Sweet friends,
This quick post is going to serve 2 purposes. To promote this year’s Christmas giveaway and to share 10 Favorite Gifts for 10 on the 10th. I do realize that it is the 14th and if I don’t type fast it is going to be the 15th. But I had so many other posts in the works this week. And the giveaway didn’t open until today so I decided to combine the two into one! My chum Whitney at The Perfectly Imperfect Mama hosts these monthly link-ups. They are always fun to do.
10 Favorite Gifts
The last few years, we have been paring back our Christmas spending. This year, the budget is going to be hacked to bits with our concern for PC’s job situation. But you know what, none of us need a single thing. Super excited that for a few days after Christmas, I am going to have both of my daughters, their daughters and husbands all together. And we are going to make lots of good memories. No better gift we can get or give.
So rather than write up a list of things from Amazon we can give each other, I am going to suggest a few things we can do together to make the world a little better place.
‘Tis Better To Give
- Pick up trash. We can go on one of our favorite walks along the Franklin foothills or up McKelligon Canyon Road and pick up trash along our way.
- Take donations to the El Paso animal shelter. They can always use old towels, bedding, treats and toys. It would be good for both Cady and Lucia to learn to help animals. Both girls are already animals lovers.
- Collect food for church. Our church, Abundant Living Faith Center, has a year-round food pantry. Often times, organizations are inundated with food during the holidays but don’t have food in March or September. We can give food several times a year.
- Provide books for some Little Free Libraries. There are several LFLs at the park where PC plays baseball in the warmer months. Most of the time they are empty with no books at all. I have also seen several LFLs at the school where I have been subbing. Time to weed out my children’s books and share. Maybe our family can become the steward for one of the Little Free Libraries.
- Donate arts and crafts supplies to the children’s hospital. I have more craft stuff than I can shake a stick at. Going to put together a box of things for the children hospitalized over the holidays at the El Paso Children’s Hospital. They need all kinds of items – puzzles, stationary, stamping kits, coloring books, crayons, playing cards, board games.
- Adopt a classroom through Donors Choose. Some of the classrooms in the El Paso area need ink for printers, art supplies, headphones, books for their classroom library.
- Provide a new blanket to the Extreme Weather Task Force (EWTF). This time of year, Walmart sells soft, plush throws for less than $10. The El Paso Fire Department is accepting the blanket donations.
- Put together a care package for a deployed soldier. And for our own soldier in Basic Training, my nephew Trey. There’s a great list of groups that sponsor care packages, here. According to this list, some of the things soldiers really want and need include models, playing cards, 3M wall hooks, puzzles, baseballs and gloves (do we ever have some of those!).
- Check with the Ambrosio Guillen Texas State Veterans Home to see what donations they need. Put together little donation bags with most requested supplies.
- Take a name from the Christmas angel tree. Or check with my friend Veronica at Focus on Family for the name of a child who won’t have Christmas without a little help this year.
So that’s my list of 10 favorite gifts. It’s my guess that we could make a small difference in our community by donating to each of these worthwhile projects and still not spend the money we would normally spend on gifts.
Gifts for the Grands
We have pretty much agreed that we won’t give to the adults this year. Brennyn and Mustafa will have the expense of coming home. Lauren and Francisco will have the expense of baby #2 in January. And PC and I are worried about employment beyond 01.31.2020. I am thinking maybe stocking stuffers for the adults and then lots of free activities and memory making merriment together.
But what about the grands? My darling Cadence and Lucia? They both have more than enough of everything but still…it’s Christmas. So, this year I am going to stick to the 5 gift rule. Never heard of it? Have a look.
Five Gift Rule
I discovered a version of this on Pinterest a few weeks ago. It was actually a 4 gift rule. Then came across a 5 gift variation, here, on Danielle’s blog. Really like the addition of the 5th gift…something they want but just don’t know it yet! Going to go with the 5 gift rule for my grandgirls. Will let you know how it goes.
Onto the Giveaway
It’s time for a Christmas giveaway! Are you getting geared up for the shopping season? Do you need extra cash for Christmas?? Don’t we all!
We are so excited to be giving away $430 in cash prizes for you to use starting this Thanksgiving weekend.
