So, Sonia turned 5 the other day, and it occurred to me that almost all of her gifts came from Goodwill this year. Lest you think this is a cruel and unusual form of parenting punishment, let me show you her loot. Because we managed to buy most of her presents at Goodwill, she actually got nicer presents than she would have otherwise.
First up is a Tinkerbell backpack on wheels. Sonia loves Tinkerbell, even though she has never seen the Peter Pan movie. She just likes the diminutive blonde fairy, probably because she is diminutive and blonde herself. She saw this backpack at Goodwill and immediately fell in love. She does already have a backpack(which we use to carry her stuff when we go on vacation), but she REALLY wanted this one. It has some other kid’s name written on the back of it, but she doesn’t care. It’s Tinkerbell, and it has wheels. The other kids are quite jealous. 😉
I paid $4 for the backpack(it was $7, but the cashier at Goodwill was so taken with Sonia, she marked it down to $4 when she heard it was for her birthday. Sonia has that effect on people.)
Sonia’s old backpack got handed down to Zoe, who is quite thrilled to have a pink backpack of her own.
Secondly, she got a new-in-the-package Tinkerbell watch. She’s been asking for a watch for quite some time, so I snatched this one up when I saw it. It was $6.99, and I decided that was a pretty good deal when I saw the exact same one online for $32.
Thirdly, she got a sparkly butterfly shirt. She didn’t really need a new shirt, but she loves short sleeve shirts with sparkles on them. This cost me a whole $2.
The last thing I bought from Goodwill was two packages of tape. These were $1 each. I know that tape seems like a really unusual present, but Sonia LOVES tape, and she was thrilled to death to have two rolls of her own. She’s been taping up a storm ever since her birthday.
Joshua and Lisey usually buy Sonia a present too, and this year we happened upon a wonderful gift for her at Goodwill. Sonia adores baths, and she really enjoys bath soaps, bath confetti, bath fizzers, and all that sort of stuff. We found a bunch of packs of brand new jumbo bath fizzers one day at Goodwill, and they were only $.50 each. A tiny pack of little fizzers costs twice as much at Five Below, so we were really pleased with this bargain. Joshua and Lisey each bought her a pack, so she’s set for six fizzy baths.
Her only non-Goodwill present was a Klean Kanteen…this we bought new from Amazon, and it was her most expensive present at $18. My husband and I both have Klean Kanteens and the kids have really been wanting one of their own. Sonia is very pleased with her little pink one.
I poked around the internet to find comparable items and here are the prices I found:
Tinkerbell backpack-$35
Tinkerbell watch-$32
Two packs of Scotch tape-$3
Butterfly shirt-probably $5
Bath fizzers-probably at least $2 each for each package
If we’d paid retail for all that, our total would have been $82, which is way over our birthday budget. Instead, we only paid $16, which meant we had plenty of money leftover to buy a Klean Kanteen for her. 🙂
Sonia thinks Goodwill is very possibly the best store on the face of the planet, so when she found out that most of her presents came from there, she was anything but upset. I’m sure that when she’s 16, I’m not going to be able to buy all of her birthday presents from Goodwill, but for now she’s happy, I’m happy, and my birthday budget is happy too. 🙂
Kimberli
Wednesday 20th of October 2010
I love Goodwill myself as well. Last year most of my children's Christmas presents came from there. My oldest comes up with off the way Christmas requests and it thankfully willing to wait until goodwill comes out with it before she receives it (I trained her well!) For 5 years straight she had begged me for a robot for Christmas and I finally found on in it's original packaging for 3 dollars. It was a robot dog... but it suited her just fine and she read the book that came with it cover to cover and had that robot dog trained before the night was through! A few years ago she was wanting an American Girl doll but there is no way I can afford an 88 dollar doll! But, I found a 5 dollar doll that wears all the same clothes and looks just like one of them. She was thrilled!
The Frugal Girl » A little Goodwill find
Tuesday 26th of May 2009
[...] to the fact that a Goodwill opened up right next to Aldi). I’ve found lots of rockin’ stuff for the kids there, but I’ve also found a few things for [...]
Jennifer
Tuesday 24th of March 2009
Kristen,
What a fun post. I too am a Goodwill-a-holic and a tape-for-gifts type mom. I have never read your blog until now and find it very informative and interesting. Thanks for taking the time to post, it's fun to read!
Katy Wolk-Stanley
Monday 23rd of March 2009
Kristen,
What Awesome presents! We also buy all our presents at Goodwill, and give such better gifts because we do. It is of course it's hit-and-miss, so you have to keep an eye out for gifts all year long. But it is sooo worth doing so.
You didn't mention your re-usable fabric gift bags, but they look great. ( I recognize them from your Xmas posts.) I have a goal of zero-waste from gift wrapping and am inspired to make bags like yours. You should make a few extra and have a contest to win a few. (I would do a link to it on The Non-Consumer Advocate!)
Katy Wolk-Stanley The Non-Consumer Advocate
"Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without."
Tiredmom
Saturday 21st of March 2009
I have to agree that teens don't necessarily outgrow a love of Goodwill. Both of my daughters (14 and 16) LOVE to shop there because they can get name brands that I would NOT pay full price for. Neither are they eager to spend their own hard earned cash on clothes at the mall when they KNOW they can find something comparable for a FRACTION of the price at a thrift store.