Oh actually, the make your own pick set is another thing the president mentioned as something he thought would be fun to reach out to the LP101 crowed. I didn't even realize they were already up for sale. They sound like a lot of fun and they're reasonably cheap.
As for a starter set with a few picks and a few wrenches I think that's a decent idea too. You can get indevidual picks for $1.29 with plain handles. You could make your own pick set out of that I guess. It wouldn't have a case though. Seems like a lot of places are actually selling 5 pick sets for about $12. I guess that's as cheap as places want to go on beginning sets. I say the key is to avoid buying the case and keep them in an old pencil box if you want to go super cheap.
-mike