Angel Tree

[Inked]

For the 12 yo maybe a gift basket with a few of the following ideas.

Brush/comb set

Blow dryer or iron ( the flat irons are popular right now)

Hand held mirror

Shampoo/Conditioner

Mousse

Hair spray

Hair ties

Nail polish set in funky teen colors or scents (walmart has a neat nerds scented set $6)

Lip balm

 

For the 16 yo I would probably look for educational books like how to animal books. That is a tough one. Maybe a book light, bookmark and a classic or two.

 

What ever you give will be appreciated, thank you for sponsoring this season!

[Kibit13]

For a 12 year old I think you could get her some hair spray, a lip gloss set and some lip balm too. You could also add a brush and some hair clips. Since she did list makeup maybe you could get a neutral colored eyeshadow.(Cream, brown, taupe) Covergirl has some cute sets.

 

For the 16 year old, she may be interested in animals because she wants to be a vet? Borders has lots of animal books and I always find some in their bargain book section. You could also get her one of those adopt an animal kits from the World Wild Life fund. They start at $25 and are really cute.

 

http://www.worldwildlife.org/ogc/species_category.cfm

 

The Animal Planet section of the Discovery Channel store has some cute ideas too.

 

http://store.discovery.com/?v=animal-planet

[AshJs3]

I went to get an Angel from the Salvation Army angel tree here today and was kinda dis-heartened. Almost ALL of the kids asked for iPads (whether they were infants or 12, which makes me suspicious) and laptops and cell phones. Hardly any real toys at all. I had planned on finding 1 or 2 and had no problem spending $100 or so on each but what I saw was pretty ridiculous. At work they have kids we can buy for from the local children's house where they take kids that are taken from their parents. They always get bedding and toys. I wanted to do one of those but they go really fast. Perhaps I will just get some random toys and donate to toys for tots.

[Kibit13]

I went to get an Angel from the Salvation Army angel tree here today and was kinda dis-heartened. Almost ALL of the kids asked for iPads (whether they were infants or 12, which makes me suspicious) and laptops and cell phones. Hardly any real toys at all. I had planned on finding 1 or 2 and had no problem spending $100 or so on each but what I saw was pretty ridiculous. At work they have kids we can buy for from the local children's house where they take kids that are taken from their parents. They always get bedding and toys. I wanted to do one of those but they go really fast. Perhaps I will just get some random toys and donate to toys for tots.

At first I thought that they might have told the kids to write down their wish or to just write down whatever they wanted, but an ipad for an infant? That just seems weird.

[momof3luvs1]

I went to get an Angel from the Salvation Army angel tree here today and was kinda dis-heartened. Almost ALL of the kids asked for iPads (whether they were infants or 12, which makes me suspicious) and laptops and cell phones. Hardly any real toys at all. I had planned on finding 1 or 2 and had no problem spending $100 or so on each but what I saw was pretty ridiculous. At work they have kids we can buy for from the local children's house where they take kids that are taken from their parents. They always get bedding and toys. I wanted to do one of those but they go really fast. Perhaps I will just get some random toys and donate to toys for tots.

 

Try the salvation tree on line through jcp...I got one from there and it was mainly clothes and a few toys!

[abentley]

I finished up my 5 kids yesterday. Pac Sun sent a wrong size out in an order of jeans, so I have to wait for that till Tuesday. Other than that, I am ready to take all the fun stuff over to the Mom as soon as the kids leave for Thanksgiving with their Dad.

[tinkrbel]

The tree at BJ's this year and last is similar. This year they all want bikes, last year it was a musical instrument. I can only guess it's a home and they want the kids to have the same stuff but where do you put 20+bikes? I don't begrudge anyone their wish but it does seem a little suspicious to me ESPECIALLY ipads for newborns. I like to see variety on the wishes.

