September 2026 – Link to Hope toys and games month, and ideas for reducing the cost of filling a shoebox.
Link to Hope
The featured items on the Link to Hope Shoebox calendar for September are toys and games. The calendar says, ‘Send fun in your shoebox with a yo yo, skipping rope, toy cars, draughts, dominoes and playing cards etc.’ https://linktohope.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Link-to-Hope-shoebox-calendar-design.jpg
Games are important for elderly boxes as well as family boxes, and a small game is one of the essential items. My main choice is a pack of playing cards, which can still be bought for 50p if you shop around. Poundland has a set with two packs of playing cards and four dice. Some stores strangely also have one pack of cards for £1.00, so do check along the shelves. Proper Job has a set with two packs of cards and five dice for £1.00, and you can order online if you do not have a store nearby. If you live near south Wales, or are going there on holiday, What! stores have three packs of cards for £1.00.
For elderly boxes, I sometimes add a set of dominoes. Home Bargains has a set for 79p, and Proper Job has them for £1.00. Poundland sometimes sell them too, but I have not seen any recently.
For family boxes, I often still add a set of playing cards, but another option is to print out a snakes and ladders game and add a dice along with buttons or counters. I fold the printout and put everything in a zip lock bag. You could also use an envelope and add a small piece of Velcro to the flap to keep everything safe. This is the site I usually use for the printout, although there are others available online. https://classplayground.com/shared/pdf/Snakes_And_Ladders_US_Letter2.pdf
I usually try to add an uninflated football and a small football pump. Prices vary a lot, so it is worth shopping around. I tend to buy footballs from either eBay or Amazon, but I always compare prices. I bought 20 for £15.98, which included one football pump. For the other pumps, I bought mini ones from Temu for 93p each. They were more expensive this year than I have paid in previous years, but they work well and do not take up much room.
This year I have managed to buy skipping ropes for 50p from Asda, Morrisons and The Works. Dunelm also advertised them for 50p, but after I bought some for click and collect from two different stores, I received messages saying neither store had any in stock. Thankfully, I then found exactly the same ones in Asda for 50p. Tesco currently has the same ones too, but they are £1.00.
Link to Hope also suggests yoyos. You can sometimes find packs of four medium-sized plastic yoyos in the party bag ranges at B&M or Home Bargains. I’ve also bought some wooden ones from Temu this week, which work out at 32p each.
I always put a few toy cars in the family boxes. I bought a pack of 50 small cars from Temu and a pack of 36 cars from One Beyond. They ranged from 10p to 14p per car, and I also bought a couple of slightly larger cars from a charity stall at a summer event for 50p each. I put a wanted request on Freegle and received about 20 toy cars from one Freegler.
I have managed to get a few Barbie-type dolls this year. Three came from the same charity stall where I bought the cars, and at £1.00 each they were great value. (They have needed some work on their hair). At the start of the year, I bought a pack of five fashion dolls from The Works, reduced to £6.00, which made them £1.20 each. They have recently had similar individual dolls reduced to £1.50. I hope to make at least one additional dress for each doll.
Soft toys are another lovely gift to add, but they need to be reasonably small so there is still room for other items in the shoebox. A nearby charity shop has a 50p dog toy box, where soft toys that have not sold seem to be placed. Some have had the CE label removed, which unfortunately means they are not suitable for the shoebox, but there are usually some with the label still attached. I have seen people giving away soft toys on Freecycle and Freegle, but they tend to be too big for shoeboxes. I’ve also bought some bundles from eBay, which work out at between 60p and 84p each.
Another toy I’ve bought this year is small building block sets from Temu, which cost between 22p and 25p per pack. As a final suggestion, small jigsaw puzzles can also work well for family or elderly boxes, depending on the picture and number of pieces. Card-sized jigsaws are often inexpensive and can sometimes be found among party bag items. For larger jigsaws, charity shops and free sites are good options. Depending on the size of the puzzle box, either place other items inside it before adding it to your shoebox, or put the puzzle pieces in a zip lock bag, cut out the picture from the box lid, and fold it so it fits.
Shoebox challenge – fill a shoebox for free
This is the second year where I’ve decided to try and fill a shoebox for free. I don’t think I would send a shoebox only containing free items though if the items are good quality there’s no reason not to. The aim of this challenge is to show that you can fill a shoebox inexpensively, or use the ideas to make your shoebox as full as possible without costing the earth – financially and literally.
I use sites like Freegle and Freecycle to find items people no longer want that are still in great condition – sometimes brand new. Freegle and Freecycle aim to prevent items going into landfill. You could also try the free section on Gum Tree or similar sites, and ask family members, friends, colleagues for items you can add.
So far this year via Freegle I’ve received some new bamboo toothbrushes, men’s braces, socks, glass cases, lots of sewing threads, and sewing accessories including a small pair of scissors, men’s socks, reading glasses, necklace, hat and gloves, shower gel, soap, coloured crayons etc. I also put a request for men’s ties and have so far received 15, and small toy cars and received over 20.
The link below will take you to the page with the details of my virtually free shoeboxes.
https://bramleybuttons.co.uk/how-to-fill-a-shoebox-for-free-2026
Bargain Buys
Asda had an adult black fleece hat and gloves set reduced to £2.00, a children’s set of hat, scarf and mittens set for £2.00, and a set of black knitted gloves for 50p. The Works had lots of pens reduced to 10p including ones with fidget toys on the end. (Check the price in your local store as one branch had them reduced to £1.00 rather than 10p.) They also had skipping ropes reduces to 50p.
Aldi have packs of 10 wax crayons reduced to 49p and wool reduced to 89p, and Primark have trainer socks reduced to £2.00 for 7 pairs.
Till next month.