Family Fund - Recreational Items?

[Tiggywunkle]

Hi, we have been kindly given some money by the Family Fund. Part of that is an Argos card for £100 - according to our letter it was for "bedding" but we never requested this, so we phoned up and asked to buy a car seat with the money instead and we were told we couldn't. So it was changed to "recreational items". The information with the card says it is for "Recreational & Household Items". What do you think this includes?

There's no toys that we require but DC is interacting lots with our iPhone - its grabbing his attention, and getting him to reach out which is what we need to work on with Portage and OT. Do you think putting the money towards an iPad is outside the remit of "Recreational items"? I dont want to be cheeky as we are very grateful. It would be more beneficial to him that a pile of plastic that he doesn't know how to play with.

My recreational items was lego. I emailed them through their website and they came back to me the next day with an explanation of what we could buy. We too were given £100 of bedding. I didn't manage to spend that much so they agreed that I could buy a light that shines different patterns onto his bedroom wall instead.THey are very helpful I think.

Did they give you an explanation of 'recreational'?
I am guessing it's anything from the toys section but other ideas are lighting / disco ball for his sensory area which also aren't in the toys section. I guess I could contact them again but I got really curt replies when I phoned up last time and it put me off phoning again.

I've had to phone recently and the person I got was lovely, chances are you won't get the same person again. You can also email or ask on their fb page.

Iv just posted(about a week ago) my family fund application not for rec items but for driving lessons, can i please ask how long did it take before you got a reply from them and what should i expect now iv posted it. Thanks in advance x

I would imagine recreational would be something for inside or outside the house? Building bricks, games, trampoline or ball pool maybe?

I think ours took about 6-8 weeks before I got a call asking us to clarify exactly what we wanted, I'd been a bit vague on the form for some reason! The voucher turned up a few days later. Might be different if you're asking for driving lessons though.

Ours took about two months. We got a call because I get the impression there's an amount around £800 that you will get (more if driving lessons but you can't reapply for 18 months). I had put down items worth MyChild less so I got a phone call which bemused me as the man tried o throw money at us, but I thought he was testing us to see if cheaper Argos toys would do instead of the special sensory stuff we had asked for!! I kept saying, no just what I asked for until I twigged what he was doing. I wsh I had known earlier that the amount was so high because I would have asked for the iPad / different stuff. I know next time you get about half that.

i asked for an ipad and was given £400 on argos card for it :) also £100 cash for swimming lessons £100 for sensory lighting £100 for laminate for his bedroom £100 clothes £100 for bedding was well pleased