‘Tis the season for this blog to start talking about gift ideas and tips for surviving the holidays without blowing your budget or losing your mind. There’s a lot of great stuff already lurking in the gift category archives, and we’ll be posting more entries on this subject over the next few weeks.
I see I wrote a post almost a year ago on charitable gift ideas, which is sort of what I planned to talk about today. More specifically, how do you get your kids to embrace charity, in the middle of a season designed to overload their brains with GIMME? My own children are too young to fully grok the notion of . . . well, much of anything about the holidays yet (my 3-year-old just asked me this morning if Santa was a pirate. I guess “Ho ho ho” does sound a lot like “Yo ho ho”), but I’d definitely like to create some traditions that involve all of us thinking about more than just our Amazon wish lists each year. Here’s a few activities I’ve been thinking would be good to do with kids during the holiday season:
Holiday mail for troops. Holiday Mail for Heroes is a Red Cross program where you can send holiday cards to American service members, veterans and their families. There’s also Operation Holiday Card, which sends cards to troops deployed overseas. You and your kids could hand-make a card for this purpose, or just add a personal note to your regular card together.
Donate toys. I periodically go through Riley’s toys and take things to Goodwill, but I realize it’s time to involve him in this effort instead of just sneaking stuff out of the house. This year I plan to have him help me set aside some gently used toys to donate to other kids, so everyone gets new toys for Christmas.
Donate blood. This isn’t a holiday-specific activity, but if you can swing it, taking your kids with you to donate blood is a nice way to teach them about generosity. Especially when they see you stoically taking that needle like a champ.
Volunteer. Dosomething.org is the largest youth volunteer database in the US, and it’s sorted “just for teens”. Very cool way to find some volunteer activities you can do as a family, or help your older kid find their own volunteer gig.
Create a charity jar. I love this idea: set up a jar to be used by the family, either by donating part of allowances or just by finding loose change around the house. Have your kid help you decide where the money should go, or make a special trip to a local Salvation Army bucket and let your kid drop in some coins.
Does your family have any charity-focused holiday traditions?
I have a three year old son too and this year we will be purchasing gifts for a child in need. I hope to be able to buy gifts for a three year old boy and drive the point home by buying things he would like and giving them to someone else.
Stacy | November 26th, 2008 at 4:37 am
Regarding the toy & clothing donations, I’m a bit more particular about what organizations I give to. I look for charities that give away what I donate rather than sell it. Easter Seals is a good national group, or look for a battered women’s shelter or child services organization in your area.
For the pet-lovers in your family, you can sponsor a dog or cat through local no-kill rescue groups, or donate supplies or dollars to the Humane Society. (Not PETA!)
JennyW | November 26th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
I like your charity jar idea, and with kids as young as yours (and mine) are, just taking them to put the money in the bucket is perfect. Simplicity - love it! Thank you!
Lee | November 26th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
Even babies can get down with the idea of giving toys to other babies because it’s good and nice. Generosity is learned.
Tracee Sioux | November 27th, 2008 at 5:02 am
Giving time while helping others is one of the best gifts we can give - especially as needs rise with the tumbling economy. We used VolunteerSpot.com to put together a helping hands calendar for our elderly neighbors. Five families signed up for a weekly meal and help around the house. They look on the schedule and know we’re coming, so they feel good. We are all sharing our time doing something they want and need, so we feel good! I also love that our kids are learning first hand about community and giving back.
CSH Mom | November 27th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Zoot over at misszoot.com did a variation on the charity jar which I think is a fantastic idea: they gathered all the loose change in the house and took them to a grocery store that has one of those machines that eats your change then spits out a voucher for the store for that amount. They dumped in their change then used the voucher for food which they took to the food bank, making sure they got the kinds of food that was high on the food bank’s list of item it needed.
Shawna | December 1st, 2008 at 3:08 pm
Thanks for mentioning the Holiday Mail for Heroes program. I worked with Pitney Bowes and the Red Cross on this project, and on behalf of my colleagues, I’d like to thank you for your support.
We launched this campaign with the goal of collecting 1 million holiday cards for the troops, veterans, and military families. I’m excited to report that we in fact surpassed this goal! We truly appreciate your help in spreading the word and the involvement of your blog readers.
The Holiday Mail team put together a video to thank you and the others who got involved. You can view it here: http://blip.tv/file/1643672/
Thanks again for your support!
Tracey | January 8th, 2009 at 2:54 pm