hi mother of 5 wondering were to get help at for x-mas toys?

Answer 1

You go to walmart, put things in layaway, and pay as you go. I'm sure you can put back 25-50 bucks a week on things for your kids if you're that desperate.

Answer 2

Call your local social services department. Most of these places set up ways for the community to donate to toys to families for Christmas.

We usually sponsor a family at Christmas every year and we get the ages and sex of the child with some of their Christmas wishes listed on a sheet and go from there. The list is supplied by the Social Services department.

Answer 3

I always buy things through the year, when they are on special.

I also agree with the other posters........layaway is thee way to go ..pay off a bit each week..im a big fan of that system.

Answer 4

Good Will - takes patience and time, have to be willing to dig through some junk, but sometimes you find treasures - same with garage sales

Answer 5

Ask your kids what they want and what they are interested in.Get something that helps them learn.

Answer 6

toys for tots.

Answer 7

If you're looking for an agency who gives toys for Christmas you may want to add the area of the country and maybe state you're in.

Have you considered trying to keep Christmas gifts down to a minimum amount of money per child by buying small items that make it look like there's more stuff under the tree? (I don't mean to imply that you haven't thought of this, but I thought I'd mention it just in case).

At a place like WalMart there is, first of all, lay-away. They only want ten percent down (or something like that), but if you could do something like put half down it would mean you have less to pay when you pick up the stuff.

What about something like this: A "larger toy" for each child (but not "large" as in expensive electronics but rather "large" as in a reasonably priced but biggish sized doll for each girl, maybe something appropriate for a baby or toddler if you have either of them. For a boy you could buy some toy that you know he'd like.

Suppose you bought each child one good-sized toy for about $10 or $12. That would be between $50 and $60. (Of course, if you saw less expensive toys to use as the large-sized item for under the tree you could save a little.) Suppose then you either look in WalMart of go to a dollar store and see if you can get everyone an inexpensive book, a set of crayons, an inexpensive pad of paper for drawing on, or other small things like that as "padding".

If you look at WalMart you can probably find some toys that are between the small ones and the large-sized ones. Suppose you spend another twenty or twenty five dollars on the really small "padding" items, you'd be up to about $80 (but if you got the small things at a dollar store or didn't include them in your lay-away your lay -away could still be down around $60 before you pick up the mid-sized toys for each child.

Suppose you spent another $5 each child to get some mid-sized toy each may like (or if you have little kids and can get two $2.50 toys at WalMart that would make two gifts instead of one).

You'd now be up around $100 total before any candy or treats you may get for them. (Can you throw in a cheap box of candy canes and some inexpensive Christmas chocolate and maybe some other inexpensive candy or cookies at WalMart?)

If you could put, say, $30 or $40 down on the lay-away now and put the rest in one or two more payments to cover the other $100 or so, it would at least mean your children have things under the tree. The littler they are, the more they're able to enjoy a simple Christmas. If you have older children who don't believe in Santa maybe you could take them out to put a toy on lay-away and tell them you'll pick it up in January.

I don't know if you have even $100 to spend (but sometimes - as long as nobody goes hungry - Christmas toys can be more important than some "luxury" foods that can wait until Christmas is over. It won't kill anyone to live on pasta and vegetables until Christmas is over.

With the plan I've described above (of course, you could alter it if you are able to or need to) your five children would have one biggish looking toy for under the tree, a bunch of small things, and a medium-sized toy or two. WalMart has some amazingly inexpensive toys for children, so you may actually be able to do better than just settling for paper and crayons (although sometimes you can get crayons for a quarter). Under the tree, the bunch of stuff I've described above will look like Santa came. No, its not a big, abundant, load of toys; but particularly for small children this type of thing can be nice enough if it has to be.

If, by any chance, the children have other family members who could kick in toward the Santa thing (or if you could come up with more than $100 or so) their Christmas could be very nice. $50 from one person, $50 from someone else, etc. could make the Santa thing quite a bit nicer.

You could also coordinate with any family members about whether they would like to buy a larger gift for each child or some of the children and help with money on other gifts for the other children. Children four and under generally are easier to buy inexpensive gifts for, while children five to nine may want specific toys.

If you have, say, a child who is older and who wants some $20 item you may be able to buy that if you can skim off the items for the little kids who aren't aware of what things cost.

If none of the above would work or if you think you still need to find a Toys for Tots kind of program, you may want to call your local churches or welfare office to ask if they can direct you. Sometimes there are events held at places like football stadiums where children are given a package of toys. The trouble with that can be that the children know the toys aren't for Santa and get to know they are in a "charity type" situation. I believe, though, that some agencies will deliver a box of toys if you get your name to them.

If you're able to put out some candy canes, maybe some Little Debbie gingerbread men (about a dollar a package, two packages would fill a plate) and some popcorn or candy apples you can create a little atmosphere for very little money. The Pillsbury mixes for cranberry bread, banana nut bread, etc. are inexpense, and all you add is eggs, water and oil - voila, treats that are traditional enough for kids and that create some atmosphere.

Don't feel you have to spend $300 or more on each child, even if many parents can and do spend that and more per child each Christmas. The ideas I offered above are kind of a rock-bottom type of plan which, if you had to and if you could at all do at least that much, would be something under the tree for the kids.