Advent Giving

 

I came across this genius idea to help children learn to share and learn to declutter at the same time.  Such a simple idea, but I think you’ll agree it has merit.  Every day, put a donation item in a box which you deliver to a local charity before Christmas.  Your children can choose toys and games they no longer play with to give to children who may not have many nice toys.  Keep in mind that this exercise of going through their belongings is hard.  Making decisions is hard.  Giving up their stuff is hard.  Young children will need help sorting and organizing their toys.  When they recognize that a toy hasn’t been played with recently, remind them that another child will enjoy it.  You can mention that they will be receiving new toys which will need a place in their closet.  Keeping the donation box out of sight of young children will help them forget about the toys they are giving up.Glum

This idea is from a local company who offers professional organizing services to households and businesses.  I enjoy their blog, which is where I got this gem of an idea.  They suggested starting on December 1st as you would start an Advent calendar.  Then delivering the box to a local charity on the 24th of December.  But I feel this doesn’t give the charity time to distribute it to needy families.  Also, used toys may not fit the requirements of many charities who are providing new Christmas toys to poor families.  So I have tweaked their idea just a bit.Giving rev

I think starting on Thanksgiving is an ideal time to start kids thinking about how much they have and what they no longer need that would help other children.  I think that adding items daily for two weeks is probably more doable than trying to do it for three weeks at an already hectic time of year. Starting at Thanksgiving and completing the box in two weeks means you’ll be finished at the end of the first week of December which makes more sense to me.  I also think that once you start on a purge, it may just be easier to finish in a day or two and put all the items in a box at once.  Daily sorting might wear out everyone involved!  Take this idea and make it fit your family.  Instead of giving used toys to a charity for Christmas distribution, perhaps a better idea for used toys is to deliver them to a charitable thrift store where poor parents will be able to buy good used toys cheap.  Many non-profit thrift stores support worthy causes such as drug rehab programs.  (My personal opinion is that Goodwill should be your last choice, but even they do good by employing people albeit at low wages.  Their profits have made the CEO very wealthy.)

Here is a happy-ending story written by a professional organizer who was assisting a mom to organize her children’s play space.

“Once they understood that their toys would be going to other kids who didn’t have any themselves, they jumped right in. They managed to purge all of the “younger” kid’s toys that they had outgrown, and even got rid of some favorite toys that they had just become bored with. At the end of the day, they had an organized playroom with even more space to play and I have a hunch that, this Christmas, they will enjoy their gifts even more than ever.”  http://organizersnw.com/giving-and-getting-decluttered/

2 Comments

  1. Denny says:

    Lorelei, for as many years since she was old enough, we have had a Christmas traditional activity.

    She keeps all her toys she has here at my house in a wooden chest in the dining room.

    So every year some time in December, we take everything out of the toy chest. Then we have a keep or give away session.

    She tells me whether a toy I pick up should be saved and put back in the chest or if she
    wants to give it to the charity that will pass it on to poor children.

    If she doesn’t think she’ll play with it any more, into the donation bag it goes.

    At the end, all she has left are the toys she really wants. It’s cute that there are a number of toys that have made it back into the chest year after year.

    We enjoy it and she carries her box or bag into the Goodwill store to hand in her donation.

    1. Grandma Grace says:

      You are so far ahead of this game, Denny! Way to go! Appreciate your real life report that this idea works. Kudos to you and to your sweet granddaughter! Hugs, L

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