For an assignment in one of my classes this term I gave a presentation on IUDs to a bunch of nurse practitioners who work in the Multnomah County teen health clinics. I did a PowerPoint presentation, and after every few slides I inserted one with a question. The idea was to give prizes to whoever got the right answer first, but of course then I had to figure out what to give as prizes. The default is usually candy, but that just seems wrong, since nurses are supposed to be all about promoting healthy lifestyles. It also had to be something really, really cheap, because I was pretty much going to have to buy it with whatever change I could dig out from under the mats and between the cushions in my car.

My clinical site is at one of the clinics, and the bowls of brightly colored free condoms they have sitting around got me to thinking about maybe doing something with condoms. I came home that night and typed “condom crafts” into Google. What I ended up with was condom roses. So the next day I grabbed a couple of handfuls of condoms from the clinic, used the spare change from the back seat to buy some wire and floral tape, and started experimenting. (My 19-year-old’s expression, when he walked into the living room and found me sitting there with a pile of condoms on my lap, was priceless!)

The roses were a hit; everyone wanted one! Here’s a photo I snapped with my camera phone: