Amen on the paint pens from Wal-Mart! My chapter is located in the world's smallest/jankest town and its all we have to work with.
One of the traditions around here is to make your little a family tree pillow with iron-ons.
Family Tree Pillow
Materials:
- one $4 pillow from Wal-Mart (any kind of pillow, really).
- cute fabric
- iron on sticky stuff
- paint pens
Directions:
- Pick a fun shape: my little's pillow has lavender stars, one of my friends' family does angel shapes.
- Cut enough of those shapes out for your family tree
- Write the name of a family member onto each shape
- Iron them onto one side of the pillow in family tree arrangement
- Iron letters or something else onto the other side. My little's just says "Pi Beta Phi" in purple with lavender stars around it.
For extra solidity/fun, trace around the edges of each shape with puffy paint.
Other things I made for my little and other friends: shower caddy decorated with paint pens, Nalgene bottle with Pi Phi bumper sticker on it, one of those bulletin boards with ribbons decorated with paint pens, large clear candy jar decorated with paint pens, small Rubbermaid container decorated with paint pens (we all use these to store our paint pens in.... MI Alpha loves paint pens!
), etc. Almost all these items are available at Wal-Mart.