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Adopt-A-Child Program through work - Wow! Expensive Gifts! - Page 3

post #41 of 99
11/26/08 at 1:23am

some suggestions..... :)

child 1: ipod shuffle ($50) as the nano ($149) is out of reach, ipod music card ($25)
child 2: same as child 1 (ipod + music card) or $75 worth of baby phat clothes
child 3: same as child 1 or a $75 digital camera
child 4: PS2 games worth $75 (you can get a lot!)

= $300 all up. of course, feel free to spend less but i thought i'd break it up evenly.

if it's for a girl, i'd get her a pink ipod shuffle, for a boy a silver ipod shuffle.. i suppose you could personalize it that way. and yes i realise not all girls like pink.. just a suggestion.

apple store black friday
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post #42 of 99
11/26/08 at 1:28am
I really want child 3 to get the Spa gift certificate.
post #43 of 99
11/26/08 at 1:32am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ItsBasilThyme View Post
Plus, reading these posts and thinking over it again, it's just not really right to compare the money I spend on my kids to the money I'll be spending on these "adopted" kids. Maybe I'll only spend $50 on my kids for christmas morning, but they get stuff all year long. Not to mention the stability, support and encouragement. It's ridiculous for me to compare the two.
So true. That's such a good point..
post #44 of 99
11/26/08 at 1:37am
My Dad grew up in an orphanage and then went into the foster system.

If you could hear the stories that he has shared with me about growing up in these situations, you would know without a shadow of a doubt that your gifts were going to go a long way not only in warming a heart, but in the self esteem of these kids who so much just want to be like all the other kids.

First and foremost these are kids. Scared, hurt, lonely kids.

What an amazing family you are to budget so much for giving this time of year.
post #45 of 99
11/26/08 at 1:38am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Thystle View Post
Just because they are poor doesnt mean they deserve "cheap".

It's xmas. Make a dream come true.
:

I was a foster kid from the age 14 until I aged out at 18. We participated in an "adopt-a-child" program kind of thing, except for instead of one employee adopting one child, one department/section of the entire company adopted one child. About the middle of November/end of December, we were given a sheet with blanks; name, age, shirt/pant/shoe size, and 10 spaces for what we wanted. I filled it out my name, age, etc. When it got to the spaces for what I wanted, I put pants, (because the group home I was at *didn't* get us clothes but once a year, and that was in summer. They would look through your closet when you were at school/away from the building, count how many shirts/shoes/pants/shorts you had, then say from there what you "needed" regardless of whether the clothes fit or not.) a couple key chains, and 3 specific Max Lucado books. Two days after our houseparents took our lists to the office to be sent to the company, the secretary at the office said I didn't put enough stuff on there, that I needed to fill it up. I didn't *want* anything more than that, as I'm not real big on getting presents. The secretary said something along the lines of "you need to put a lot on there, because they are going to spend a lot of $$ on you." I ended up getting easily $500 worth of stuff just from that one place. (Most of it stuff I honestly didn't have any use for (a Winnie the Pooh talking stuffed animal, a lava lamp, knee high boots, etc.) because I didn't put enough "good" stuff on the list. I don't know what kind of situation the children you are adopting from are in, but I wanted to let you know that it wasn't necessarily that the kids *asked* for that, it may be that the person in charge of turning the sheets over to the organizers of the "adopt-a-child" program *changed* what was put on there. (I know they changed my list, and that's why I got some of the stuff I did, my houseparents heard the secretary talking about it in the office, and told me. Also, she changed my clothes sizes, so instead of well-fitting (not form fitting) 10Tall pants, medium shirts, and size 11 shoes, I ended up with 16 : regular pants, large shirts, and size 10 shoes.
post #46 of 99
11/26/08 at 1:46am
Quote:
Originally Posted by avengingophelia View Post
I'm really bothered by the undertone that these kids are being greedy. They are asking for things their peers have--that's pretty much human nature, isn't it?
I wouldn't say so much greedy (although there are certainly greedy kids out there), as unreasonable. From the gift drive (through DCFS) I coordinated at my church, I've got the kids' sheets next to me - multiple ones have iPod, DVD player, Gameboy, digital camera - all from the same kid. And this is clearly a young person's handwriting. The only sheets that have the same handwriting are the ones for the younger kids - where either the social worker or parent filled the form out.
post #47 of 99
11/26/08 at 3:05am
Apple is having a sale very shortly, that might help. I love the idea of just making the dream come true this one year and changing strategy next year.
post #48 of 99
11/26/08 at 3:43am
This sounds similar to the program we participate in.

We do 5 kids every year. We actually ask for the ones who requested more expensive items. We have the money to give ... so, why not? It's very rewarding to make a kid's (or teen's) wish come true.

