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With all the hustle and bustle of the holiday season things can get a little crazy and it’s easy to forget what the spirit of the season is really about. My kids are incredibly blessed but have no idea how good they have it. We make donations throughout the year but try do more during the holidays. I always involve my kids in this and they really love helping those in need. This year Kohl’s generously gave me a $500 gift card to Pay it Forward. The only guideline was to help a charity or someone in need. We had so much fun shopping to contribute to a few different organizations.
We started by filling stocking for the Boys & Girls Club. We did this last year too and it’s so much fun! The stockings are provided and the attached tag tells the age and gender of the child to shop for as well as some gift suggestions. Kohl’s has a great selection of items perfect for stockings, especially for tween/teen girls! My oldest daughter shopped with me for the teen girl. She did an awesome job of picking out some really nice things for her. I forgot to get a photo of our shopping day together but she picked a beautiful Lauren Conrad bracelet, a mini bath gift set, a really nice makeup compact, some knit gloves and an adorable drink tumbler that came with some goodies inside.
My youngest daughter got to shop for the younger girl we had a stocking for. She also did a really great job picking out some fun things for the stocking including some Hello Kitty slippers, a mini nail polish set, a lip balm set, a fun make your own jewelry box kit and a Hello Kitty coloring/game set. I ran out of time to take my son on his own shopping trip for the stocking so I picked up a few things for the boy on our list — a Ninja Turtle figure, a Spiderman puzzle and coloring/game set, a Nerf toy and some Kinetic Sand.
This actually ended up working out perfectly because when we received info on the kids we “adopted” from school, it was 3 2nd grade boys. My son is in second grade too so he was the perfect little shopper. He found some great stuff I never would have on my own! Each boy got a Nerf basketball hoop and a Nerf football toy. We found a cool K’nex set but there was only one so we grabbed that then found a couple of Lego Ninjago book/toy sets for the other two boys.
Of course our gifts wouldn’t be complete without some Seahawks gear so we picked up a few Russell Wilson tees for the boys as well. This was such a great experience for us to share together!
My kids were so proud to carry in the gifts and drop them off to the school office on Monday morning! Even after all this shopping, I still had a sizable amount left to spend. I was worried I wouldn’t have time to get out to spend it so I ordered a bunch of toys online thinking I’d just donate them to Toys for Tots.
As the last of the packages were arriving today I learned of two families in need and many of the gifts I had ordered were a perfect fit! I was so excited to be able to provide these gifts with the help of Kohl’s generosity. I’ve been watching my facebook feed and have seen some needs pop up. I still have a few gifts left that I’m looking for good homes for! They will be given directly to a donation center or charity within the next few days and my family will be left with happy hearts.
How are YOU paying it forward this holiday season? There are so many ways to give back. Even if you can’t afford monetary contributions, giving of your time in soup kitchens and other volunteer projects is a great way for the family to spend time together and to teach your kids to have compassion for others.
I just want to add a quick note — I feel so honored to work with Kohl’s, a company that goes out of their way to give back, especially to children. Their Kohl’s Cares programs run year round and have raised over $250 MILLION for children’s initiatives nationwide. This is just one way they take it a step further to give back to communities and I feel so lucky to be included in it! A huge heartfelt thanks to Kohl’s from our family for allowing us to participate in this program!