessary). Then have them decorate the "label" as they choose, then glue them onto the outside of the bottle. Put the safety pin through the loop of yarn and pin to camp hat. (The safety pin is considered part of the kit, because it can be sterilized and used to remove splinters).
A couple of other things that we have seen suggested that can be added to the kit, if desired are:
We're sure everyone can think of other things they could add if they wanted. Depending on the size you want, you could even start heading into more of an idea of a "survival kit", which the "first aid kit" would play an integral part in, of course.
We had heard all the thoughts people had on not using film canisters, due to possible contamination by any chemicals that may be left in the canister, so we went to our friendly neighbourhood pharmacist, told her what we were doing, and she gladly donated 20 or so bottles for our use. She loved the idea, too.