The Joy of Giving

Each year as part of CR we help an organization called Anna's House purchase Christmas gifts for children who are in state custody. I've been in charge of this efforts for 3-4 years now and really enjoy it!

We do a big donation night and then I take all the money and spend it! The first year I did all the buying by myself. Bad idea. It was so overwhelming. Now I have one or two helpers, depending on the load.

I love buying these gifts for kids who I don't know. I just imagine the joy on their faces when they get these toys, clothes and other things.

Here's this year's loot. I bought for two boys, ages 6 and 9. Another gal bought for three little girls (I don't have pictures of her stuff). Also, this year Anna's House asked if we could use any additional money to buy pjs, socks, underwear or other necessities. Target had awesome fleece pants on sale so I grabbed 12 pairs. Then I found those cute shorts (with shirts, not pictured) at Wal-Mart for $3!!

They also said a couple families could use help with groceries. So, I got two VISA giftcards and loaded them with some cash.

I have to be honest, while my favorite part of all of this is imagining the excitement these kids will have Christmas morning I do get a somewhat sick thrill out of seeing just how much I can buy each kid. I set a spending limit for each kid and do my best to maximize those dollars. I try really hard to buy them nice things too. I don't want to just get everything cheap. I figure why not get everything cheap but still super nice (mostly clothes).

For example, take this load below...

All of the clothes are from The Children's Place. Thanks to e-mail coupons and awesome Christmas sales I was able to get really nice jeans, wind pants, two t-shirts, one polo, one sweater and a hoodie!! The hoodie was just $9.99 (regular price $24.95)! In fact, I set the clothing budget and my total after the sale prices and extra 30% off coupon was $.02 under budget -- I consider that pretty awesome. Not only that but my savings was $130!

The CR family never ceases to amaze me. This year we sponsored 5 kids. It seems like attendance has been low and so I was nervous about meeting our goal, but they blew it out of the water! The total raised was $800 (almost exactly)

I also make sure to include stocking stuffers -- like candies and small gifts and I usually go buy $1 stockings at Michaels.

I was telling Nate yesterday, I think it would be an awesome gift if someone gave me a kid's wish list/sizes and cash and said go shop!

We also took Brixton shopping for a kid about his age. He did not really understand and wanted all the toys and clothes for himself, but occassionally he would say, "I think this little boy will like this truck." So, I think on some level he understood. I really want to do this with him every year. I don't want him growing up thinking Christmas is just about getting lots of stuff. I hope we can teach him that it's really fun to give to other people.