If you have the money ... I'd just bite the bullet and do it. Give $100.00 to the food bank this year, and $400.00 for the 4 kids. For the record ... we spend more on those kids than we do on one another or our family.

Walmart (I know, I know) ... black friday (if you want to brave it) has deals on apple ipods. I, too, think the apple ipod (hands down) is the best one out there in terms of ease of use and features. And the shuffle is really not that expensive.
post #49 of 99
11/26/08 at 3:49am
Quote:
Originally Posted by grniys View Post
Really? Only $50? I've never bought an Ipod (dh has an mp3 player) and I thought they were much, much more expensive. Like, over $100.
You can get refurbished iPod shuffles off Apple's website for $39 and a nano for $79. Just sayin'.
post #50 of 99
11/26/08 at 4:04am
Do you know the age of those children? My 7 year old wants a digital camera and I just bought him a child one for $50. It's sturdy and seems decent. They have even cheaper ones at the store, too. I didn't get the cheapest one, I imagine you get what you pay for.
post #51 of 99
11/26/08 at 4:22am
don't forget the batteries, maybe rechargable ones with a recharger. My digital camera takes regular double AA's, so maybe look for something that takes a cheaper battery to replace. Maybe a SD card for the camera too...
post #52 of 99
11/26/08 at 4:31am
If you picked the names, you should stick with them.

However, the programs usually have a built in duplicate set up so that kids don't get screwed over. Or at least that's how it works in my area. The angel trees put up multiple tags for the same kid all over the area, and the gifts that get returned don't generally end up with that kid. People unwrap the presents, pull out any notes or additional gift cards/cash (the notes were so sad to look at; such encouraging words that the recipient would never see; broke my heart), and sort the gifts according to age/gender/etc. The group I volunteered with was Christian based, so non-Christian toys were put to the side to be returned (comic book character toys, anything scary, etc). After that, parents were invited to come in and 'shop' for their kids...each kid got a certain amount of points, and the gifts were rated in points...clothing was lower points, toys were higher. The gift cards were used by the agency to purchase additional items in deficent categories.

After seeing all this, it made me really pissed off that the hand-selected gift I mulled over for hours in the mall was ripped to it's individual components and piled in various corners of a wearhouse. Thus, I no longer do the giving trees in my area. If I knew for sure the kid/adult was getting the gift, I'd go all out and get the Spiderman/Venom set for a boy w/o fears of it getting returned for being unChristian.

If you know for sure the kids will get your gifts, get them their dreams. If there's a chance the gift set up is run like my local one, do the gift cards to target and support the food bank.
post #53 of 99
11/26/08 at 4:35am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bender View Post
If you picked the names, you should stick with them.

However, the programs usually have a built in duplicate set up so that kids don't get screwed over. Or at least that's how it works in my area. The angel trees put up multiple tags for the same kid all over the area, and the gifts that get returned don't generally end up with that kid. People unwrap the presents, pull out any notes or additional gift cards/cash (the notes were so sad to look at; such encouraging words that the recipient would never see; broke my heart), and sort the gifts according to age/gender/etc. The group I volunteered with was Christian based, so non-Christian toys were put to the side to be returned (comic book character toys, anything scary, etc). After that, parents were invited to come in and 'shop' for their kids...each kid got a certain amount of points, and the gifts were rated in points...clothing was lower points, toys were higher. The gift cards were used by the agency to purchase additional items in deficent categories.

After seeing all this, it made me really pissed off that the hand-selected gift I mulled over for hours in the mall was ripped to it's individual components and piled in various corners of a wearhouse. Thus, I no longer do the giving trees in my area. If I knew for sure the kid/adult was getting the gift, I'd go all out and get the Spiderman/Venom set for a boy w/o fears of it getting returned for being unChristian.

If you know for sure the kids will get your gifts, get them their dreams. If there's a chance the gift set up is run like my local one, do the gift cards to target and support the food bank.
that's shocking!!!!!!

that would totally turn me off too.
post #54 of 99
11/26/08 at 5:37am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bender View Post
If you picked the names, you should stick with them.

However, the programs usually have a built in duplicate set up so that kids don't get screwed over. Or at least that's how it works in my area. The angel trees put up multiple tags for the same kid all over the area, and the gifts that get returned don't generally end up with that kid. People unwrap the presents, pull out any notes or additional gift cards/cash (the notes were so sad to look at; such encouraging words that the recipient would never see; broke my heart), and sort the gifts according to age/gender/etc. The group I volunteered with was Christian based, so non-Christian toys were put to the side to be returned (comic book character toys, anything scary, etc). After that, parents were invited to come in and 'shop' for their kids...each kid got a certain amount of points, and the gifts were rated in points...clothing was lower points, toys were higher. The gift cards were used by the agency to purchase additional items in deficent categories.

