Shopping for toys
The toys purchased for my company toy drive today. The money doesn’t go as far with “teen” gifts. But they are the underserved kids who need “toys,” too.
Today I worked on the Heart Challenge part of Go Fit Girl!’s December Monthly Challenge.
I run the toy drive (and food drive) at work. To get more donations I offer to take others’ money and go shopping on their behalf.
So today my co-worker/friend Alonzo and I jumped into the work truck and took a trip to Target.
As I have said previously my company is supporting Toys for Tots this year.
I like to take the monetary donations and focus on donations toward older kids. Those items are more expensive and are donated a lot less. I personally hate buying baby toys and toys that make noise. So I try to avoid those anyway.
I went to the FAQ page on the Toys for Tots website and found an answer to this question: Pre-teen/teens are groups for which shopping is especially difficult. Do you have any ideas?
Answer: The Foundation does purchase supplemental toys/gifts for our campaign sites and focuses on these age groups. In the past, items purchased for these groups have included, but are not limited to: sporting equipment/bags/balls; books, backpacks, cosmetics, purses, watch/wallet gift sets, bath gift sets, board games, radio control cars/trucks, hand-held electronics, skateboards/helmets, curling irons, hair straighteners, and hair dryers.
So the shopping spree included these: skateboards, helmets, curling irons and flat irons, young adult books, watches, make-up, purses, balls, hand-held electronics, perfume, a couple of games … And I plan to hit Old Navy tomorrow to buy a couple of gift cards.
I have to say this shopping spree was my favorite in all the years I have been running the toy drive. I think because I had actual direction of what older kids want. It never occurred to me to buy make-up or skateboards or curling irons.
And any item that needs batteries has batteries taped on. There is nothing worse than getting an awesome toy Christmas morning and not being able to play with it because you don’t have batteries. Am I right?