I picked up seven games from Toys-R-Us today including Candy Land, Chutes and Ladders, Hi Ho Cherry-O, Memory, Cooties, Don’t Break the Ice and Don’t Spill the Beans for $3.99 each. For spending $25 on Hasbro games I immediately received back a $10 gift card that is valid through December. I also mailed off a rebate for $2 on each game, for a total of $14. After subtracting the rebate and gift card from the total I spent only $3.93 on all seven games. I plan to donate three or four of the games to Toys-for-Tots. The rest will be shipped down to our beach house for renters to enjoy.
I have a lot of fond memories of my mom and I going shopping at pre-Christmas sales like this for Toys for Tots-esque programs. Mom would save up all the money she picked up off the ground (giving new meaning to the phrase "found" money) and we'd see how far we could stretch it. There was usually $20-30 in the jar by the end of the year. And, of course, she generally threw in some of her own money, too. We'd go for the nice pack of crayons that were on sale, the board games when they were $5 or less, Play-Doh, sometimes a couple of action figures or Hot Wheels or the like.
It was a great lesson on how almost anyone can afford to give a little to someone in need.
Fantastic idea! My restaurant is donate a free bruschetta for anyone who donates a toy. So far, so good!
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