To return my winning hamper?

[Vap0]

ADVICE NEEDED BEFORE COLLECTION TOMORROW PLEASE

So
We won the hamper from the preschool nativity
It’s huge
And the 2nd hamper I’ve won in a week 🙈
The first one (from works Xmas do) we are giving to grandparents for Xmas
This other one is ginormous, there is so much stuff, we do not have a big enough house for all this stuff 🙈, I don’t want to seem ungrateful but we just don’t need it and want to do something better with it than take it home.

Here are some options that I can see

1. Ask them to give it to the staff to take home if they are short of any gifts for staff
2. Ask them to hold another raffle in the new year - not sure how easy this would be - surely a sign on the door would suffice?
3. Take it to the food bank - removing booze and donating that to the village hall raffle tomorrow night for the brass band carol concert we are going to.
4. Take it to the food bank but ask preschool to take the booze for staff.

One massive thing to remember here though is that the staff all donated this stuff for the hamper so I don’t want to appear ungrateful by offering it back to them 🙈

I just don’t want to come across as ungrateful or rude

Please help

I’m open to other suggestions too 😊

Is it stuff a food bank would even need/want? Hampers don’t generally contain stuff you can make a meal out of. Personally I’d give it to a friend or neighbour and make a separate donation to the food bank of useful food not the crackers and chutneys typically found in hampers.

Option 3. 100%

Option 3 is tbe sensible one or ask them to draw another ticket as you've jsit one another hamper and want to share the love - might be a bit late tho.

Is there seriously nothing you would want out of it tho? It's lovely of you to pass it on but it's also OK to enjoy your good lick and enjoy a few special treats

@Expressedways they might not make a meal but surely the food bank can put a few nice extra bits in. Some food banks have sections where people can choose a few "treat" bits themselves.
And having won two hampers and kindly donated them to other people, why should op now have to go out and buy more food for a food bank?

@Vap0 in that case enjoy it whatever you decide to do with it. Knowing someone else enjoying it, sounds a great idea.

@CalmFizz I've just been volunteering for a food bank. They specifically asked NOT for Christmas stuff. They wanted pasta, beans, tinned meats, coffee and tea, cereals, long life products etc.

Boxes have already been made up for the next week or so. They cant take on stuff that is no use to them or might be out of date.

I know it sounds unfair, but places like the Trussell Trust know what they need. And it's not boxes of mince pies that get crushed in transit etc

I'm sure the food bank will make what they can with the contents and good will come from the majority of it. To hand it back to preschool would probably be horribly deflating and disappointing for them as they've tried to make it an attractive prize.

The staff have put this together to raise money for the preschool. This took a lot of effort on someone's part. Absolutely do not offer any part of it back to them or ask them to re-draw. It could be a huge kick in the face. Go for option 3, give it to the food bank and give the booze elsewhere.

@Alsohuman my post above should also have linked to you.

Of course foodbanks want this sort of stuff ridiculous comment!

I think foodbank and donating the booze is a lovely idea. Definitely do not give it back if the staff donated it, you will look ungrateful

But genuinely, why do they not need mince pies? Millions of them get bought over the festive period, so there’s obviously people who enjoy eating them.

Plus, I’ve seen all sorts of hampers, some including tinned tuna etc, so we don’t really know what the contents of this particular hamper are.

Defo food bank. I won the raffle at our local charity shop one Christmas and I'd been dreading it as it was full of tat! I immediately donated it back so they could re-raffle it. They were so pleased.

I once won a nice one shortly before Christmas in a raffle. We already had plenty of food/drink either bought or ordered, just didn't need it and I felt bad for winning it when someone else could really do with it.

I phoned the local branch of the Salvation Army and someone came literally within half an hour to collect it.

We have been incredibly lucky this year.
Yes, there are certainly lots, if not all of the items we could make use of. I haven’t managed to collect it yet so don’t know exactly what’s in the hamper. I just want to do some good with this fortune rather than take it for myself.
I was in the supermarket the other day and was following a lady around who was buying an Elsa doll, I kept noticing it on each aisle. On the way out she asked where the toy donation basket was, unfortunately it had been collected already but luckily I’d seen one earlier that day for her to take it to.
This beautiful toy donation brought a tear to my eye and really made me want to do more for people who are struggling.
I can’t imagine the difference that toy would make to a child’s Christmas.
I would love to help to make any difference to someone else’s life.

Another vote for option 3. If you can't find a food bank that is accepting donations similar to hamper contents, you could consider donating the entire hamper to the brass band*/splitting hamper into two prizes for their raffle.

DD2 has played in 7 brass band gigs in the past 7 days and has another at the weekend. I'm new to the brass band world and am slowly learning that there's often a raffle, with some fabulous hampers as prizes.

@saraclara

Our food bank volunteers were down in tesco all last week with lists of xmas food they were looking for. Give biscuits, mince pies, treats etc.. people here donate a lot yo the food bank, they atent ever short of basics (but obv dont say no). But at thos time of year, they are out there asking us to donate treat food.

Not every food bank is the same as yours.

Take it yourself to a food bank. I'm sure nursery have enough to do. It's a great idea

All our local food banks have a Christmas donation thing where people add more festive food if they want to. If the food bank wants to put in a box of chocolates for a single man who is otherwise living on pasta and beans, they can! Ours actually got a lot of tins of roses and things too,

Sorry thought I'd read it as ask them to take it to a food bank.. Sorry again.. Need sleep lol

@Vap0 #3 for sure. The other thing I was thinking is that, if you are a member of a church or other local organisation, asking if they know of a particular family in need this holiday season - or one just having a really bad year. Giving an enormous gift like this, out of the blue, would be amazing for someone.

You are very generous. Lovely gesture, whatever way you do it.

Option 3 gets my vote

Don't refuse it. Take out anything you or close people might like and donate the rest to a food bank.

Congratulations!

I thought all food banks took Christmas treat type food

If trussell trust don't then I'm going to ask the local food bank what they need rather than donating money to trussell as I thought money might be a better option

PP who say to check with your local Foodbanks are giving good advice. There are several in my local area and not one of them is asking for seasonal items - the critical items for my local ones are listed:

Tins Solid Meat (ham, spam etc.)
Instant Mashed Potatoes
Sponge Pudding
Tea – (Max Size 240 bags pls.)
Hot Chocolate
Sugar (1kg bags)
Biscuits
Dried milk

We also need…
Toilet Rolls
Rice Pudding
Tinned Fruit
Juice (long life)
Coffee
Instant Soup
Pasta Sauce

However, needs may vary from one region to another and any attached community cafes might be able to use the food from a hamper.

We used to take it directly to a local old people’s home. Many of the residents don’t have any family and I always liked knowing I may have made a difference to a lonely person.