What I learned When Packing Christmas Hampers

Each year, my kids school sends home a slip of paper in early December. The paper has an item of food to buy on it. Each child is given a different item, and they are used to make up hampers of food to give out to families that may be struggling at Christmas time.  Each year, I have gone out and bought the item on the list, and sometimes a little extra as well.

This year, our principal asked if any school council members would like to be involved in the project, and I quickly added my name.

The other day, I went in with another mom to sort, organize and pack the hampers. We use a laundry basket to put all the food and supplies into. I quickly realized that we have an incredibly generous community. We had so much to pack in to the hampers, it was quite wonderful to see. However, at the same time, it made me realize something. While everyone is being super generous, there is too much. Too many canned items to fit into the baskets, along with the cereal, pasta, kleenex, crackers and other goods.

We only have a laundry basket to put things into. Only so much will fit. While everyone is doing this to be kind and generous (I have done it in the past as well), what would work better is to purchase the item your child chose or was designated - and if you WANT to send in more, a cash donation so that it could be used towards a gift card to a local grocery store would be best. This way, the family could use it towards fresh fruits and vegetables, or other perishable items to round out the non-perishables that have been collected.

As I said earlier, I have also sent in more than was asked for to be used in hampers; it just never occurred to me until I was actually packing them, that a card to be used towards non-perishable, high protein items would be a great addition to their hampers.