Link to Hope
The theme for January on the Link to Hope calendar is Warm Items, to keep people warm when the temperatures can go as low as -25C.
I live in hope that by January 2027 the situation in Ukraine with energy infrastructure being targeted by Russia will have come to an end and fewer people will be impacted as severely by the cold weather, however with temperatures as low as -25c it’s still important to add warm items to your shoeboxes. Hopefully all the shoe boxes that have been delivered over the last few months have included warm items.
I haven’t seen any bargains yet for hats, scarfs or gloves but if you can knit or crochet there are lots of simple patterns available online. Places like Poundland, One Beyond, Poundstretcher and Proper Job all have yarn available for £1.00- £1.50 a ball. People do give yarn away on sites like Freecycle and Freegle. You could even try saving yarn from an old jumper that isn’t suitable to pass on to a charity shop.
Knitting or crocheting a knee blanket that can be given out with the shoe boxes is another great warm gift and a great introduction to knitting or crocheting for any beginners. The knitted/crocheted knee blankets should be no bigger than 91cm x 91cm (3ft by 3ft).
You can also make simple scarfs from cheap fleece blankets by cutting them into strips. There are also patterns online for making fleece hats which can be fairly simple.
Bargains this month
Christmas scented candle jars reduced to 50p at Dunelm. In store at my local Dunelm there are packs of 4 popcorn flannels for 75p so roughly 19p each, but they don’t appear on line.
Tesco have reduced their musical Christmas character heads to £1.00.
One Beyond have 36 diecast cars for £4.99, and solid shampoo bars for £1.00.
Proper Job have several items that aren’t on special offer but are great prices – 6 thin A5 exercise books for £1.00 (useful for Bags of Education as well as shoeboxes), 2 packs of playing cards and 5 dice for £1.00, 5 pairs of ladies trainer socks for £1.00 and small hot water bottles for £1.20.
Morrisons had reduced maroon flannels to 30p, and 12 felt pens to 47p but had sold out at my local store. They also had medium sized magnifying glasses reduced to 47p.
Till next month 😊.