After seeing all this, it made me really pissed off that the hand-selected gift I mulled over for hours in the mall was ripped to it's individual components and piled in various corners of a wearhouse. Thus, I no longer do the giving trees in my area. If I knew for sure the kid/adult was getting the gift, I'd go all out and get the Spiderman/Venom set for a boy w/o fears of it getting returned for being unChristian.

If you know for sure the kids will get your gifts, get them their dreams. If there's a chance the gift set up is run like my local one, do the gift cards to target and support the food bank.
This, to me, is the problem with religious based charities and usually private charities in general. Government charities tend to be much more universal.
post #55 of 99
11/26/08 at 5:46am
For the child that wants a DVD player, you can get a decent portable DVD player at Target for under $100.

For the kids that want ipods, the shuffles are excellent.
post #56 of 99
11/26/08 at 6:00am
As for the ipods, I would go with a refurbished Nano over a shuffle. Yeah, the shuffle is good, but it's not the same thing. It's nowhere near as snazzy and fun, you can put photos on there, it has silly games, I doný know - it's just a bit more special.
post #57 of 99
11/26/08 at 7:42am
Quote:
Originally Posted by KateKat View Post
Since you've already planned on giving $500, I would bite the bullet and do the $400 for the toys and the $100 for the food pantry and just not participate ever again.

I think the lists are pretty outrageous, but think your husband would make a bad impression at his new job if he tried to unadopt 3 of the kids.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mamajama View Post
I really can't figure out why you would consider 'unadopting' three of the kids! It's almost too perfect that you actually already budget for Christmas charity giving just about exactly the amount it would cost to buy the kids' gifts.

I think that you should have fun spoiling those kids rotten.
I agree!

So glad that you decided to go ahead and spoil them.
post #58 of 99
11/26/08 at 1:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by bender View Post
If you picked the names, you should stick with them.

However, the programs usually have a built in duplicate set up so that kids don't get screwed over. Or at least that's how it works in my area. The angel trees put up multiple tags for the same kid all over the area, and the gifts that get returned don't generally end up with that kid. People unwrap the presents, pull out any notes or additional gift cards/cash (the notes were so sad to look at; such encouraging words that the recipient would never see; broke my heart), and sort the gifts according to age/gender/etc. The group I volunteered with was Christian based, so non-Christian toys were put to the side to be returned (comic book character toys, anything scary, etc). After that, parents were invited to come in and 'shop' for their kids...each kid got a certain amount of points, and the gifts were rated in points...clothing was lower points, toys were higher. The gift cards were used by the agency to purchase additional items in deficent categories.

After seeing all this, it made me really pissed off that the hand-selected gift I mulled over for hours in the mall was ripped to it's individual components and piled in various corners of a wearhouse. Thus, I no longer do the giving trees in my area. If I knew for sure the kid/adult was getting the gift, I'd go all out and get the Spiderman/Venom set for a boy w/o fears of it getting returned for being unChristian.

If you know for sure the kids will get your gifts, get them their dreams. If there's a chance the gift set up is run like my local one, do the gift cards to target and support the food bank.
I will never donate to Toys for Tots for this reason. A couple of years ago, my niece worked at a Rec Center that served as a distribution point for the T4T program. At the end of the day, the T4T people told the people working at the Rec Center to take home all the left over toys! My niece brought some home and gave them to my kids and I felt horrible about it, but she said the T4T people wouldn't take the left overs back with them. Like there weren't kids somewhere that they could find who needed them? I don't know if that was SOP for T4T or if they had a group of lazy workers who didn't feel like taking the extra toys back, but it really was a wake up call to me about programs like this.
post #59 of 99
11/26/08 at 2:20pm
A few of you have shared your experiences with angel trees. Can I share mine? It's not always a bad thing to unadopt...
A few years ago I was an office manager and was supposed to set up the Christmas giving for our district employees. I sent in our registration for 8 children as soon the group was accepting applications. Our employees were really looking forward to giving so I even followed up to make sure our registration was in process. Long story short, the charity organization lost our registration and thankfully, for us, someone had to "unadopt" a family of 3 children. The employees went all out and got everything on the kids' lists (shoes, pants, baby doll, tonka trucks) and then selected food to fill their pantry. We were able to contact the family directly to get accurate toy preferences, food preferences, and clothing sizes. It was a joy to see their eyes light up when we delivered their gifts.
I'm glad you made the decision to spoil the kids, but I guess I wouldn't feel bad about unadopting either.
post #60 of 99
11/26/08 at 2:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by *Jade* View Post
As for the ipods, I would go with a refurbished Nano over a shuffle. Yeah, the shuffle is good, but it's not the same thing. It's nowhere near as snazzy and fun, you can put photos on there, it has silly games, I doný know - it's just a bit more special.

Yes go for the refurbished nano. :

Thank you for spoiling these kids. you will be setting down memories that they will remember for the rest of their lives!!!!!
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