Here are the prizes:
1 – $150 Amazon Gift Card
1 – $100 Target Gift Card
2 – $50 Walmart Gift Card
1 – $50 Kohls Gift Card
2 – $15 Starbucks Gift Cards
There will be 7 winners in this giveaway. Each winner will receive a gift card code to use either in the online store or in the actual store.
Your Co-Hosts
Now its time to meet our wonderful co-hosts who have made this giveaway possible.
Starting at the top row we have:
Tammy – My Life Abundant | Heather –The Super Mom Life | Carrie – Curly Crafty Mom | Audry – That Recipe & Munofore | Jodie – Jodie’s Touch of Style | Linda – A Labour of Life | Leslie – Once Upon a Time & Happily Ever After | Trish – By Trish Sutton | Susan – Crafting A Family | Debi – Life Currents | Sinea – Ducks ‘n a Row | Gladys – Mom to Grandma | Meredith – The Mom of the Year | Kellyann Rohr – This Blonde’s Shopping Bag | Andrea – Living On Cloud Nine | Michelle – Our Crafty Mom | Kristin – White Arrows Home | Emily – Domestic Deadline | Kathleen – Our Hopeful Home | Jamie – As For Me and My Homestead & Coffee With Us 3 |Ahna – Ahna @ Hammers N Hugs | Lois – Walking on Sunshine Recipes | Christy – Ice Cream N Sticky Fingers | Donna – Blog by Donna | Beverly – Eclectic Red Barn | Lisa – Blogghetti | Erlene – My Pinterventures | Janelle – Num’s the Word |Tammy – Creative K Kids
Please stop by and say hi to these wonderful ladies and their blogs.
The Fine Print
The giveaway will end at 11:59 pm on November 27th on the day before Thanksgiving. You will have 48 hours to respond to the email claiming the prize. If you respond right away, we will get you the gift card code promptly so that you can shop with it on Black Friday! If we don’t hear in 48 hours, we will have to choose another winner.
Open to anyone who can receive gift cards from Amazon, Target, Walmart, Kohls, and Starbucks
Your Turn
How are you going to make memories and help those less fortunate this holiday season? What would your 10 favorite gifts be? Would love to be inspired by your clever ideas.
And if you are a blogger, please join me for my Mini-Christmas Bucket List post. On 11.21.2019, a group of us – and YOU? – will be sharing our mini activity lists for the holidays. Then on 12.21.2019, we will come together to share how we fared on our lists. You know you are going to trim the tree, shop, decorate, bake and pick out that perfect holiday look! Why not put those activities into a mini-Christmas bucket list, share it and then come back with pics of all you accomplished! Hope YOU will join the fun!
Hugs and kisses,
I entered the giveaway. I like your giving ideas. The Little Free Libraries are my favorite!
Do the Little Free Libraries in your neck of the woods stay stocked? I love the idea but I don’t see many here that are cared for. Would like to put one in my neighborhood that I could easily oversee. Maybe this spring.
Leslie, that is one fabulous gift list! So many great options to do good things this time of year. You even offered some great suggestions for things I knew could be of use to someone, but didn’t know who. I really don’t like throwing out useful things, like old towels. I’m sure our SPCA will appreciate your suggestion.
As one of the worst offenders when it comes to “commercial Christmas” this offers a great opportunity to reflect on the needs of others…which, I think, is the entire point!
Yay for sharing your old towels and linens. Our favorite vet clinic accepts them, too, gladly. I am sure your huge heart keeps the reason for the seaon. And then you add a little sparkle!!
People have long accused The Hubs and me of being Scrooges, but we do not buy gifts for anyone over the age of 18. We have 6 grandkids, so we buy for them. For our kids, I generally will make/bake something they like, when they come home. It works great for us because our kids love food gifts. LOL
I do, however, love the idea of doing community service projects. Fun and definitely more impactful.
We just all have so much. And in this stage of my life I am beginning to want to simplify. Everything. And make memories that don’t get dusty or take up space. Love the idea of food related gifts. My daughter who lives in Ft. Worth will be home and she wants to hit her favorite restaurants which works for me!! They are cheap!
I love these ideas! Thanks for all of them. My fav would be the animal shelter. I am pretty much done shopping. I joined some groups on Facebook this year that advertise deals and was able to get all my nephews and my 2 kids done! Yay. Usually I wait til after Thanksgiving.
Look at you getting the shopping done early. Bravo!! I have at least started. That counts, huh? Thank you for stopping by Morgan!!
