Scented pencils are really popular fundraising products today because of the ease as to which they can attract customers. These types of fundraising products are also referred to as smens or smencils. These are basically writing materials that are made from recycled newspapers that are rolled either around a colored core or graphite. In this article, we will be looking at the different types of smencils, which you can sell during your school fundraising campaign as well as the steps followed in making these things at home.
First among the different kinds of scented pencils that you can sell out would be original smencils. These types of pencils are made with ten different scents namely bubble gum, black cherry, cotton candy, cinnamon, orange, root beer, grape, very berry, watermelon, and tropical blast. Next to original smencils are colored smens. These are called so because they are made with colored writing cores. These also come with the same scents used in original smencils. Another popular type of smencils would be smart smencils. These unique pencils are made with a peppermint scent. They are called so because according to aromatherapy research, peppermint can be used to produce mental alertness. In addition, this has also been proven to improve memory and concentration. Smart smens are highly suggested to students because this has been proven to improve test scores. Last in line are smencils for holidays. These come with varying names such as smalentines, which are smens intended for Valentine’s Day. These come with five different scents namely, chocolate raspberry, chocolate mint, strawberry cream, love candy, and vanilla cream. For the season of Christmas, smencils that are made with scents like cinnamon, candy cane, holiday cheer, and sugar plum work really well.
Making your own set of gourmet scented pencils can really be fun. Moreover, this will allow you to save a lot of money from having to buy your supplies from a fundraising company. After you get to master the art of making smens, you can try experimenting with different types of colors and scents. The process of making homemade smens basically makes use of instant drink mixes. The pencils that will be produced will have the ability to retain their scent even after they dry up. If a stronger scent is desired, the pencils can be scratched so that they can give out a stronger smell.
The first step of the process is to place in 2 tbsp of one drink mix flavor inside a muffin tin. 2 tbsp of water will then be added and mixing is done. Next, you need to lay down pencils on top of wax paper. You then need to paint the pencils with a solid color of one paint flavor. Let the paint dry up thoroughly. After the pain dries up, wrap the pencils with newspaper and soak them in the scent that you have prepared awhile ago. Let them soak up for a couple of minutes so that the scent can really stick to the pencils. Get them out and air dry them. When they dry up, you can take off the wrapped newspaper and place the pencils in a freshness tube.