[Silverstreak24]

I went to get an Angel from the Salvation Army angel tree here today and was kinda dis-heartened. Almost ALL of the kids asked for iPads (whether they were infants or 12, which makes me suspicious) and laptops and cell phones. Hardly any real toys at all. I had planned on finding 1 or 2 and had no problem spending $100 or so on each but what I saw was pretty ridiculous. At work they have kids we can buy for from the local children's house where they take kids that are taken from their parents. They always get bedding and toys. I wanted to do one of those but they go really fast. Perhaps I will just get some random toys and donate to toys for tots.

It used to be that way here in FL a few years back. It seemed like every kid over the age of 4 was asking for ipods and gaming consoles (could have been legitimate as it wasn't infants...), so I looked for the younger ones who wanted more simple gifts. I would definatly raise a red flag if I saw ipads for infants, but I asked the worker about the other children who were requesting expensive gifts and she told me that usually they had a parent present who helped write the wants of the child, but that the children who could write had written their own wants, thus the reason for the expensive gifts.

 

My husband and I go every year on the last day of the angel tree and like to pick a child or two that hadn't been picked, shop and return the gifts on the same day. We live in an area that was hit extremely hard by the economy, so last year, I worked to pick up as many toys as I could throughout the year at a bargain as well. Usually, we see a tree with a few names left, but last year, the tree was so covered, you couldn't even see it and there were stacks and stacks of names still on the table. My husband and I looked at the needs and they were so much different than the years past. We chose 6 children who wanted racecars, dolls and clothes and shopped for them so we could help as many children as possible instead of choosing one that wanted a bike etc (we don't have that much extra income).

 

I also brought back the bags and bags of toys I'd collected (most from the 90% off summer clearance at CVS which included bubbles, water games (we live in FL) and waterslides, etc) and requested some of those items go to the stacks of children that hadn't been picked. Also, I asked what happens to the kids that don't get picked and apparenty, they get a box of pre-determined gifts and it's the same box for every child. I can only imagine what it might be like as a child to get those same generic gifts each year :0(

 

Also, the parents receive the gifts for the children so if one child gets a ton of gifts and the other one gets very little, they probably can spread it out to make it a little more even. At the end of the Angel Tree days, every toy counts so if you happen to have a toy or some new toys you don't have a need for, please consider giving to a child that doesn't get picked. :0)

[Kibit13]

I try to pick the children and the adults that want the smaller, simpler presents. This way we can get more gifts for more people. I also rarely pick up the wants for gift cards. It isn't because I don't like the request, its just that I know that some people want to get a gift, but do not have the time to shop like we do and it is probably easier for them to get a gift card. Especially since you can buy them at the grocery stores now.

[daysangel]

This might be a dumb question, but am I supposed to wrap the gifts? I would think the Salvation Army would want to inspect the items... TIA!!

[Silverstreak24]

Not a dumb question at all. In my area, the Salvation Army provides a bag for each child's gifts which is clear and they staple the child's info to the bag of unwrapped gifts.

[teach2nuts]

Be suspicious of high priced request. The parents are the ones filling out the paper work and returning this to the salvation a

[daysangel]

Not a dumb question at all. In my area, the Salvation Army provides a bag for each child's gifts which is clear and they staple the child's info to the bag of unwrapped gifts.

Thanks so much! I picked my child off JCP's website so I didn't get a bag... I'll probably call the center just to make sure.

[jlshickerson]

My daughter puts a dollar of her allowance every week away to adopt an angel. She usually adds a little extra in and ends up with around $60. We always buy a winter coat to go along with whatever she buys. So we spend between $80 and $100 for one child.

[eve]

I'd throw in lip glosses and shampoo from bath & body works or something similar as it would be special and bf usually have great steals. why not grab a Endangered Species book such as http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_nr_n_0?rh=n%3A283155%2Cn%3A!1000%2Cn%3A290060%2Cn%3A290062%2Cn%3A290064&bbn=290062&ie=UTF8&qid=1290471554&rnid=290062

[Mandy4Matt]

We got our Angel today off the tree. My 11yo son is very excited to help this year..which warms my heart. He asked if we could please get her more than one new outfit....of course!

