3 P's Mama Says...: It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!!

Today is THE Day!! The day we are kicking off our Christmas giveaway event, Because It's Christmas that we are doing as a partnership with Kim and Lori from What's That Smell? The event will be run here, on 3 P's Mama Says..., on 3 P's in a Pod, my Family and Fun Blog, AND on Kim and Lori's What's That Smell? Talk about a party!

Let me give you an intro post about the charities we are supporting and some basic info on our giveaways. The first charity we are supporting is near me hear in Texas. It is the Relief Nursery of Collin County and is located in Plano, Texas. The goal of the Relief Nursery of Collin County is to strengthen families and prevent child abuse.

The second charity we are supporting is located near Kim in Indiana. It is the Household Pantry at the First United Methodist Church in Lowell, Indiana. The Household Pantry provides food and other items for low-income families in the area. We will have more detailed information about these 2 charities in the coming weeks.

Tomorrow - Tuesday, November 11th - we will be starting our giveaways. Woohoo!! We have over 40 individual toys to give away and have divided them into 5 different age groups and created "prize packs." We will be taking entries for these prize packs over the next 3 weeks. Almost every day we will be "unwrapping" a new gift from the prize packs and will be taking entries until Nov. 30th. On Dec. 1st we plan on awarding the prize packs!

The 5 prize packs are as follows:

4 toys for roughly a 9-18 months old age range (boy or girl): Total value ~ $147
5 toys for roughly a 2-3 years old age range (boy or girl): Total value ~ $90
14 toys for roughly a 5 year old (more geared towards boys): Total value ~ $260
10 toys for roughly a 6 year old (more geared towards girls): Total value ~ $220
11 toys for roughly a 7 year old (more geared towards girls): Total value ~ $190

The wonderful sponsors we have lined up are also donating the exact same prizes to be divided up between the charities we have listed above! Isn't that terrific? That means we have over 40 individual toys valued at approximately $900 going to charity! I don't know about you, but that just makes me smile!

When we set out to do a Christmas giveaway, we started with the intent to find toys that will help inspire kid's creativity and encourage their imaginations to flourish in a more natural way. We searched for toys with a message, toys made from natural and organic materials, toys that encourage pretend play, and toys that will last and create lasting memories. Most importantly, we sought out toys that kids would just simply have a great time playing with and we think we have found some of the best toys out there!

We hope everyone is as excited as we are to get this ball rolling. Remember, you can earn extra entries for all the giveaways by posting our Because It's Christmas button on your sidebar and make sure that you come back here AND stop by What's That Smell? tomorrow for your first chance to enter!

Buon Natale!