AWESOME ideas, Leslie!!! The animal shelter one grabbed my attention because I was just thinking about cleaning out our linen closet. And we LOVE those little free libraries around town and I just started taking some of our old books there. 🙂 Happy weekend!
Yay! So glad some of these ideas spoke to you. The little free libraries are such a good idea but rely on community support. The ones at the ball park are terrible forgotten and neglected. I would like to adopt one, fix it up and keep it stocked. But there needs to be reciprocity and those taking the books need to replace the books.
Dropped my treats off at the animal shelter today. Hope they bring smiles to the animals there.
Super ideas Leslie for giving to your community. You’ve got me thinking! The food shelters here are looking for certain Christmas items (selection boxes, advent calendars etc) and the kitty shelter, which I donate food to, is always looking for help. I like to create a shoe box full of Christmas cheer for a child in need. In fact, your blog was a good prompt because I looked it up and saw that the deadline for dropping off a shoe box is in 3 days’ time, but you can now create one online and it gets packed and sent for you. So I did that !
Oh, Gail, thank you for sharing this sweet message. You gifted me by sharing the gift you put together for a little angel there. Bless you, sweet friend.
So fun!
I always have good intentions to start christmas shopping before Thanksgiving… but am always out on Christmas Eve shopping till the stores close 🙂 LOL
Whoa!! I never know when to quit. So I keep adding presents. I add a present for Brennyn and then I add two for Lauren so I have to add another one for Brennyn. And on and on.
I love your list of gift ideas! I’d also love to pare down on giving for the adults, but I have so many needy adults that I buy gifts for (usually gift cards) that it’s hard to tell them they aren’t getting what they’d hoped would provide extra spending money for Christmas :/ And I really love that list of 5 things (though very few on my list get 5 things from me). I may apply that to one or two that do this year, though.
Ruth
VogueFauxReal
My mom gives all of us $100 a piece at Christmas. I remember needing that money, depending on it, to complete my shopping. You are a dear to help out those you do.
These are great tips. Your right, most of us don’t need anything. I do most of my shopping before Thanksgiving. I shop on line mostly.
I like to shop online but love to touch the clothes and toys I pick out for my grands. Like to read the books before I buy them. But online shopping is pretty sensational.
I love your blog, Do you have a recipe for a old fashioned coconut cake
Thank you so much!! And thank you for coming leaving a comment. Let me see what I can find as far as a coconut cake goes. I made one once. Let me try to uncover that recipe. I love that and coconut cream pie.
I’ve never seen the fifth rule for gift giving, but I love it. I think that’s a great way to give gifts to the grands! I love all of your ideas for giving back to the community and people in need.
-Lauren
Thank you, Lauren. You are always so supportive!!
So fun, Leslie.
We do not give our adult children gifts. Instead, for each birthday and Christmas we make a donation to a charity or organization that has meaning to them and their lives.
This year we may deviate a bit from this to give our son and future daughter-in-law a bit of extra money towards their wedding in the spring.The granddaughters get Caldecott or Newbury award books. Real books that they can hold and turn the pages. Can’t take the teacher out of me! They have plenty of other stuff…more than they need.
Yay for real books, my favorites are the Caldecotts!! Great job, Nancy!
The 5 gift rule is so cute! And I love all your gift ideas to really make the holidays more about giving than receiving. There are a lot of wonderful ideas there! Thanks for the giveaway!
Thank you for entering the giveaway and leaving a sweet comment. Good luck!
I love the 5 gifts idea! I have started on my Christmas mini bucket list. Can’t wait to post later this week. Have a good week!
I have already done a lot of my Christmas shopping.
You little show off you!! Good job. We are being very frugal this holiday season. So it won’t take long for me to shop.
I thought the 5 gifts idea was a good one, too. Thank you. Now to stick to it.
Hey, Leslie! So glad my blog could inspire you. Thank you for sharing it with your readers! This year we’re hoping to use the extra money saved on gifts to take the girls on a little vacation to the mountains — an experience they’ll always remember vs. a gift they’ll forget about in 2 months. Lol!
Wishing you a most memorable holiday season. And hoping to follow your good lead. Thank you for being an inspiration and for stopping by to say hello.
I entered giveaway, this is nice. Good luck to every one. I really liked through ideas in this post, I love making memories with my family too Leslie.