Festival season. Now that quarantine is on hold, hopefully permanently, we're making up for lost time with festivals and the like. Seems like I always find a way to get a pesky injury too. Nothing serious, just a cut or a headache when I'm miles from home.

So I put together a few first aid kits, into Altoids tins, one for the car, one for my backpack/panniers when I bike. Super simple, and a million times cheeper than buying one at the store.

I learned a few things from my survival paracord belt project (which I still have and use). Hopefully this I'ble helps some folks, and if nothing else, let it serve as a reminder to HAVE A BASIC FIRST AID KIT IN YOUR CAR!!!

Supplies

1. Altoids tin or similar. You want something that stays closed.
2. Pliers
3. Lighter
4. Whatever first aid supplies you want. I included finger cots (good for bleeding fingers but also makeshift gloves), a latex glove, 4 bandages, an antiseptic wipe, a blister pack of antibiotic ointment, and ibuprofen pills (I went with the coated tabs rather than the liquid gels as pictured because heat.
5. Cotton balls. Can be used as swabs and also packs everything nice and firm. Gives it a first aid look too.

Please tell me what you'd include, especially if you have medical training.

Step 1: Blister Packs

If you read through my paracord belt project, you'll know who I should thank. If you crimp a plastic straw with needle nose pliers, you can use a lighter to turn a bit of straw into a sealed blister pack, which is what I did for the antibiotic ointment. I packed it in the straw with a sterilized fork tine (sterilized with the lighter). In essence, you want everything to be sterile and use caution. Don't use a flammable ointment, like petroleum jelly! Keep a fire extinguisher nearby just in case too.

If you don't always have a pocket knife and lighter handy, you might include a needle with your supplies to break the straw pack to release the ointment.

Step 2: Labelling

Believe it or not, you could pack everything in, put some cotton at the top to keep everything in and from rattling, and you're done. But I wanted a label so future me doesn't open the tin hoping for mints and that anyone else finding the tin will know what's in there.

You should probably also note on the label when the pills expire.

I made the label from paper and wrapped packing tape over it.

Again, I hope this super, super easy diy helps someone.