Gift Ideas

Stefanie has asked for great gift ideas.

Since I have little eyes that read my blog, I can't go into detail of what is actually coming to our house this year, but I can tell you about a GREAT gift idea for the 10 & up crowd.

We have a couple of Michael P Keaton wannabees in our family. This is the perfect site for them:

WWW.KIVA.ORG

For as little as $25, you can become a dream maker. This is a company that allows you to make loans to people in need. You read profiles of very small businesses & you decide who you want to loan to & how much you want to give. You can break the profiles down into countries (mostly 3rd world), people (men, woman, families), type of busines (textiles, farming, merchant).

KIVA has a 98% return on their loans. You pick the person you are going to help & then they send you updated reports on their progress. In the loan bio, it tells how quickly they expect to repay the loan. You can fund all or part of a loan request. The best part is, you can keep your account growing & loan the money out time after time.

It not only teaches kids about the power of money, but gives them a great feeling of helping & of being in control, by allowing them to choose whom they help.

I'm not affiliated with KIVA, but I have purchased gift certificates from them for the past several years. And, it doesn't add clutter to the toy room which is a HUGE Plus in my books!!