I was at Target a few days ago and noticed that they have "survival gear" in the $1 bins at the front of the store. They had...

Waterproof Matches - S.O.B. with wax coating

5 in 1 Emergency Whistle - Whistle, waterproof matches container, compass (looks liquid filled), mirror, and "flint firestarter" on the side.

First Aid Kit - Small red pouch with 1 alcohol prep pad, 1 iodine pad, 1 pair of small scissors, 1 roll of gauze, 1 roll of med tape, and 9 different adhesive bandages.

Swiss Army Knockoff about 2 inches long.

Splinter Kit - Its in a waterproof looking, resealable, plastic bag. Looks similar to the "Pocket Survival Kit". 1 metal tweezer in tiny bottle, 1 safety pin, 1 sting relief pad, and 7 different size adhesive bandages.

Emergency Survival Blanket - 52" x 84".

They also had 2 packs of glow sticks for $1.

They had a couple of more items, but I can't remember what they were.

Most of this stuff would be good for your survival minded kids, so they can be prepared like mom and dad. Since it was cheap, I grabbed a bunch of different items to check the quality. All items were made in China, but the blanket and splinter kit were decent quality. The glow sticks are very bright and have a hole and hook on the end. They also come with string for both. Not sure how long they will last, but I'm going to put some in my vehicles.

Roger

Yeah, I see a number of the same items at my local dollar store. Some of the things are a great deal for a $buck like the glow sticks and mylar blanket. Small FAKs are OK for the extra supplies but I wouldn't rely on them without some beefing up. A few cheaply made bandaids are OK for minor cuts but that's about it.

But for me cheap waterproof matches or a knife really aren't worth it. These are critical items IMHO. Getting the el cheapo ones is better than having nothing at all but good stuff can be had for not much more. For example a good fixed blade (Mora) is only $10-12.

Depending on individual cases there can be uses for such materials.

The god news is that these things are so cheap that you can buy a few and check them out. Worse case they can be novelties for the kids and even if they are complete junk your out very little.

If they have some nominal resemblance to useful they might serve for demonstrations and training. In one case, during a safety fair, a kiddie first-aid course was given for the 6 to 10 YO set. On stage EMTs wearing clown outfits acted out a kid falling and skinning a knee. They then demonstrated how to wash and dry the wound and apply a band-aid.

This isn't going to serve in a real mass casualty situation but the kids, many who are starved for attention, ate it up. This also freed up the adults so they could have a break.

After the demonstration an EMT applied gory wounds on arms and knees, a big hit with the boys, with a washable red magic marker, and the kids got to practice washing their hands, then the wound, and applying a band-aid. The plaster was a discount store variety that didn't stay stuck for long but in this role it served well enough.

Cheap space blankets are handy for training. Once you get used to how to prevent rips in training using the high quality ones is a breeze.

The discount light sticks could have a roll in night training. Their less reliable nature and weaker output would be good for training. When the real event happens your going to find working with the higher quality units easy.

IMO only the blanket, glow sticks and splinter kit are of any quality. I cracked the glow stick @ 4pm and 3.5 hours later it is pretty dim. Still a good deal though. I didn't try the SAK knockoff, I knew it would be worthless, and there was a few other items I didn't even buy, but I can't remember what they were! Like I said though, the small FAK would be good for younger kids, so they can have their own gear, and its no loss if they use the bandages, parents will use the good stuff if the need arises.

I plan on getting some more blankets and glow sticks.

Roger

I got myself a few packs of the glowsticks, and that was about it. I wasn't really at a want for anything else. I've also noticed that the prices on some old items like the older INOVA flashlights have gone down a bit too. And I also saw the new Skeletool in stock at the local Target near me.

I picked up a bunch of these for my Webelo scouts, we are covering the Outdoorsman now and the way I look at it is it's a good primer to get them thinking, the combo whistle/mirror/storage compartment cost more than the whole kit.
But if it gets the kids thinking and they carry it it might be useful to them, if so then it's worth the few bucks I spent

This talk of glow sticks got me to thinking that even at $1 per stick even that seems to be a bit high so I went searching for other opportunities.

What I found was enlightening (excuse the pun). Apparently there are different grades of brightness and more shades of colours that I had previously thought. I knew that they were available in 4" and 6" lengths and that you can even get them in very slim tubes that can be used as coloured bracelets, etc.

The chemical light stick was patented in 1977. I'm not familiar with US patent laws but I suspect that it was a 19 yr patent period and that the patent has since expired (please correct me if I'm wrong here, I'm only guessing). Is so then a similar/identical product can and is being made by companies other than the original rights holder. The chemical reaction is actually quite simple and the chemicals themselves are not proprietary (Hydrogen peroxide activator in the glass ampule and an phenyl oxalate ester which varies according to the colour desired).

You can get a 12-hr, 30 min. and even 5 min. lifespans for usable brightness depending on the combination of the chemicals. The following is a link to a number of retailers of the product. The first link sounds like the best overall deal to me, especially the variety paks of the premium light sticks at 69 cents ea for a lot of 25.
http://tinyurl.com/4ekbro
http://tinyurl.com/4optvj
The lowest price that I have found is 35 cents ea for lots of 500 sticks! or a more practical number of 45 cents for a lot of 25 sticks (unpackaged 6" 12-hr standard quality).

I actually talked with one of the salesguys from a lightstick vendor. The way he put it was "all the sticks of the same size and color put out the same amount of TOTAL light, it's just a matter of how LONG they put that amount of light over"

AKA a 5 minute stick (and yeah they are made) is going to be about 12x brighter than a 1 hour stick, which will be 6x brighter than a 6 hour stick

I have a question regarding light sticks. They come in all sorts of colors except white. With everything else being equal, which colors give out the most light?

Jeanette Isabelle

Your eyes are most sensitive to green.