UPDATE on Post #1 - DELIVERED TODAY = Mother's Day Shelter Baskets *PICS*

[eriluo]

As most of you know, I make up shelter packs for my local women's shelter around the holidays and Mother's Day this year is no exception

With the continued use of the wonderful RAOKs of both coupons and products I have received from awesome SC members such as Linny, Patty_Smyth, Marlibu, LittleMoe0, star2009, divaonadime, gasjoc, Ceren, Hallie's mom, SampleGurl, khipson, Canadian Chick, harbie, BarginShopper, cesme77 and Bloo to name a few along with the VWTs I have been on, I was able to put together some awesome Mother's Day Shelter Baskets together to drop off at the women's shelter next weekend, just in time for Mother's Day!

Believe it or not, because of everyone's generosity and my power shopping escapades, even after these baskets, I still have half the stash I need already for another basket prep, whenever that may be, not sure yet, but may be Canada Day or Labour Day or Thanksgiving or perhaps even for a "Just Because" basket sometime this summer!

So thanks to all of you who helped and donated coupons and/or products, as well as all the SC members I traded with or got coupons from on wishlist trains, thank you, thank you, thank you for allowing me to donate more stuff to my local women's shelter.

So without further adieu, here are my photos of my Mother's Day Basket assembly:


These baskets wer $1.25 ea. @ Dollarama and can be used as waste baskets after the fact, so they serve a dual purpose








The Garnier Fructis 2 in 1 shampoo was bought on sale when it was $1.49 and I used the $3.00 off coupon WUB2 to get them for free, the hair products were bought on sale with coupons. The Dove body wash was bought at $3.99 - $1.50 coupons (thanks to LittleMoe0 for all the coupons for these!) and came with Bonus Dove Men+ wash (which I removed). The St. Ives Body Lotion were bought at $2.99 ea. - $1.00 coupons. Some of the shaving cream was RAOKs to me and some of it I got for .99 using the Brandsaver coupons. Most of the deodorant was still the .16 Secret variety and others were RAOKs and the Dove soap I used the $1.50 coupons to buy 3 - 4 packs. The Scope Crest toothpastes were the ones from this past winter when they came in a bonus 3 pack and were on sale for less than $1.00 after coupons, the toothbrushes were purchased for .99 ea., the body poufs were in sets of three for $1.00 ea. at Dollarama, the Life Brand facial masks were .50 ea. on clearance, the Schick Intuition razors were $2.99 ea. on sale after using $2.00 coupons, the Venus Embrace Razors were $3.99 ea. on sale after using $2.00 coupons and most of the pads were RAOKS and the rest were purchased using the $5.00 stayfree coupons WUB3 and the Tampax were bought on sale using the BOGO coupons.


I figured Mother's Day isn't Mother's Day without chocolate and flowers, so I bought 12 felt sunflowers from Dollarama for $1.00 ea. and got 12 boxes of Lindor Spring Chocolates at Metro on clearance for $2.15 ea.






That's how the basket's looked naked without basket wrap




And here are the finished products.

I look forward to delivering them next weekend and I'll be sure to update the post once they are delivered. Thanks again to everyone's continued support of my efforts. You guys rock!

Happy early Mother's Day Everyone

***********************************
UPDATE as of Saturday, May 8th, 2010 - 2:30 pm

Jack and I just returned from delivering the Mother's Day Shelter Baskets

Here is a shot of them in my van on this snowy Saturday



I picked up a 10 cup of coffee box from Timmies' as the shelter is an hour out of town and made our way there.

When we got there, I gave the shelter worker the coffee and baskets (a new worker whom I didn't know), so I explained who I was, and right away she said, "Did you do those Easter Baskets?". When I said "YES", she said "Those were amazing and these look awesome too!"

That gave me pleasure hearing that and from the vehicles parked outside the shelter, I think they may have had a fuller house than usual, so I was happy I came when I did

When I came back to the van, Jack who has autism and was waiting for my return, said out of the blue, "Happy Mother's Day, Mom!"

That was the icing on the cake to my day and have now returned to be thankful for my blessings, friends at SC and my family's support of this cause!

Happy Mother's Day Everyone!

[super_e]

Absolutely fantastic!
I love the dual-purpose waste baskets.

[WandaM]

I love your baskets, you are a very thoughtful person.

[North Star]

That's awesome! I'm sure they'll be much appreciated

[couponjunkie]

beauTeeeful!

[blinkie]

Beautiful, you make everything looks so nice!

[Minou]

Beautiful baskets, and so generous!

How many women are in the shelter? Would there be some longer-term residents who would have received the Easter baskets? I'm sure they're astounded by your generosity!

[lucsmom2003]

wtg............great job

[iheartcoupons]

The baskets look great!

[carlyincanada]

Wow, awesome baskets filled with goodies! Sure they will love them! So nice of you to donate & make Mothers Day special for the ladies!

Scers Rock!

[eriluo]

Beautiful baskets, and so generous!

How many women are in the shelter? Would there be some longer-term residents who would have received the Easter baskets? I'm sure they're astounded by your generosity!

It's a ten-bedroom shelter but two of the rooms have two bed each, so if they are full to the brim, the max. capacity is 12, so that's why I always make 12 baskets. The maximum stay at one time is typically 6 weeks, so perhaps there may be a few Easter basket recipients still there.

Thanks everyone for your kind remarks.

[BookMom]

What a wonderful post!! Thank you so much for posting this - your generosity is going to mean so much to the women in the shelter!

[Natalka]

Wow, you ROCK with your generosity!

[toothfairy]

That is very thoughtful of you, they look beautiful!

[watergirl73]

Awesome job once yet again!!!