College students. We work hard. We try to save our money. We buy bargain brands, and drink at home some weekends instead of going out. We wait until cyber Monday to buy Christmas presents so that we can get them for 75% off AND free shipping. Lets not forget about the student discounts. Between the .edu email and the college ID, the deals are almost endless. We get free Amazon Prime for 6 months, half price Spotify Premium, free software applications for our computers, the list goes on. All of this effort lets us save quite a bit, but in the end, what do we do with this money that we save? Do we use it to pay back our student loans? Do we use it to donate to charity? Do we invest it so that we can make even more money later on? No We don't. We throw it at awesome kickstarters on the internet. Heres 5 of the most fantastic projects that only a college kid could justify giving money to.
1. Number one among college students, and thereby number one on our list.
A company called FCTRY, known for making interesting novelty, yet functional, items has decided to create a Bernie Sanders action figure. He stands six inches tall, has a custom box, and can be articulated into dozens of poses. Over the course of its 35 day funding period in the spring of 2016, almost 8,000 people donated nearly $250,000 to this project. Check out the kickstarter here and the FCTRY website here.
2. Ever wanted to paint using colored light? Now is your chance.
Popularly used near roadways at night to turn car lights into long streaks in incredible photographs, long exposure photography has become an art form all its own. Bitbanger Labs decided to capitalize on this trend by creating a long pole with dozens of programmable LED lights that allows long exposure photographers to create seemingly impossible works of art. During its 45 day funding period in the fall of 2013, this project raised a whopping $628,417 from almost 2,200 people. Check out the kickstarter here and the Pixelstick website here.
3. What do college students love more that booze? Bacon.
We have bacon soap, bacon apparel, bacon perfumes and colognes, and DIY bacon kits. Apparently, for creator Greg Kiesow, we were missing crystal bacon sculptures. Mr. Kiesow decided to create bacon jewelry and sculptures, and that Kickstarter would be the best way to introduce them to the world. Over the course of its 30 day funding period in the summer of 2012, 49 people donated almost $2,800 to this project. Check out the Kickstarter here and the Crystal Bacon Etsy page here.
4. A pillow that gets its name from one of the most popular myths about ostriches.
Ostriches don't actually bury their heads in sand but, thanks to a company called Studio Banana Things, you can bury your head and arms into this pillow during your next nap. This rather unconventional looking pillow started its life as a Kickstarter project. During its 30 day funding period in fall 2012, this project raised over $195,000 donated by almost 1,850 people. Check out the Kickstarter here, and the Studio Banana Things Website here.
5. Last, but not least, the most famous of these ridiculous crowdfunded projects. Potato Salad.
Created by a man who goes by "Zack Danger Brown", this Kickstarter started out as a man who wanted to raise $8 so that he could make a potato salad. Mr. Brown claimed that he didn't want to spend his own money on ingredients, at the risk of the potato salad turning out poorly. Over the course of the Kickstarter's 30 day funding period in the summer of 2014, almost 7,000 people donated a total of almost $55,500. Check out the Kickstarter here.
