April 2026 – Accessories month for Link to Hope shoeboxes. Spring Open weekend at the Farm Animal Sanctuary.
Link to Hope
The theme for April is accessories – Bring fun with hair accessories, jewellery, small bags/purses, umbrella, sunglasses. Other options include belts, ties, ladies’ headscarves or thin summery neck scarves. You could class handkerchiefs as accessories.
I usually buy several packs of hair bands in different colours and add a few to a small toile bag along with a few coloured hair clips. You can buy the toile bags from craft stores, but also off Amazon, eBay and Temu. Morrisons, Home Bargains, B&M, Poundland etc all have packs of hairbands, and hair clips for reasonable prices.
It’s relatively easy to make scrunchies or knitted headbands for something unique and handmade. I usually add some jewellery to the shoeboxes. I might add a kit with beads and elastic for a child to make their own bracelet, and I try to add brooches to the elderly boxes. Temu sometimes have cheap brooches, or there are often collections of costume jewellery on eBay, but prices do vary considerably – always double check the description and pictures to check the items aren’t broken.
A foldable shopping bag or backpack are also useful accessories. There are patterns on the internet and Pinterest to make simple shopping bags and providing the fabric isn’t too thick they don’t take up too much room in the shoe box.
Register with your local Freecycle or Freegle group to see if anyone is giving away any good quality accessories. I got a bag of beads and a collection of broken jewellery from Freegle a few months ago, I will make bracelet kits with the bag of beads, try and repair some items, and I’ll try and make brooches from some of the pieces. I’ve previously got a bag of ties from Freegle, and I’ve seen people giving away tote bags they’ve picked up at conferences/events.
The Farm Animal Sanctuary
The sanctuary opens it doors at weekends this month for visitors, and next month hosts an open weekend, where in addition to seeing the animals there will be activities arranged as well as stalls selling gifts and food – including Golden Glaze Doughnuts. I’ll be there both days this year with a stall selling hand made items to raise funds for the sanctuary. The event is on 9 and 10 May from 10:00am – 4:00pm both days.
This is one of their main fundraising events of the year, and having purchased the site last year, they now need to find funds not only to maintain care for the animals, but also to maintain and improve the site.
Bargain Buys
I haven’t found any reductions so far this month, but Poundland seem to have some reasonable options which fit in with this month’s theme. They still have a 12 pack of combs for £1.00 which is much cheaper than anywhere else I’ve seen. They also have 25 hair clips or 50 hair bands for £1.00. (B&M have 20 for 89p) Not on theme but Poundland also had 2 packs of playing cards and 5 dice for £1.00 (same price as Proper Job.).