Christmas Charities?

A lot of the charities have a cut off age limit of 12 years. Speak to the pastor of your church, sometimes a church will take up a special offering for a needy member of the congregation. You are right about most places having passed the deadline for applications. When you apply, you also have to tell your income. Are you more hard up this year than last year? No kid needs more than one gift each from a parent. I assume their Dad sends gifts, as do grandparents, aunts and uncles.

There have been lots of times in the past that I would have had to ask for help, if I didn't start shopping in January. One gift a month or every two months won't bankrupt a person providing you don't purchase things advertised on TV or with designer labels. My kids have never received anything advertised on TV or with a designer label. Now that I am buying gifts for my adult kids and adult grandkids I follow the same practice. $20.00 each and that is it. If I find a $20.00 item on sale for $10-15.00, it is still counted as a $20.00 item.

My 84 year old aunt was telling me a couple weeks ago that when she was 10 years old her favorite doll got lost, her parents and older sisters didn't know where it was. Then on Christmas morning when she walked into the living room the doll was sitting on top of the piano with a complete new wardrobe, that my aunt's mother sewed during the time my aunt was in school.

You could do that with some of the things your kids have, hide one or two of each of their belongings to refurbish it, in whatever way it needs.

Also kids can always use a t-shirt, and the discount store that I use the most, has adult size ones for between $5-10.00 each. Of course, it is getting late to start shopping too. If the kids are quite young, pre-school/primary grades a color book and crayons can be wrapped as two gifts. You can try the Salvation Army, but I don't know what their deadline is. There is also a an organziation called Volunteers of America in some areas, but there again the deadline is past, because they have names with ages of various kids on trees at my WalMart. From what

I understand the Volunteers of America are working with the Department of Social Services to get the information for needy families in the area. You could also talk to your social worker for food stamps or whatever, they might know of some place you could get some help. But the best bet in the future is to plan ahead.