As we get closer to the festive season people start to look more towards doing something for charity. That might involve buying Christmas cards where money raised is donated to a charity, volunteering at a shelter to help cook on Christmas day, or completing a "reverse advent calendar" for a local foodbank.

A reverse advent calendar

After taking a break from this blog in October I'm now raring to go again! So since my Christmas shoebox post was so well received I thought I would highlight another little charity thing I've received to do this winter - a reverse advent calendar.

"A what?" I hear you ask yourselves. This amazing post from Sara Williams at Moneywise explains it all very well! Basically every day you buy one item of food for a food bank, collect it all in a box, and at the end of the 25 days of Advent you take the box to your local food bank as a donation.

Like many other people I'm planning on doing mine for the next twenty five days (starting yesterday on 4 November), as it means the food bank will have time to get the food out to people. However if you don't think you can manage to arrange it that quickly then don't panic! The food you need to get should have a long shelf life. If you decide to start it on 1 December then you can always donate the box in the first week of January. Donations tend to drop in the New Year as people tighten their financial belts after all the Christmas spending, but they're also the point when the numbers that need a hand increase. A box of supplies will be just as welcome in January as it is in December.

Using one of our old moving boxes to store things!

You might be trying to rattle your brain and think about what specifics you should give to a food bank. First of all you should Google for your local food bank, many are set up or assisted by the Trussell Trust so they're a good place to start. They'll list specific days and times when they're open for donations. Each food bank will have an "urgent needs" list, things that they are running very short on. They'll also have a list of suggested donations. They need to make up enough food to feed people for several days, and it needs to be long-life. Dry goods like teabags, pasta and tinned items, plus things like jam, long life milk (may not have a fridge for fresh milk), and a treat such as a packet of biscuits. Many food banks will also have a box of toiletries for people who may be in need of shampoo and deodorant. The phrase "period poverty" has become quite well known in recent months, so donating a pack of sanitary towels or a box of tampons can be a real help.

Now you're looking at the list on your local food bank's website and wondering how much this will all cost. It sounds really expensive, after all prices are going up everywhere. It's going to be £50 at least, right? But I did a little run around Tesco with a pen and notepad the other day and managed to get to grips with the bulk of the prices. Everything on the list below comes to a total of £31.67. BUT - you don't need to get everything on the list. I found Heinz soup on an offer of 5 tins for £3, and individual pots of porridge at 5 for £4. So that would be 10 items right there. I also picked some large sizes (the pasta sauce for example was a large jar) but you can choose smaller ones. Food banks help families, couples and individuals, so there's always someone who could need what you buy.

So here's a list of 25 things (and their cost) you can buy for a reverse advent calendar;

1. Small pack of rice - £1.00

2. Potatoes (tinned) - £0.60

3. Carrots (tinned) - £0.30

4. Long life milk - £0.55

5. Fruit squash - £1.20

6. Cereal - £1.50

7. Porridge - £0.90 for a small pot (my Tesco has a 5 for £4 offer)

8. Tea bags - £1.30

9. Coffee - £2.00

10. Jam - £0.75

11. Marmalade - 60p

12. Meat (tinned) - £2.50 (you can get tinned curry and bolognese as well as stewing beef etc)

13. Tuna (tinned) - £1.50

14. Pie (tinned) - £2.70-ish (there were quite a few types)

15. Soup - £0.95 (also has a 5 for £3 offer for Heinz soups)

16. Pasta - £1.00

17. Pasta sauce - £2.00 (big jar)

18. Tinned beans - £1.00 (three pack of Branstons from Iceland)

19. Heinz ravioli - £1.07

20. Heinz beans with sausages - £1.05

21. Pudding (tinned) - £1.70

22. Biscuit snack pack - £1.00

23. Shampoo - £1.00 (Wilko)

24. Toothpaste - £1.00

25. Towels/tampons - £2.50 (depends on the pack you buy, I think this was the larger pack of Always towels)

I should also qualify that some of the stuff is Tesco brand (jam, potatoes and carrots for example) and some is branded (teabags, porridge, biscuits), so you may find better prices in Sainsburys, Asda or Morrisons.

