Well, my wallet is mad but my heart is full as I have scraped up every opportunity available to me to find gifts to put into my shoe boxes. (of which I have 28 finished already). When I mean every opportunity, I mean I went to fabric stores, discount stores and everything in between to get some great deals and there might still be some left so go out and find some. Here's some more stuff I found.
One of the first places I went to was Michael's and the main reason is because they set their Valentine's Day sale items at 50% off a week before Valentine's Day, leaving Michael's products to be either 60 or 75% off. I believe that when I went, everything was 60% or so which was still good. Each of those pens you see came out to be about $0.40 which is always a plus. I like to include those in 10-14 year old boxes to really make the boxes unique and for them to write nice things in their journal with. I remember when I was a kid I got super excited whenever I got a nice new pen so this was indeed a plus. The candy lollipops were the only ones they had that weren't destroyed. They came out to be about $1.50 each and I wasn't too pleased with that deal but they are large and will brighten a kid's day so...I guess it was worth it.
I've come to realize that as I'm finding things to put in my boxes and so forth, I've discovered the child inside that would have screamed in excitement for a fuzzy color-in drawing. I didn't get many as a kid but of the ones I did, they were awesome and so much fun. It also left me to discover that children NEED creative things like this. They need it when they are young, middle aged and nearing 72: we as a human race need creativity to keep our minds working and our spirits high. I think that is why I'm going all out on coloring books and craft-like things this year because children need that type of outlet. Whether the kid is into sports, cars, etc. drawing and working with your hands is a great skill and memory to build up when you are young.
So these were the last of what they had at Michael's for crafting bracelet supplies but they are so awesome because they have enough bracelet cord to make about 2-4 bracelets and the jewelry is super cute! I know I told you all that I would be doing mainly boys boxes this year but I've also discovered that the age groups 2-4 as well as 10-14 of both genders aren't doing too well. Of course, the lack of boys boxes is worse than the girls but that's just something I want you all to consider when packing up your boxes: older kids and toddlers deserve a box this Distribution season and we can make sure, together, that we can make that a possibility for all ages/genders.
Next we have the glorious Joanne's Fabric which had nothing along the lines of Valentine's Day goodness for my boxes but just before the register, in a white cart, was a stockpile of gloves ranging from toddler to adult. My heart pounded as I approached it and lo and behold! The gloves were all $0.50!!!! 50 cent packs of gloves! Oh fraptuous day! I grabbed all that I could without wearing a hole in my wallet and whisked my treasures away.
I also got head warmers.
....and mittens for the little kiddies.
Well Packers, I have more parts to my Valentine's Day sales so stay tuned and Happy Packing!
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