We’re excited! We are inside of 2 weeks to the Frequent Traveler Toys for Tots Happy Hour! This is a great opportunity to give back, and as I’ll show in this post, to earn a few miles! 

Toys for Tots Happy Hour Info

The event will be in Arlington, VA, like last year, it will be at Bar Bao, as they were incredible last year and welcoming us for a repeat! Details below:

Bar Bao 
3100 Clarendon Blvd
Clarendon Metro Station
Arlington, VA 22201

The event will be 6 December, 6-9pm. We’ll have representation from the US Marine Corp to accept the toys (and our appreciation for their service). We’ll have friends, fellowship, and plenty of great time to talk travel!

Just so we have an idea of how many folks to expect, please register

We are asking that you bring a toy for a child that might otherwise not have a toy underneath their tree. 

What Toys to Get?

Based on information from Toys for Tots, here are some guidelines:

Toys for Tots does not publish a list of appropriate toys to donate.  If such a list were created, most would follow it, resulting in a limited selection of items to distribute in each community.   We would rather our donors consider what might be an appropriate gift for their own child/relative, purchase the item, and donate to Toys for Tots.

Pre-teen/teens are groups for which shopping is especially difficult.  Do you have any ideas?

The Foundation does purchase supplemental toys/gifts for our campaign sites and focuses on these age groups.  In the past, items purchased for these groups have included, but are not limited to:  sporting equipment/bags/balls; books, backpacks, cosmetics, purses, watch/wallet gift sets, bath gift sets, board games, radio control cars/trucks, hand-held electronics, skateboards/helmets, curling irons, hair straighteners, and hair dryers.

Also, above all else, please do not plan to donate realistic looking weapons or gifts with food, they will not be distributed. 

Suggestions giving the Black Friday Deals

There are a ton of fantastic deals out there for Black Friday! Here are just a few suggestions:

JCPenney (usually 5x or better between Rakuten/MR’s, and lower for airline portals) has 25% off all Frozen related toys on Black Friday. You can check out the add here. 

Kohls always offers $15 Kohls Cash for every $50 spend, which is great, that opens up a lot of opportunities to buy things you might already be buying and leave the Kohls Cash for toys for Tots. They’ve got a pretty great Black Friday advertisement

• Monopoly and other board games are 50% off
•  Mr Potato Sup Spud ($19.99, reg $39.99)
• Vtech Pull and Discover Activity Elephant ($19.99, reg 29.99)
• Remote Controlled Vehicles ($19.99, reg $34.99-39.99)
• 30% off on select Lego

Walmart is 5% Cashback (or Membership Rewards) for Toys:

Target will invariably have wonderful deals as well.

Wrapping Up

There’s a lot of great options out there for buying toys in support of Toys for Tots. I sincerely hope you’ll be able to make it out for the Toys for Tots Happy Hour. As in past years, we’ll have a couple of US Marines attending, and I am certain this will be a fantastic event! I really hope you can make it!!

 

We’re getting the word out a little earlier than usual this year, but, we have a shorter holiday season this year, so better save the date early! Its time again for a Frequent Traveler Happy Hour supporting Toys for Tots! This year we’re partnering with Richard Kerr, Loyalty and Engagement Editor for The Points Guy. 

4 years ago, Richard and I started the DC-area Happy Hour in support of Toys for Tots. Its great to come full circle in 2019!

Partnering with Jeanne of Le Chic Geek and Ed of Pizza in Motion, over the last few years, folks have donated hundreds of toys!

The event will be in Arlington, VA, like last year, it will be at Bar Bao, as they were incredible last year and welcoming us for a repeat! Details below:

Bar Bao 
3100 Clarendon Blvd
Clarendon Metro Station
Arlington, VA 22201

The event will be 6 December, 6-9pm. We’ll have representation from the US Marine Corp to accept the toys (and our appreciation for their service). We’ll have friends, fellowship, and plenty of great time to talk travel!

Just so we have an idea of how many folks to expect, please register

We are asking that you bring a toy for a child that might otherwise not have a toy underneath their tree. 

Doing Good – Supporting Toys for Tots

When I originally got into this community, I got in via blogs that shared tips to generate miles and points–and ultimately–great experiences, because they wanted to help. Randy founded FlyerTalk, then later partnering with others–including Ed Pizzarello himself– founding MilePoint with a similar goal in mind. Sharing the amazing things available for folks that want to put some effort in, to get amazing travel opportunities. That grew further to include doing good for others, as we’ve seen in so many groups and online communities centered around travel, miles and points. This is a small way that we as a community can do great things for others who may not even be aware of miles and points. Quite simply, we can make Christmas special.

With that in mind, we invite you to the bring a toy, do some good, and share in the holiday revelry with fellow travel hackers.

If you’re wondering about the best way to procure such toys, this week, you are bound to find fantastic deals where you can leverage Shopping Portals to get some miles while you’re helping to make kids’ Christmas! In fact, here’s a roundup of some great shopping portal bonuses good until Nov 14th (Delta) and Nov 21st (the rest).

I’ll share some deals as we get further into November, but an easy first thought is Kohls, you can check out their Black Friday advertisement, where you’ll see that they are offering $15 Kohls Cash per $50 spent, and there’s lots of great deals. That Kohls Cash (coupled with Yes 2 You Rewards) could be a great opportunity to get more toys for less.

So, will you make it to our 6 December Happy Hour in Support of Toys for Tots in Arlington, VA?