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My most memorable experience with Origami, the art of paper folding, was when my oldest son was in the 5th grade.

He was running for student council president and if you've ever had a child running for office in school, you know that things can get a little bit crazy. (Back then anyway, he's 24 now.)

By crazy I mean, the students who were running for the different offices were supplying little gifts for their peers in order to get their slogans out and to win votes.

Little gifts included things like lolly-pops and even pencils with the students name imprinted on them.

We were short on money so I wasn't in a position to be able to go out and buy gifts for the hundreds of potential voters in the school but we did have a large supply of paper and several sets of healthy hands.

Our first idea was to make bookmarks with my son's name and slogan on them. Mind you, we did these by hand and it was a lot of work. As we worked we started to realize that although my son's name was getting out there, most children found the idea of bookmarks pretty boring.

I knew from watching my son and his friends that those little origami fortune tellers were very popular.

We got to work making some of those with his slogan on them, and when he handed them out the next day at school, they were a major success. The kids who got them loved them, and the others were asking for more.

We made as many as we could and each day they disappeared quickly. We were getting his name out there, and the students were getting to know him as he handed them out.

I'm happy to announce that my son was elected Student Council President! (And it didn't cost me a dime!)

Image found at www.tappi.org