Toys for Tots Shopping Spree

On Sunday, November 26th, I went to Toys R Us with other students in the Honors Program to shop for toys for the Toys for Tots drive. We were supposed to meet everyone in the Campus Center lobby at 2:00 before heading to the store. To my surprise, there were already a bunch of people waiting by the time I got there. Kate Volpe, the coordinator of the event, walked in a few minutes after I arrived, and we left soon after. One thing I really liked about this event was that we were able to drive ourselves to the location, rather than commuting all together on a shuttle bus. I’m not sure why I enjoyed driving myself so much, probably because I gained a sense of freedom from being able to play whatever music I wanted.
When we got to Toys R Us, we all met up outside the store and went over the game plan. Kate explained that we would be split up into groups of three with a $45.00 spending budget, and that we would receive certain age groups to shop for. After my group and I were asked to shop for 12 to 13 year olds, we quickly grabbed a shopping cart and headed into the store.
It was a lot more challenging to shop for 12 to 13 year olds than I thought it would be, mainly because it was difficult to find toys that weren’t too babyish. I called my 12 year old sister to get ideas about what her age group likes to do and she suggested art supplies, which I thought was a really good idea. We headed over to the arts and crafts section where we found a $10.00 beading set to make necklaces and bracelets. We also found a cute little ukulele for $21.00 that I thought would be perfect for our target age group. With about $10.00 left in our budget, we found a Nerf gun and proceeded to the check-out line.
Afterwards at our reflection session, the group discussed how eye-opening it was to shop for disadvantaged kids. A lot of people, including myself, were surprised by how expensive many of the toys were; With $45.00, my group was only able to purchase three gifts! The experience showed me how difficult this time of year can be for struggling parents who only want to give their kids a memorable holiday.
All in all, I enjoyed my Toys for Tots experience and look forward to participating again next year!