Davis Campus Wildcats got crafty on Jan. 17 when dozens of students gathered in the D3 atrium to make stress bottles.

Stress bottles, often referred to as calm down jars and glitter bottles on Pinterest, are used to regulate emotion. They are made of glitter, water, baby oil and food coloring.

Students blended the ingredients into mason jars, sealed the lids, gave them a few good shakes and swirled the mixture around the jar. Amber Reich, a 16-year-old NUAMES student, said, “It’s hypnotic — it’s really awesome.”

Lauren Williams, traditional student co-director, organized the event.

“It’s a fun, quick craft to kick off the semester. … We hope to give students tools to succeed,” Williams said. “These help students get some stress out or refocus on something else for a minute.”

Prior to the event, Erik Ashby, faculty advisor and coordinator of Student Involved Leadership at Davis Campus, had some initial concerns about the student turnout.

“If we get 20–30 students, I’ll be thrilled,” Ashby said.

Ashby wasn’t the only one who was concerned about student turnout.

“I’m hoping for 30. If we get that, I’ll consider it a great turnout,” Williams added.

The event was scheduled 4:30–6 p.m., outside of peak traffic times at the Davis Campus. In addition, the event relied on word-of-mouth advertising. The only published information of the event went out in the Davis Campus weekly newsletter.

A total of 28 students attended the event.

“This event was more successful than we thought it would be,” Williams said.

She attributed much of the success to the teamwork between her and traditional student co-director McKell Costley. “McKell and I work really well together,” Williams said. “I’m task-oriented and am good at planning, and she is social and got everyone to come out.”

“It’s important we are reaching out to all students — even those who aren’t on campus during the main times,” Ashby said. “An event like this is a quick and easy way to do that.”

Shawnelle Oleson created purple base by mixing the red and blue food coloring. She accented her bottle with gold glitter.

“It was nice and fast on my way to class and still really fun,” Oleson said while shaking her jar. “I can feel it working already — it’s so pretty.”

Brittany Copper, customer service specialist at the Davis Nontraditional student center, attended the event.

“Non-trad students have unique stressors and struggles, so I’m going to keep mine in the center. I really think it will help our students calm down and de-stress,” Copper said.

Michelle Willingham is a non-traditional student at WSU and a mother of two.

“This will be great for time-outs,” Willingham said. “My oldest son has ADHD, and this will keep him busy for a very long time — it’s a cute idea.”