I already have mine started. On Saturday I popped in to Wilko for some cleaning supplies, and got a bottle of Alberto Balsam shampoo for £1, and then in Iceland I found a pack of 3 tins of Branston's baked beans for £1. So that's Saturday and Sunday sorted out. I'm trying to use multipack offers to bump up the numbers of things in my box, and buy one type of item each day. But as I said above, you can take advantage of such offers to help you reach your 25 goal if that's what works for you!

Thank you to everyone who Tweeted about the Moneywise article, I hope you all enjoy your reverse advent calendars!

Christmas shoeboxes

I hope you can forgive the Christmas-themed post. It's less than 100 days away, which to some people means hitting all the panic buttons and freaking out about whether there's enough chairs in the house to have everyone round on Christmas day. But for me I have to think about Christmas things a bit early as I make Christmas shoeboxes for a charity called Link to Hope, and they ask for the shoeboxes to arrive at their warehouse by early November!

I first came across Link to Hope a few years ago. I wanted to do a charity shoebox but didn't want to go through the Operation Christmas Child programme, due to some of the more problematic things I've read about them (I won't go in to it here, but if Google it then you'll find plenty of other websites discussing it). I found someone else on a forum asking the same question, and Link to Hope was mentioned in the replies. They state on their website that they will give a shoebox to anyone, regardless of religion, belief or creed, and they do not hand out any literature with their shoeboxes. They do use churches as community spaces in some areas, but they also use schools, village halls and any other large building that can accommodate the people that arrive to collect a box.

This year is especially exciting for me as I've finally been able to volunteer as an Area Collector! These are people who act as a drop off point for shoeboxes in their local area, and I haven't seen one this far out in Essex before! I've already had one person phone me to check I'm happy to accept them, and I'm hoping more will want to join in as we get closer to the November deadline!

Just need some winter woolies

What do you include in a shoebox?

Link to Hope, who I do shoeboxes for, have two types - family and elderly. Nothing is divided by age or gender, so you can't pick "nine year old girl" or "two year old boy", but it does mean that you can fit a big variety of things in. The people that receive the shoeboxes are from areas that have few work opportunities, and winter is a struggle between earning enough money for food and get some heating, so simple things like toiletries and school supplies become a luxury rather than a need.

There's basics that you put in every shoebox; toiletries such as shampoo, soap and showergel, sweets and chocolate, plasters, tissues, and winter woolies including hats and gloves and warm socks. Then you have extra items depending on which group your box is going to. Additions to family shoeboxes include school supplies such as a notebook, pens, pencils and rulers, a small cuddly toy, and some little toys or games. For elderly ones you can include a nice mug, a cloth shopping bag, reading glasses, and a small pack of dominoes or some playing cards.

Can you include freebie items you've got?

As long as they're unopened (in the case of toiletries) then of course you can collect freebies throughout the year to include in your shoeboxes! I recently got a free tote bag from TK Maxx for signing up with their "Treasures" programme, I already have more tote bags than you can shake a stick at, so I've folded this one up for one of my elderly boxes.

Next year I'm planning on keeping a better eye out for things I can collect for free that will go in the shoeboxes. Having a few extra little things to include is nice, but only as long as they're useful and in good condition. Don't just chuck in a load of sample facemasks that you don't want to use. But if you travel frequently and pick up the little packets of wrapped soaps in hotels then you can include those. If you have a subscription box for things like stationery that you know will just sit in a drawer for years, then you can build up a nice little collection of pencils and notepads that can be added to bulk out empty space.

My best buys

Since I try to collect things throughout the year I generally manage to put my shoeboxes together a bit cheaper than buying everything in one go in October. I also like to bulk buy things that I can then split across several years of shoeboxes, I recently bought 15 small bouncy balls off a party supply shop on eBay. These normally go in giftbags for kids parties, but I've put two each in my family shoeboxes and that still leaves me with 11 to be split across the next few years!

I managed to buy two really nice tin pencil cases for £1.50 each from The Works, along with colouring pencils from Tiger for £1 a pack, and I got some lovely Crayola felt tip pens from Wilko for £2 during their "Back to School" sales. I picked up two mugs from Waitrose at £1.50 each when they were having a sale, one for each elderly shoebox. They're a lovely bright blue and really thick, my husband used to have one (that was eventually dropped on the kitchen floor) that survived several house moves so they're really good quality.

