Happy Friday: Toy Drive All Year Long
Sent from reader, Jennifer:
I love being able to donate toys at Christmas time, but sometimes I wait too long into the year and don’t have the extra money to do so. I came up with this plan where I have a budget of only $10 a month. Each month, I buy one toy and keep track of it on my sheet. At the end of the year, I will have purchased 12 toys and I won’t even miss the money that I’ve spent through the months. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this sooner!
HAPPY FRIDAY! 😀
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I love this! Great idea!!!
How wonderful! Great idea! You have inspired me!
Thats great I do the same thing. All year round I keep an eye out for Xmas and birthday presents. I like having something on hand for last minute/ surprise gift. 🙂
Great idea and great what you’re doing!
Great idea great inspiration! !
I shop year round for toys for our church’s Christmas drive because I know they have general categories like a craft kit for a pre-teen girl or a football for a boy. I also shop year round for my Operation Christmas Child boxes and got a Hello Kitty jump rope on clearance in the Easter section on clearance. I love being able to open up my stash in December and see all the goodies I accumulated throughout the year. 🙂
That is great and very generous. Your absolutely right, most of us like myself wait too long into the year, very close to December and when we get done with our own family’s presents we don’t really have enough “wiggle room” to work with. When I have that extra buck or two left out of my paycheck I’m also going to start putting back or grabbing a cheap or inexpensive toy and put it in my “Santa stash”. Thanks for sharing and great job, your going to make a lot of children very happy this Christmas.
What a fantastic idea!
Such an adorable list and so “jenerous”;). I might have to steal your idea……..I think it would be a great way to get my kids involved. Thanks for sharing!
This is a great idea! I only have boys and I tend to skip any of the girl you deals and baby stuff but I don’t know why I didn’t think ahead to donations!
lOVE IT!!! I shop all year for my family this way, but would not have thought to do it for end of year donations!! I will get right on it. Thanks for the idea.
Love this, wonderful idea!!!
This is a great idea and dollar stores have great finds.
My walgreens had several toys priced very cheap, some play school stuff was marked from $9.99 to $2 something, barbies were $3, art sets cheap and nice cloth dolls for $3 something. Had I of thought of this I would of gotten some, maybe I’ll check back tomorrow and see if they are still there.
This is a great idea ! But, I give family members friends and this center for special kids every 2 months . I take stuff deodorants . Soap, lotions, everything I can get. I don’t wait until Christmas . I hit Dillard’s, children’s place. When stuff gets mark down for my girls using coupons. And reward my self with a pedicure. Thanks to the tips and this website
I wish you would have thought of it sooner so you could have told me sooner! Lol It’s funny how you see inexpensive/sale/cheap stuff all year and don’t even think about just getting it. Now, I will! Thank you 🙂
I love this idea too and have been using Collin toy stockup idea for the parties my children get invited too. I have noticed Walmart has some awesome clearance deals. I just scored the light-up full size Skykanders that were originally $29.99 for $5 in a clearance basket. So I bought 6 but they have good deals like that all the time if you don’t mind digging.
Thank you for posting this and reminding us that with the money we save we can pay it forward to others! Great idea!
great idea. this year for some reason my gift closet is empty, been a pain in the butt when a birthday comes about
This is awesome! We buy cool stuff when we see it on clearance with my money. Each child puts a percentage of their choice per month into a mason jar. Then we hit up the holiday sales in November/December and spend their money for other children. You’d be surprised at how much each kid puts away for the less fortunate!
Thank you for the great feedback on this idea 🙂 I appreciate it!
Great idea Jennifer! You’re really inspiring me!
Aww, I just replied to this post but now have to reply to you. My name is Jennifer and my 10 year old is Vivian!
I love her name 😉 Happy Mother’s Day!
And I forgot to say, you’re setting a great example by teaching her to budget and donate!!
Awesome idea!! I love it. And I’ll steal your title too 😉 my name is Jennifer also! Have a great Mother’s Day if you are a mom!
I look all year for high quality toys that are on clearance. I send them right over to the firehouse and come Christmas they wrap them up and give them out.
Around Easter and Christmas I always stock up on toys. I have found that I can buy popular toys cheap with coupons and sales around that time. Target, Meijer and Toysrus have the best deals.
I just throw the toys on shelves in my garage. Come December there are always 30-50 toys in my garage. I just pick what I need for birthday parties and Christmas and donate the rest. I always have at least 3-4 garbage bags of toys to donate each year.
Love this!! I love that you included how much you paid on your list!
I love not only your “jenerous” spirit, but your emphasis on budgeting to get things accomplished! Think how challenging it might be to come up with $120 in December, but not so hard to save $10 each month,
Great Idea!!!!
Keep in mind too that it’s not only little kids that would like gifts for Christmas. I stock up on all the free nail polish, lotions, nail files, chap sticks and make up all year round and buy inexpensive cosmetic bags and fill them for the tweens and teenagers. And for the boys I try to find the axe products. They just love them.
Wow, this is wonderful news. This has open my eyes. When it comes around Christmas time I wanna help, but money is tight (especially being a single mom and trying to get gifts to my own children). I am so going to do this.
Great idea Jennifer. You obviously have a very”jenerous” spirit and heart. Thanks for the wonderful inspiration!
I like your list – I need to put one together so I know exactly what I have and what I’ve spent. I shop all year long for my family, for birthday parties and for donations. I especially look out for cheap deals on things that tweens/teens would like. Every Xmas the local charities BEG for people to do things for the older kids b/c they tend to get left out. So I make it a point to do stockings/shoe boxes for the older kiddos. I get just as much out of it as they do b/c I get to do girlie shopping (I have 2 boys)!!!