Join Betty Crocker & Toys for Tots and host a cookie exchange (giveaway ends 12/20/13) #TFTCookieExchange #MakeMerry

 

The holiday season is so much more than “receiving”. That is something that we have stressed upon with our children all of their lives. We remind them all the time that the season is about giving and “good will towards others”.

We are firm believers in giving what we can during the holidays (and year round) for those less fortunate. Sometimes we do things for others just for the fun of it and in hopes that they will “pay it forward” and preform a random act of kindness for others.

Last weekend my husband and I went to a local nursery (plants) where they are selling Christmas trees for $27.00. My husband went up to one of the cashiers’ and handed her $30. He told her that the next person who comes in to buy a Christmas tree to use that money to pay for it. The cashier was a bit surprised, but was happy to oblige. She took the money and wrapped it up in a piece of paper and started to write on it what the money was for.

As we were leaving I heard the cashier ask the other cashier if “they” were buying a tree (referring to the couple online). The other cashier said “yes” and with that our cashier walked over to the other one and handed her the money.

We didn’t stick around to see what transpired. We did happen to see the couple come outside to get their tree as we were pulling out. Both of them looked at us and smiled and the husband even waved at us.

🙂

Donating toys is another thing that we do year after year. No child should ever go without a gift from Santa on Christmas.

We are not rich people by any standards. There were times when our children were younger that we resorted to hand-me-downs and used toys from Ebay to make sure our kids had gifts from Santa under the tree Christmas morning. As a parent I think that would totally crush me to have my child wake up Christmas morning to an empty tree. I wouldn’t want another parent to feel like that, nor do I want to see a child not receive a gift from Santa. That is why we always make sure to donate an unwrapped toy to Toys for Tots. We have been doing that for years. The locations often change, but we can usually find a donation center. There is one currently at our kid’s high school this year.

Toys for Tots collects brand new unwrapped toys from the community and donates them to children and organizations to ensure that every child gets a gift from Santa. It’s a wonderful organization that I am very proud to support.

I make sure to keep an eye out on circulars and look for great deals like “buy one get one free” or huge discounts year round. Then I purchase the toys and hold on to them until the holiday season. Over the years we have donated A LOT of toys. Not just one toy either. We donate 5-10, or even a dozen or more toys each year. That is because I collect them year round.

Not all toys have to be expensive either. You can donate a toy for as little as a few dollars. Of course if you can afford more even better.

To help raise awareness and toys, Toys for Tots has teamed up with Betty Crocker to encourage people to host a cookie exchange party and ask each attendant to bring along an unwrapped toy to donate to Toys for Tots.

Betty Crocker is even giving away special “kits” to the first 1,000 people who sign up to host a cookie exchange party for Toys for Tots. The kit includes a includes a copy of Betty Crocker The Big Book of Cookies with over 180 easy-to-make recipes and a  cute Toys for Tots train-shaped cookie cutter.

I was sent the kit to use for my own cookie exchange party. I have never had one before, nor have I ever been invited to one before.

I should make note that I am not the world’s best baker. I can COOK – but baking, not so much. Case in point I some how messed up my train shaped cookies. I THINK it had something to do with the fact that I used crushed candy canes mixed in with the sugar cookie mix. My daughter said I should sprinkle the candy cane on top. I should have listened to her.

The cookies spread out (they were cut into train shapes BEFORE baking).

I had this not-so-brilliant idea of trying to use the cutter again on the blobs of cookie, but that didn’t turn out so good either. It’s a shame too. I purchased some cookie decorating gels to decorate them to look like trains and to put “Toys for Tots” on them. 🙁

We did give out my cookies, even if they were a bit odd looking.

I have always wanted to attend a cookie exchange because I love the idea of getting a variety of cookies to sample and share with my family. I never realized just how many cookies you get. LOL!

Believe it or not this was not all of them either. My family ate a lot and I had a few in a Ziploc bag.

Apparently chocolate chip cookies are a popular cookie to make. That’s OK. We love chocolate chip cookies.

We had so many cookies that we decided to share them with our neighbors. I packed some up and my kids handed them out to some elderly neighbors of ours and a couple of friends.

As for toys, we collected several in various shapes and sizes.

I was hoping to collect some monetary donations as well but no one who came remembered to bring a check with them. I told them if they still wanted to donate money (money which would be used to purchase more toys) they can do so online. You can also donate by mail and even Ebay. To donate please visit the Toys for Tots donation page.

We received board games and hand held single player games, Lalaloopsy dolls, a fuzzy Teddy Bear, some figurines called Skylanders (not sure what those are), an adorable doll, several packages of Hot Wheels/Matchbox type cars (generic versions), several coloring books and crayons (both holiday related and non-holiday related), an Etch-a-Sketch (I love those), a Mr. Potato Head, a doll that resembled a Bratz doll (Horror High School or something like that) and a few other things which are sitting in my husband’s trunk so that we can take them over to the school tomorrow and drop them off before we head out for some last minute holiday shopping. I would have done it sooner but the weather was an issue and school was closed on Tuesday.

It’s a great feeling to drop off toys in the Toys for Tots boxes. It gives me the “warm fuzzies”. 🙂 I wish I could be there on Christmas morning when the little girl opens up the adorable doll or a little boy gets that car set.

To find a local Toys for Tots drop-off location visit their website, www.ToysforTots.org.

A special thank you to Betty Crocker for the goodies too.

I have a special Betty Crocker Cookie Exchange Kit to give to a lucky reader in hopes that you will do a Cookie Exchange and Toys for Tots collection party with  your family and friends. Even if you can’t pull something together this year I hope that this post has inspired you to collect toys year round to donate to Toys for Tots next year.

This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only and will end on December 15,  2013  at 11:59 PM (EST). The winner will be chosen at random using a random number generator from all eligible entries. The winner will be notified via e-mail and  will have three days to reply or a new winner will be chosen in their place.

To enter please comment on this post and me what cookie you would make for your cookie exchange?

For extra entries you can use the Rafflecopter widget (below) but you must complete the initial entry requirement or the additional entries won’t qualify (I do check). Extra entries are optional.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Kimberly

*I received free products and I’ll be receiving compensation for this post however all the opinions expressed are entirely my own and not influenced in any way.