Giving back this Christmas (with some help from Cost PlusWorld Market )

I am excited to share this post with you!  I don’t know about you but the Christmas season can get a little crazy.    Amidst all the shopping, baking, decorating, wrapping, and extra parties the real reason for this season can easily get forgotten.  Christmas is a season of giving… a season of reflecting on the greatest gift that was given to us and then showing our appreciation for that gift by giving back to others.    A season for sharing joy with others.

There are so many ways you can focus on giving back to others this holiday season – maybe baking some treats or a meal for an elderly neighbor, helping a single mom get her shopping done or even providing some gifts for her kids,  or finding a charity to donate to in your area.   I was really excited when I was contacted to participate with the World Market Share the Joy campaign and get to give to those in need this December.

I contacted a women and children’s shelter in my area and found out some things they needed.  Then I headed to World Market see what I could find.

One of the things the shelter said they needed was towels.  And World Market had some beautiful towels and they were one sale too!

I also wanted to pick up some things for the kids – whether the shelter used them as Christmas gifts for a child who may not have any gifts or just for toys for them to play with while we were there.  World Market had some fun vintage toys to choose from.

And the food.  If you have never stepped foot in World Market, you need to stop in just to check out some of their food!  Of course they have all the gift items right now – tins of cookies and treats but their international food is amazing!  Tons of flavorings, coffees, treats, spices from other countries and all at a great price too.

I loved this decoupaged deer and this Christmas display!  But I was focused on buying for others not me, so he stayed at the store this time.

I had a lot of fun filling my buggy with things that I knew the shelter could use and that I thought would be a blessing to them.  I have to say, when I got to the check out and was ready to pay the cashier was so nice and pulled out a 10% off coupon for me to use on my whole order!  So with the money I saved I was able to get another towel and washcloth – so thank you wonderful cashier for helping me give even MORE!

Here is all the wonderful things I found.  Lots of towels and washcloths in cheery colors, a beautiful blanket, some toys and games for the kids, snacks, and some coffee too.  And then some beautiful reusable bags – another thing the shelter said they could use was some way for the people there to store their individual things.

Then I got to deliver all these goodies!  I can’t tell you how amazing it felt to drop off bags full of things to people who truly needed them!  To protect the safety of the people that are at this shelter and the employees too (it was actually more of a shelter for abused or domestic violence victims – women and children with no place to go), I couldn’t take a picture in the shelter or with any of the employees.    But one of the workers took my picture with all the goodies I was about to give them.

I can’t explain the feeling I had driving away from that shelter.   Knowing that I was able to have a small part in helping people that need a little extra joy this Christmas was better than getting every gift on my Christmas list.   I actually left there and went right to my church to prepare for a Community Christmas program so it has been an entire weekend of sharing the joy with others.  Giving back – that is what Christmas is about.  Not about all the gifts we can get, or the many things on our to-do list.  It is sharing joy with others because of the greatest gift and joy that was given to us.

Make sure to check out World Market’s site here,  you can follow them on facebook here, on twitter here, and they are even on Pinterest – follow them here!

World Market also wants to give back to one of their fans too with the Share the Joy sweepstakes.

• Grand Prize package includes: A $5,000 American Express Gift Card for you and $5,000 for a charity of your choice
• You could be one of 5 winners (one winner per week).
• Share the Joy Sweepstakes ends 12/21/12.

Go here to enter the Share the Joy sweepstakes or you can enter from their facebook page.

How will you give back this Christmas? Need to create a gift basket for someone? Maybe take a trip to World Market and create a beautiful food basket for someone with all their wonderful coffees, flavorings, and international foods.

Disclosure:  This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group™ and World Market, but all my opinions are my own.