Things you can't send

Obviously there are also things that, for customs and safety purposes, can't be included in shoeboxes. Medicines is the obvious one, no cough syrup or paracetemol or anything like that (but first aid items such as plasters are very useful and can be included). You also can't send any seeds, which is a real shame as it would be helpful to give people help in growing their own food where possible. You also can't include any books or literature, so no children's books or guide books or pamphlets.

If you want to create your own shoebox for the charity then you can find more information on their website, and a list of Area Collectors can be found here!

Link to Hope

You might remember that last year I posted about Christmas shoeboxes made by myself and my Mum.

This year the charity, Link to Hope (they changed their name from Link Romania as they support people in several countries in Eastern Europe, not just Romania) is running their Christmas shoebox campaign again.

Today I finished off all my buying for my shoeboxes, once again I'm doing two family ones and two elderly ones. I got nice warm socks and woolly gloves along with some sweets and shampoo. There's also a wind-up torch for one of my elderly shoeboxes at home as my Mum ordered a bunch of things off Amazon.

Both boxes have a mixture of useful bits, personal essentials, and fun things. Useful things include notebooks, a pencil case with pens and colouring pencils (especially good for children who are attending school), and mugs. Personals are the socks and gloves since winter is coming, as well as toothbrushes, toothpaste and soap. And then fun things include a travel box of dominoes, a yoyo, stickers, colouring books and playing card packs.

I've now got to wrap them up and stick £2 to the paperwork to help cover delivery costs.

I decided to post this up now as shoeboxes need to be done and with an Area Collector by 5th November. If you'd like to join in this year then check out the Shoebox Appeal, check there's a Collector in your neighbourhood, and start shopping! It can be a bit on the expensive side, especially if you're like me and get carried away XD But I consider it to be my equivalent to monthly charity donations, and it's nice to think that people who struggle during the winter are getting things that make life a little easier.

Photos will probably be coming next week, assuming me and my Mum remember XD

Christmas Shoeboxes

In the past few months I've been building up towards creating and donating some Christmas shoeboxes for charity. I remember making these for my Mum when I was in primary school, and a few years ago I looked into it again and found a charity called Link Romania. They're a small UK-based charity, but I went for them because they don't give out any literature with their boxes, unlike other charities that give out bibles and "education leaflets" in an attempt to convert children.

So two years ago I did two family shoeboxes. The Christmas after that I remembered the whole thing too late and found they had stopped receiving shoeboxes at their Area Collectors and I couldn't get down to Worthing to drop one off, so I didn't do it.

But this year I remembered in plenty of time, and started to plan it all back in May. They now also do shoeboxes for the elderly, so I decided to make two family shoeboxes and two elderly shoeboxes. I had various candles and notebooks already that I no longer needed, and I kept any eye in various shops for extra little things. At one point I got a £5 eBay voucher that I spent on some stickers. I found an Area Collector near my parents home and during a trip home two weekends ago me and my Mum went shopping to get the last things I needed (which turned out to be more than I had realised). My Mum decided to make one shoebox, and then bought so much stuff that she made two!

I remember every single thing I bought, but in the end every shoebox had;
- Soap
- Toothpaste
- Toothbrushes
- Sweets
- Shampoo
- Socks
- Wooly hat
- Gloves
- Safety razors
- Pens
- Notebooks
- Flannel

The family ones also had pencil cases, colouring pencils, crayons and colouring books and the elderly ones had mugs and candles. There are other bits and pieces that I scattered among them, and then wrapped them all up with the help of my youngest sister and my Mum (because I need all the help I can get when it comes to wrapping things, even easy things like boxes XD).

And then my brother drove me to the area collector in Orwell, and forgave me for not having a particularly accurate address and proceeded to wait while I filled out 6 customs forms to stick onto the shoeboxes.

I know you all want some photos!

Overall it was a lot of fun! The hardest part of it was getting the shoeboxes, a problem which was solved by my lovely friend Poppy who brought 4 shoeboxes into work in a giant bag for me, and then my other lovely friend Lucy brought one in too, so I had plenty instead of scrabbling around begging shoe shops for help.

You've still got time if you'd like to make a shoebox, area collectors close on the 2nd November! If not, then keep it in mind as a fun thing to do next year. No one cares if you've just bought an extra bottle of shampoo on buy one get for free, or stocked up on tealight candles that you realised you don't need and don't want to throw out. As long as you have a nice mixture of things for all ages, and don't break the prohibited items rule, you'll be fine.

Have a good week everyone!