Still in keeping with this week’s randomly inspired Compassion International posts, today I want to tell you about CHRISTMAS CARDS!
You heard me right. Christmas. Cards.
Compassion is promoting a Christmas Card Drive of Epic Proportions right now. See?
Now, I double <3 the idea of sending Christmas cards to unsponsored children. And the above link is one way you can do it. Design a card for as little as 1.99 and Compassion will get it into the hands of an unsponsored child by Christmas.
BUT.
I am lucky enough to have an Advocate Savvy interweb friend, Michelle. And with this post, she taught me about how I can send cards myself to Compassion’s headquarters and they’ll still translate them and get them into the right hands at the right time. Which is a much more economical option.
Sooooo, I rounded up all of those 2’s and 3’s of cards that get leftover from the packs each year. You know the ones that I’m talking about. I had 10 years worth of Christmas card leftovers, and I decided a Compassion kid needed them this year.
But, by this point, and after my letter writing blog from yesterday, I had the correspondence bug. So I went to the Dollar Tree. The holy mecca of all that is cheap and papery. And I found packs of 16 Christmas cards, 2 for a $1.00.
That’s right, 32 cards for $1.00!
It’s alright. Be impressed.
So I decided that I definitely needed the Wild Thing’s help if I was going to get all of these cards written without giving myself irreparable arthritis. Plus, it was a good way to get them involved in the whole process and to talk to them about the kids from Compassion’s programs and why we help them.
Here we are, all ready to write our first set of cards.
We kept the messages simple, because the cards already came with messages, and we left the tops of the cards blank to leave room for translation.
And we decorated them with stickers.
Except for these little…happy devils. I decreed them off limits.
Cut us some slack, we’re workings wholly off of Dollar Tree materials.
Nine Year Old’s had the best details, of course.
Four Year Old decided he wasn’t going to nap, so I tried to get him to draw hearts inside of a few cards.
A for effort, sweet Four Year Old … A for effort.
Still writing…
Creative up to the last card.
And then finally….
Finished!
45 cards (Dollar Tree and leftovers) that cost me altogether one dollar.
Packaged up and ready to mail.
Impressive, no?
If you’ve caught the Compassion Correspondence bug like me, then maybe you want to fish out those leftover or Dollar Tree cards too, and send them to a child still waiting on a sponsor. The deadline to have them in to Colorado Springs is November 30th.
So get a jolly move on! :)
Got to make that trip to the Dollar Tree!
Whoot!! What big bundles of LOVE you have there!
I have this feeling that my (almost) 9 year old and your 9 year old would get along fabulously….while our 4 year olds would cause all sorts of mischief and mayhem together.
Let's hear it for economical showers of love!
Whut whut! :)
Hey there – we are doing the same thing!
Quick question – did you sign each card with a name? Or just leave it at the greeting. Did you put each card in an envelope or put them in the big one. So sorry to be technical but I want to make it as easy as possible for the folks at Compassion.
So excited to pray over this package of love and send it around the globe!
We did not sign a name in any of the cards. And I really wasn't sure if I should, but I did put each card, unsealed, in it's envelope. I figured I'd rather be enveloped than sorry, and if Compassion doesn't need the envelopes (which I suspect they don't) then they can just throw them away and forgive me for the extra effort it took them to pull each one out. :D
Awesome! I was inspired by Michelle and made a trip to Dollar Tree last night. I didn't find any Christmas cards, but did pick up 8 packs of computer paper for future letters.
Then I went to Walmart and picked up a couple cheap boxes of cards. I'll pull out my extras from last year and my kiddos will start decorating. I also made a few home made ones yesterday. I found a printable nativity scence and printed it out on cardstock. My girls colored several yesterday.
I definitely spent more than $1, but it's money WELL spent on kids who need a little love!
Thanks for all you do.
I got some Dollar Tree packs of paper, too! I had to restrain myself though because I wanted to get one in every design, which would have taken me more than 20 bucks, and more than 10 years to use up. Lol. So stopped myself at 4. :)
I hear you! I write to 19 kids, so my paper will get used up quickly. Some of the packs were 40 sheets and some were 25. It will probably last me through 2011.
Right now I only write to the two girls that I financially sponsor. But I am seriously considering correspondence children.
Thanks for the inspiration…just finished our letters/cards and think I might need to make more.
It IS addictive. :)
Wow, great idea! Will get those left over cards out and get started now and tomorrow pick up a box at the store. I'm new to Compassion and can't tell you how excited I am with this program! I am hooked! Thank you, love your blog.
Wellllllll, I have been saying how bored I am. May as well make some good use of my time!