Last week, our door bell rang which doesn't happen all that often in our house. The boys excitedly ran to the door and we all opened it together to discover a big bucket of Halloween goodies and one of the boy's best friend's family dashing into their car.
We'd been "Boo-ed!"
Of course, the boys inhaled the candy and played with all of the goodies and then we planned who we were going to "Boo" to keep the fun going! We made baskets and secretly passed them out to 4 houses and only got caught by one neighbor... It was terribly fun!
And then this weekend, we got "Boo-ed" again!!!
And then Mom actually got a few mini-Snickers out of the bucket...
And thus the quest to find a home for the Halloween candy began!!!
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| Here are the boys decorating the house last night with spider webs that were in our "Boo-ed" package! |
This year I am planning ahead so that Mom & Dad don't hide the boys' candy after Halloween (again) and eat it all themselves (again) and never again fit into our already snug clothes (again)!!!
So, I turned to Pinterest(my four addictions are: Halloween candy-well, okay... anything with sugar in it, sewing, burlap, and Pinterest!!!)
I found this...
Looks perfect!
I'll make a batch for church or neighbors, but then I will want to sample some...
And I'll eat it all!!!
And then I start remembering reading something about donating Halloween candy to the military sometime ago... I scoured the web and found Soldiers' Angels and Operation Gratitude.
Then I read this...
We received the following letter from a Marine:
“I live with 17 Marines and Sailors in one room. Everyone got a
package and everyone loved it especially the cookies and beanie babies.
The cookies are excellent and the beanie babies help us out a lot with
the local kids. We give them candy and toys and they give us the
location for IED’s. Once again, thank you for everything and for all the
hard work that you put into the package. LCPL ND”
Your old Beanie Baby, Webkinz and Troll collections can save the lives of our heroes!
Please donate them to our cause–they will be priceless.
Game changer!!!
Candy and toys saving lives of our heroes and reminding the soldiers we love and care about their well being... What a no brainer!!!
So this year while you are out trick-or-treating, if you live near us, stop by and we'll have several buckets for you to throw your donations into.
If you don't have any goodies, consider a cash donation to Soldiers' Angels or Operation Gratitude
for them to ship their packages to the troops!!!
We will also have paper and crayons so that kiddos can make cards for troops to help the soldiers feel our love and support!
You can also donate any day of the year, as the need is great and doesn't end when the holidays are done...
If you are going to start a collection yourself, please send your items to the organization of your choice:
Soldiers' Angels at one of three locations:
Soldiers’ Angels, Six Months of Christmas, 5068 US HWY 64 East, Franklinville, NC 27248
or
Soldiers’ Angels, Six Months of Christmas,1792 E Washington Blvd,Pasadena, CA 91104
or
Soldiers' Angels Texas, 4408 N. PanAm Expressway, San Antonio, TX 78218.
For Operation Gratitude, ship candy to
Operation Gratitude/California Army National Guard, Halloween Candy, 17330 Victory Boulevard,
Van Nuys, CA 91406, Attn: Rich Hernandez
Phone: 262-674-7281 (262-OPGRAT-1)
Check with the organization through which you are sending
the candy to be sure you are including all necessary information.
Operation Gratitude, for instance, requires a completed donation form in
each box of candy(
Donation Form), while Soldiers' Angels asks you to include your
name, address,
phone
number, and an itemized list of contents.
Many
dentists in your area also participate in the Halloween Candy Buy Back
program and they donate their candy to one of the groups.
Have a Happy Halloween and God Bless the U.S.A. and don't forget to bring your candy donations by our house through Sat. Nov. 3rd.
