Advice from all you college girls

[happyhats]

A casual friend of mine (actually, the girlfriend of a close guy friend of mine) is leaving for college this August. While she'll still be in state, it's about four hours away, so she won't be home all that often. I'm making here a bathroom set (decorating a liquid soap dispenser and a cotton ball/qtip dispenser with kitchy stickers and coating them with sealant, then looking for a matching toothpaste/toothbrush holder) and I'm also trying to make her a cute lil notebook full of random advice, etc. for her new stage in life. I'm looking for any quote, random advice, home and health recipes (I'm thinking of adding a section on how to make showers nicer, since she is going to be living in a dorm), dorm decorating, simple recipes (I'm adding a cooking in a dorm section), and just general tips for her first time on her own.

Anything you think up would be great, because I want the notebook to be random, and I'm going to decoupage some pics/photos on any blank pages. Just to give you an idea, she's decided to be an elementary school teacher and is still pretty fresh and naive (never smoked, drank, barely cusses, not religious but very prim and proper in her thinking). She's not necessarily a crafty type, but she seems to get a kick out of what I make her, maybe because she's so used to getting store bought things from everyone else.

Thanks for any ideas you come up with.

[Craft Forums]

[brdgt]

Oh, freshman year, yikes!

Hmmm, what did I need in my bathroom basket? Flip flops! A big towel!

Recipes? I saw 30 minute meals the other day and Rachel Ray was making recipes that you could make in a toaster oven. Check out Foodtv.com for other things like that.

As far as decorating, check out Digsmagazine.com for ideas. It is a site devoted to after-college life, but there are a lot of great ideas on there.

You know what is great for a dorm room? A plant! You could decorate the pot with paint and/or mosaic tiles if you want to dress it up.

Other handy college things - earplugs, tapestries, fun tak for hanging posters to concrete walls, phone cards, and a travel coffee mug.

[kamisuka]

I read that just before you get out of the shower you should switch the water to cold and it will make you feel better. It also helps the condition of your hair. :3

[HajiOnMe]

something else cool would be to make several pages with envelopes stuck to them and sealed up and tell her to open one when she needs a friend or open one every monday at 7 or some such and put in some memory you two share that will make her laugh or 5 min phonecards to call home or some quarters for the washing machines or a bag of microwave popcorn, etc

[illybang]

I read that just before you get out of the shower you should switch the water to cold and it will make you feel better. It also helps the condition of your hair. :3

it also helps close your pores (resulting in less pimples!!!)
i used to do this all the time in high school and have just now started doing it again

[Sewlittletime]

I read somewhere recently that a lot of colleges/universities are getting away from using the coin operated washer/dryers, as they are an added cost to maintain...or something like that! That said, if her school has coin op machines, she'll definitely appreciate rolls of quarters!
Gosh...I'm trying to remember what kind of things my sis found handy at college.....but she was living in dorms in '79-'81 or so! (I never went to college.) I just remember watching my dad pack up our station wagon w/ all her belongings, and being amazed that he fit all her crap in there!!AND still having room..just barely, for the 4 of us!

[Nancy Flynn]

my mom sent me to college with a first-aid kit and i was the hit of the floor-- everyone came to me when they needed pepto (ick, dining hall), neosporin, bandages, advil, cortaid for bug bites etc. i made one for my sweetie's little sister when she went off to school-- i also included those single-serving packets of woolite and tide you can get in the travel size section of the drugstore.

[Selah]

http://www.getcrafty.com/viewtopic.p...=wish+id+known

Your gift sounds like a great idea. Fill the notebook with some of the amazing advice found in this thread (Things I wish I knew 10 years ago). I wish someone would've sent me off to college with just such a notebook!

[happyhats]

The things I wish I knew ten years ago thread is an awesome idea. I'll have to add that in, skimming it for advice I find most pertinant to her. Keep the advice coming. I'll have to add the cold water tip in her shower section.

[sagacia]

If you've got any laying about--I know this is the digital age now, so they're growing more scarce--decorate some 35 mm film cannisters. Maybe find a cool old wallpaper square and cut it up, decorate it a little to personalize it, etc. Make 5 or so.

She'll need them to hold her quarters for the laundry!