[sar1]

The holiday shopping season is starting up and the requests for donations are starting to pour in. What are you planning to do for charity this season?

Most of my giving will require some shopping and deal hunting. I'm sponsoring one foster child's hoilday gifts through CASA/Voices For Children and probably pitching in some $ to help w/another one. I typically choose one or two kids from the Salvation Army Giving Tree. For the CASA child, I already know I have a 4-yr-old girl asking for Dora toys. I'll also pick up clothes in her size. For the Giving Tree, I try to look for a tag that gives clothing sizes as well as "reasonable" gift suggestions. Many times the tags will only list one toy idea and it's something like a video game system or a bicycle. Um, sorry, but I can't swing that! This year I'm glad I can add things like kids' toothbrushes and Buddies Bars. Anyway, I really need to get my act together and come up w/a shopping list for all of this. What are your plans and where do you hope to find your deals?

[kmeiding]

I was just thinking about this. I called my dad to ask him about where to donate the free Almay makeup I'm getting from Walgreens this week. He's a pastor so I have given him some things for the food pantry and some to send overseas. He mentioned that the Banquet not too far from me still gives out Christmas gifts. Our church actually started giving them presents and they kept doing it every year.

I decided that I will make some baskets of things I have gotten at Walgreens like lotions and makeup and take them there. I know I have Almay foundations and mascara, lotions, Dove deodorant, and a few shampoos and conditioners to put in. I'll have to check and probably get some more body washes. Beyond that, I'm not sure what to add. Any ideas would be great.

[aaalynn]

Our family is filling shoe boxes for needy children through Franklin Grahams Operation Christmas aka Samaratins Purse. We can fill with toys, school supplies or toiletries. I have lots of pens and pencils from the August sales on school supplies, but now I need a deal on toiletries for kids or small toys!

[mbchic2004]

I took in a box today with my filler candy bars, mouthwash, theraflu, bandaids, triaminic, toothbrushes, deodorant, shampoo all the items that have been walgreens money makers lately

[simmonds4]

Awesome ways to donate Everyone.

We are sponsoring 2 kids from our local school district. Along with the donations at church & the food pantry, local shelter, VA hospital, and pregency crisis center.

[Luvsya]

I am making baskets that have gotten at Michaels for 50% off..then filling them with Heath and Beauty items that I have stocked up on all year for the woman at the Battered Womens Center. Then my son has been taught to put 10% of his allowance into a jar for charitable giving all year. When ever I find great deals on toys, books etc I purchase them and then he repays me with the money he has put into jar. So he then will be giving his gifts to the kids at different places.

[delekatala]

I have no stockpile, Since I only decided to start couponing. BUT I do have a donation plan, LOL. does it still count?

I plan to crochet some little angel dolls and make little kits for the women and infants hospital I gave birth at. The kits will have two angel dolls, some scrapbooking paper, and hopefully a couple little things like a small pack of tissues, some chapstick, maybe a lotion sample.

See I lost my daughter in January of this year, she was 16 days old. And I wanted the kits to be the little tiny things that just would have made things a bit more comfortable during that time. The hospital tissue was awful and after two straight days of crying it burned my face, and the air was so dry chapstick would have been great. And scrapbooking papers for extra hand and footprints, I got one copy but it was on scrap paper with printing on the back, and I am so afraid of it getting ruined, I wish I had more copies. and two dolls, one for baby and one for mom to hold onto.

I guess it is my way of having some good come out of my daughters death. I hope to have ten of these little kits made up in time for xmas. Man I wish I had found this site sooner, it would have been great to get some tissue or lotion to put in them. But I am sure I will soon enough, in the meantime I will buy it out of pocket, that was my original plan anyhow.

Has anyone here thought of donating to the local Ronald McDonald house? They always need toiletries like shampoo, toothbrushes etc. They provide all of that for their families, and food too. It is an amazing charity, they give you a place to live without worrying about those little things so you can focus on your sick child. We lived there for 2 and a half months during Genevive's death and her twin sisters hospital stay.

[nwfrugalista]

Our church has asked for the kids to bring toiletries for sailors that come into the area, so the shampoo/soap/toothpaste deals will go there.

Both of the kids' schools are doing Thanksgiving food drives, so they will be taking in LOTS of cereal (with SO many cereal scenarios lately at Albertson's, Safeway and Target we are swimming in Kellogg's and GM cereals LOL) and canned vegetables and soups (also lots of scenarios this cycle).

For Target toy coupons (especially those that can be stacked with manufacturer coupons) those will go to Angel Trees at church and my daughter's school (they adopt several local families in need at the holidays).

This is my first Christmas since I've gotten serious about couponing so I figure we'll be able to give double (and spend half) this year

[nwfrugalista]

Delekatala--

Just read your post and think that is a really lovely way to honor your daughter. Having had two high-risk pregnancies and a premature baby myself, I think that receiving such a gift of love would be a great comfort at a difficult time.

God bless!

