Helping Handbags!

Here at The Villages, we’re getting into the swing of a new idea from one of our donors, Elaine. She thought that it might be nice for kids to be able to give their grandmothers or other female guardians a handbag filled with goodies. We thought this was a GREAT idea too! From this idea came Helping Handbags. The Villages is collecting gently used handbags, so go ahead and clean out your closets ladies! In order to make the gift giving a little more even, we are asking that you do NOT donate expensive designer bags (Prada, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Marc Jacobs, etc). It would ruin the atmosphere a bit if one woman got a Guess bag, and the woman next to her got a Prada bag. If you have any questions about whether a particular brand of bag is okay to donate, give Alex or Katee a call at 317-273-7575. As a general guideline, steer clear of anything you can purchase at Saks. We’ll take bags of all different shapes, sizes, colors, patterns etc! The more styles we have, the more fun it will be for kids to pick out a bag that they think their grandma/aunt/etc will really love!

We are also collecting small (think travel size) items for the kids to pick out to put in the handbags. To start you off with some ideas, I thought I would start a challenge. I challenge every woman who reads this to look through her purse and pick out the 5 things she couldn’t live without. Then I want each woman to go out and purchase these items and bring them to The Villages’ Girls School Road office along with their old purses to donate! To start you off, here are my 5: Chapstick, lotion, hand sanitizer, advil, and gum. I will also put a list down at the end of this post with things that would be great to have for the bags!

You can drop off the bags and items at The Villages’ Girls School Road office ( 652 N Girls School Road Indianapolis, IN 46214). Thanks for your help ladies!

· Mints
· Travel size lotion
· Hand sanitizer or wet wipes
· Tide To Go Pen
· Lipstick in a neutral color(like the kind you get at the make-up counter in the “Spend This, Get This “ gift bag)
· Chapstick
· Lip Gloss
· Mini packs of Tissues
· Pack of gum
· Change Purse
· Anything small that you find in your purse!