[karalot]

Kind of giving a different perspective here, but I considered signing my kids up for the angel tree this year. My husband and I are both on unemployment (with mine about to run out), and that doesn't go far (less than $300 each per week) when you have five kids (plus his two adult children). We went from upper-middle class to this in the matter of a month. I just couldn't do it. Anyway, it's hard for your kid to ask for something that "everyone" has (like my kids and the dsi or psp or ipad), and know that you will really struggle to give it to him/her, if you can at all. Some of the parents might put that more expensive stuff on there, hoping someone will, in fact, be able to get this item for their child and they won't have to see that look of disappointment Christmas morning. I know that my kids don't NEED this stuff, and thank goodness my mom had been saving some money so that she could get them a few nicer things, and this situation has been a real adjustment (and a learning experience) for my children. Character-building LOL. Them seeing me obsessively cut coupons, price compare, stalk this site like crazy, etc. has taught them a lot about life, I think. Nonetheless, even if they understand, even if they are trying to help by NOT asking for the more expensive stuff, or like my 15-year old daughter, who stopped eating lunch to save money, they still want these things, and it is hard not to even have the option to give it to them. So while some of them (especially the infants with ipads on their list!) are just trying to cash in for themselves, I can't bring myself to believe that a majority are. But I could be wrong! LOL

[Inked]

Around here the kids on the tree are all in need of warm clothes and shoes. Very little toy requests, I wonder if the request form is different in different areas. I am planning on adopting an angel and donating a few toys to the toys for tots program. I'm ready for the season. I love the holidays.

[AshJs3]

I looked up some of the kids on the JC Penny website but some of them are confusing. Like there was a 12 year old boy who wore an 11.5 in men's shoes and his clothing size was "XL" I would assume that's XL in men's because of the shoe size, but I would feel terrible if it weren't. There were only 6 kids to choose from in my area and 4 were questionable with the sizes and the other 2 wanted an iPod and an Xbox. They had other gifts listed, but I figured I would leave those in case anyone out there could supply those.

 

ANYWAY...it all ended up working out. They sent out an e-mail at work today that they had some last minute additions to the kids from the Children's Shelter and I signed up to get one of them.

[jade2002]

Around here the kids on the tree are all in need of warm clothes and shoes. Very little toy requests, I wonder if the request form is different in different areas. I am planning on adopting an angel and donating a few toys to the toys for tots program. I'm ready for the season. I love the holidays.

The tree at ouir local Walmart is from the Salvation Army. There is always a shoe size,shirt size,pant size,coat size etc. and then they have something down for thier interests. The girl that I picked just said "girly stuff,dress up" for her interest. The boy that I picked had sports and basketball for his interest,this along with all of the sizes that they need. I don't think thats asking for much at all. I did see one that had xbox listed as his interest but I honestly think that when his parents wrote that down,they probably meant xbox related stuff. I mean, most kids wouldn't ask for an xbox, if anything, they would probably ask for an xbox 360 right?

[Kibit13]

One of my Angel tree girls (8) asked for any stuffed animal. I was going to make her a bear at Build a Bear, but I think the Holly Moose doll at Build a Bear is cute too. Holly will be $5 on BF and so will her outfit. I'm not sure which one to give the little girl. What do you all think?

[Kibit13]

I made such a cute bear at Build a Bear for one of my girls.

 

Lil Coconut Bear $10 and I had a $5 off coupon

http://www.buildabear.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m46878_15809L.jpg

 

and

http://www.buildabear.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m46097_13539L.jpg

 

This is the Curly Bear, but the picture gives you an idea of how she looks. So pretty!

http://www.buildabear.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m40137_13439_13539L.jpg

 

I actually think the ballerina outfit fits the Lil Coconut Bear better.