My $50 Gift Basket - Pampers Miracle Mission Giveaway

Two days ago, I posted a giveaway on my blog.  A lucky winner will win a $50 gift card to "Pay It Forward" with Pampers Miracle Missions campaign.  Part of this giveaway included Pampers giving me a $50 gift card to see how creative I can be with "Paying It Forward."  I'm also giving away a $50 gift card to one of my lucky readers to "Pay it Forward."  CLICK HERE TO ENTER!

I contacted a local Army National Guard unit that recently deployed to Afghanistan.  A woman, whose husband is serving and is currently deployed, had a baby about a month ago.  Tomorrow, I'm going to be giving her a gift basket, but I wanted to share how I maximized this gift. 

The Final Product!

Cost Out of Pocket:  $49.88 (.12 cents to spare!)

Total Worth:  Over $96.00!

Breakdown of Purchases:

Lowe's

1 Annual Garden Plant - $3.98

(I added some tissue paper and ribbon to make it look fancy in the basket)

Total with Tax:  $4.23

Dollar Tree

1 Balloon - $1.00

1 Mother's Day card - .50

Total with Tax:  $1.59

Stop & Shop

1 Pampers Diapers - Reg. $10.99, Sale $8.99

Used $1.50/1 MFC

Cost:  $7.49

Walmart

2 Bath Toys - $1 each

Package of Linkadoos - $4.50

Teether - $1.00

Sippy Cups - $3.96

Trial Size Baby Shampoo - $1.50

2 packs of Baby Wipes - $1.97 each

3 pack of Onesies - $6.00

Total with Tax:  $23.96

Bath & Body Works

3 Trial Size Products - $5 each, but were on sale for 3/$10

1 Bottle of Body Wash - $10.50

Used a Coupon for a free product with $10 purchase

Total Presale:  $25.50

Total after Sales, Coupon & Tax:  $10.63

JCPenney

1 Carters Romper - $12.00, Sale $6.99

1 JCPenney Romper - $9.99, Sale $4.99

Used a Coupon for $10 off any purchase

Total Presale:  $31.99

Total after Sales & Coupon:  $1.98

Basket - FREE!  From my attic.  Probably would have dropped at least $8 on a basket if I needed to buy one.  A secret to scoring cheap baskets (if you are a gift basket person) is to hit up garage sales.  Most of them have a plethora of baskets ready to be scooped up.  This particular basket I used was my Grandmother's.  She passed away last March and I "inheritted" a lot of her worldly posessions.  She was very fond of my two sons - being as they were her only great-grandchildren.  As cheezy as it may sound, I think she would like to know that one of her "treasures" is being used for something of this nature. 



Secrets to Savings:

-  The Dollar Tree is my go-to store for greeting cards.  At .50 cents each, every day, how can you go wrong?  They aren't even really all that cheezy - well okay, some are - but there are some great ones there too.  Plus, a lot of people just throw greeting cards away.  It's also a great place if you need a few quick balloons. 

-  I am not a huge Walmart fan.  Call me snobby, call me ignorant, but whatever - the Walmarts around me are kind of gross and the lines are always long.  But with two days notice of getting this gift basket put together - it was my one stop shop for all things baby. 

-  Bath & Body Works gives out some great coupons.  I got a coupon for a Free Product in the mail (up to $5) about a month ago.  So I went in about 2 weeks ago to get my free bottle of body wash.  The lady who cashed me out (a big fat $0!) gave me this awesome coupon that I got today.  1 Free Signature Product (up to $12) with any $10 or more purchase.  HELLO!  If you buy the bare minimum, that is a savings of over 50%!  Craziness I tell you!  I scored the same coupon today with my purchase.  I'm going to be one hot smelling babe this summer!

-  I wrote about my $10 JCP coupon 2 weeks ago.  Yeah, my intentions were to buy myself some new hand towels or a soap dish for practically nothing - but I think buying two little outfits for a wee little one is a better investment.  Call me a softy.  I'm not going to argue dropping $1.98 on two little summer outfits.  Plus - I usually hate baby clothes with words on them - but I couldn't pass up the "Daddy Is My Hero" outfit. 

-  My total worth value is taking all the pre-sale prices and the proposed $8 I would have spent on a basket had I not "recycled" one from my collection.  I think it's actually over $100 if you take into account my savings on the ballon and greeting card purchased at the Dollar Tree vs. CVS or another chain store.  Greeting cards are outrageous these days! 

So again - think you can be creative with a "free" $50 to "do something good with?"  Go to THIS BLOG POST to post a comment on how YOU would "Pay It Forward" with $50.