Planning WAY Ahead

I went to Walmart today.  No, I am not a Walmart fan AT ALL.  Except for maybe today.  You see, first I went to Target.  Then, I went to K-Mart.  After that, I traveled the aisles of Bed, Bath, & Beyond. Then, I ran out of places to go. Nobody seemed to have the storage bins I was looking to buy for my guided reading area. So, I went to Walmart.  Which had exactly what I was looking for.   I ended up getting two of these carts.  They are Sterilite 6-Drawer Craft Carts.

Two carts gets you two pictures!  I think they are going to be perfect for storing my guided reading leveled materials.   The best part is I was able to use a gift card that I had gotten from my friends for the holidays.  Those suckers (The carts, not the kids!) were $23.99 each!   I'm very excited to get back to school on Tuesday and  continue with my room reorganization.

The real reason I'm doing this quick post tonight is not really to tell you about the carts.  It's about planning ahead. In this case, planning WAY ahead.  While in Walmart today, I passed a display of bags of Silly Straws. Do you remember these hard, plastic, curvy straws?

Why Walmart had a display of Silly Straws when it is 22 degrees outside right now, I do not know.  These always remind me of summer for some reason.  I took another look at the straws, and they were only $1.50 a bag.  I immediately grabbed four bags.

The second I saw the straws, I remembered a project I had pinned a while back on Pinterest.  It was for an end-of-the-year gift for my friends.  Here are the pictures I had pinned:

It's from the blog Fakin' It.  And, it seems she got the idea from the blog Hot Momma Makeovers.  Sounds racy, huh?! ;-D  Anyway, you simply attach a small bag of Kool-Aid mix to the straw with a note that says, "Have a Kool Summer!"  I thought it was so cute, and I know my friends will love it.  If you click on the Fakin' It  link, it will take you to her tutorial.  She used a Cricut machine to make the envelopes for the Kool-Aid.  I don't have one, but I figure I still have plenty of time to figure out another way.  I might put it all in a cellophane bag with a summery ribbon.

I hadn't planned to post today, but I wanted to share my end-of year kid gift now since I saw those Silly Straws in the store today at an insanely cheap price.  Now, I just have to hope that when June comes I can remember where I put the straws!