[sar1]

Originally Posted by delekatala

I have no stockpile, Since I only decided to start couponing. BUT I do have a donation plan, LOL. does it still count?

- Most of my holiday giving doesn't even involve my stockpile. Wish I could say I had a stockpile of toys, but I don't! I think your idea is so thoughtful and moving.

Originally Posted by nwfrugalista

This is my first Christmas since I've gotten serious about couponing so I figure we'll be able to give double (and spend half) this year

Isn't that great? My normal plan for several years was to do a minimum of 1 Angel Tree child and sometimes a second if I could find a tag for a child that I knew I could find good deals for their clothes and toys. This year I'm a SAHM so our household income was cut in half, yet I know I can do more this season and there's no doubt I'm doing at least 2 kids but probably spending about the same as before.

[bigshirley]

Holy cow..I love the size of the hearts in this thread!

We will do the salvation army tree as well (hopefully 2 kids as well.)

I also bake up huge cookies and breads to take to the local shelter on christmas day. I also still have a pretty stock pile from before I left for deployment, so we will put together h & b bags for the shelter as well.

I also hope to find a church or local school doing a toy or food drive that we will be able to contribute too...

Short notice this year, but definitely plan to start getting ready for next years donations, right after the holidays.

[tinahas2kid]

I love these ideas!! We bought 10 Angel food gift baskets to donate from our church. I just donated a large load of food to our food pantry and we are doing the Operation Christmas Child. I bought a ton of little toys and stuffers when they were 90% off after last Christmas. And when I needed fillers at WAGS throughout the year I hit up the clearance section and got alot of cute hairbands,coloring books and things like that.

[tnchickie]

My husband and I picked up a senior Santa off the Senior Citizens tree last night at CVS. We will also pick a child as well. Then our church will do Christmas fruit bags for those residing in the local housing authority. There are some heartwarming suggestions in the previous posts... just made me smile.

[nwfrugalista]

I can't believe that I almost forgot the USO! When we were visiting Daddy (currently deployed until Oct 2010) in Germany this summer, we really enjoyed hanging out at the USO lounge for soldiers and their families.

For those of you not connected to the military, the USO often runs lounges on bases and in airports where troops and families can have access to TV/Internet/Telephones etc. They have lending libraries with books, video games, and movies and offer info. about local events (even coordinate sight seeing tours/concert/theme park visits in areas where those are available). If it is in a place where dependents may be visiting, they often have play area corners set up for younger kids (toys/cartoons/colouring books etc).

Anyhoo--when we were there the lounge had an XBox player set up (it had been donated by Microsoft a while ago, not a 360) but very few games for it. Since we'd upgraded to a 360 last year, when we got home I pulled all the old games (about 30!) and mailed them to the lounge so that the soldiers and the kids would have a little more to choose from. They just sent me the nicest thank you letter.

I was just thinking that many of you may be feeling personally touched by the recent tragedies at Fort Hood, and especially with Veteran's Day approaching next week, maybe some are wanting to 'do something' but weren't sure what to do? My humble suggestion is that if you live near a military installation, look up their USO and find out what is on their 'most wanted' list for donations. It might just be something that you have to spare (most of us can easily come up with some spare books/games/videos). If you can't donate an item or $ (which can be designated for phone cards, care packages, etc) through their website USO | Support our Troops | United Service Organizations | Donate to Support the USO , maybe you can volunteer some time at a lounge? Another really meaningful thing that you can do is to just say "thanks for serving" the next time you pass by someone in uniform, with all that our military faces nowadays, hearing that you're appreciated means a LOT to them.

Thanks for reading

[kval07]

This year I am sticking it to the man and I am only buying presents for DF and my two dogs. It will be hard since there are 9 people in my immediate family! I am getting sick of the whole guilt thing when someone gives you a gift and you feel obligated to reciprocate.

I am donating to the families adopted at work. I typically pick up 4-6 tags of the "Be a Santa to a Senior" tree at the mall. I also got a sweet deal on the Playskool Musical Sit and Spins at Kohl's, so those will be going to Toys for Tots. I got three of them. I'll be donating to the local food pantry, as well as to my favorite charity here, EVE Inc (End Violent Encounters).

I'll be watching for hot deals all across the board on food, toys, etc. I'll be donating what is left of my stockpile. I donated a ton of stuff at the food drive and now my food/HBA stockpile is pretty low.

[sar1]

Originally Posted by nwfrugalista

My humble suggestion is that if you live near a military installation, look up their USO and find out what is on their 'most wanted' list for donations. It might just be something that you have to spare (most of us can easily come up with some spare books/games/videos). If you can't donate an item or $ (which can be designated for phone cards, care packages, etc) through their website USO | Support our Troops | United Service Organizations | Donate to Support the USO , maybe you can volunteer some time at a lounge?

Thanks for giving us this information! I just checked out the website and see that there is a facility near me at BWI w/a child's area and library. So do you think lightly used items are ok, then? I usually give our used items to Goodwill b/c I don't know of many places that will accept them.