This post is sponsored by Collective Bias and SoFab Life. All opinions are completely my own. #EarnWithBoxTops
Everyday it seems like there’s another note coming home from school. Snacks for the class. Field trip permission slips and fees. Fundraising for new playground equipment. It’s always something. Having been involved in my children’s school, I’ve seen first hand how much teachers take from their own pockets to make their classrooms run and be sure their students have what they need so I’m always happy to help when I can. There have been times when I’ve been able to send in additional items for my children’s classrooms or offer to sponsor another student for a field trip or send in two sets of school supplies. Right now that’s not in the budget for me. I still want to help and support the school and teachers (I might be biased but my kids have had the most amazing teachers on the planet!) so I had to look for some alternatives. One way is to collect Box Tops for Education. You can find Box Tops on products you’re already using in your home and it doesn’t cost you anything extra! I’m also going to share how to make a Box Tops for Education collection center to make collecting everything super easy.
Included Products
So many of the products we already use in our house have Box Tops on them. You can find an official list if you want to buy products specifically included in the program, but I think once you start looking around your house (and even your office!), you’ll be surprised by how many things you already use. From cleaning products to food items, there are lots of participating products. You’ll find them on breakfast items like Honey Nut Cheerios™ and Pillsbury™ Toaster Strudel™, lunch box staples like Annie’s™ Cheddar Bunnies and Yoplait® Original Fridge Pack, and during dinner too on things like Old El Paso™ Taco Dinner Kits.
How to Collect Them
Before discarding your empty containers, it’s important that you save the Box Tops from them. They don’t have to be neat and pretty – you can tear them off the box and save them. Of course if you want to cut along the dotted line to remove them, that’s completely fine too. Make certain that the Box Top isn’t already expired either. Having expired ones taking up space or getting sent to school don’t help anyone. You can even earn bonus Box Tops right now. Simply scan your receipt from Walmart with the Box Tops app (you can get the app for free on iTunes or Google Play) when you buy five participating items to earn 50 bonus Box Tops which equals $5 for your school through 1/31/18. Box Tops earned on the app are in addition to the ones on the products, so be sure to save those too! You can also scan your other receipts with the Box Tops app to earn additional bonus Box Tops for your child’s school even after the bonus Box Tops campaign has ended.
When I helped collect and coordinate Box Tops at my children’s school, we would often hold contests to see which student, class, or grade could collect the most Box Tops and reward them in some way. It can be hard when you’ve got kids in multiple grades and classes but this is a great time to reach out and ask for help. Have the kids call extended family members and ask them to save Box Tops for them. Grandparents, aunts and uncles, and friends are all happy to help save Box Tops. They can all download and use the app as well. Just remind them to set it up for your child’s school. Churches and other organizations are another great place to ask people to save Box Tops for your children. You could recycle a box you’ve taken the Box Tops from and turn it into a Box Tops collection bin for others to donate their Box Tops.
Storing Them
I know what you’re thinking… you don’t have the space to keep anything else laying around your house. I don’t either. But this is totally worth it and it won’t take up a bunch of space. What will help is having a place for everything you’ll need to send the Box Tops to school.
Using a cereal box, cut off the back. This leaves you with the front and sides of the box. You can discard the back if you’d like.
If the top of the box (the opening where you poured your cereal from) won’t stay together, secure it with some tape.
For me, it’s fine to have the box on the counter the way it is. If you’d like to pretty yours up a bit, you can use a paper bag from the grocery store or wrapping paper to cover the outside of the box (maybe in school colors??).
Inside your box, have a spot to throw in the Box Tops as you take them off the products you’re using in your home. It will also be helpful to have snack sized zip top bags. For the school to submit the Box Tops to receive money for them, they need to be in bundles of 50. Sending them to school already counted out like this will make your school’s coordinator very happy! Keep a permanent marker in the box as well to write your child’s name, teacher, and grade on the outside of the bag. This will ensure your child gets credit for the items sent (if your school holds collection contests). Sometimes schools will send home a collection sheet so a glue stick would be another great addition to your Box Tops collection center. Please don’t use staples or paper clips to secure Box Tops to a collection sheet.
Do you collect Box Tops for Education?
Leave a Reply