Raise (and save) money with Box Tops for Education

As I mentioned last week, I’m still a bit sad that summer is too quickly becoming a sweet memory, while the new school year has crept up on us like ill-fitting underwear.

But there are certainly great things about this time of year, too. The structure of the school routine is really good for our family. And I love all the beautiful colors – and crafts – that make their debut in fall.

Plus the really good news is that our daughter absolutely loves school! She adores her friends and her teachers, and she has tremendous school spirit.

The bad news is that her 2-year-old brother loves school just as much. But he’s still got a few years at home with mama before he can join big sister – a situation he is not thrilled about. On the first day of school this year, he climbed into the school van while I was taking pictures of our daughter. I had to drag him out crying. After the van pulled away, he immediately turned to me and exclaimed, “Mama, we need to walk to school now, please!”  I have to admit I got a bit choked up that morning.

Until our little man can actually go to school (which will trigger a crying fit from mama for sure), we try to include him in as many school-related activities as possible.

For example, our family collects Box Tops for Education™ to help raise money for our school. When we’re at Walmart, our little guy loves hunting for Box Tops and loading the cart with participating products.

As a result of the Box Tops program, our small, Christian school is able to earn money to buy whatever is needed to improve the school experience for the kids. For example, we raised enough money through Box Tops to help purchase a school intercom system. And our daughter’s class was awarded a pizza party one year for collecting the most Box Tops. The kids were super excited about that!

Here’s how the Box Tops program works: You clip the Box Top from each package of a participating product and send all the tops you’ve collected into school with your child. The school then trades the Box Tops in for 10 cents each. Some products include bonus Box Tops – up to five Box Tops per package.

There are a lot of participating products available, so I stick to buying things our family already uses all the time.

Some of the General Mills® items I buy regularly at Walmart include:

• Cheerios™
• Lucky Charms™
• Cinnamon Toast Crunch™
• Yoplait® Yogurt
• Pillsbury™ Crescent Rolls
• Old El Paso™ Flour Tortillas

One of our dear friends is in charge of the Box Tops program at her children’s school. Several of us moms get together occasionally for a Box Tops party, where we help her count and organize the thousands of box tops that come into her school. This has really opened my eyes to all that goes into making this program a success.

Did you know that more than 80,000 K-8 schools participate in this program? Box Tops for Education has contributed more than $525 million to participating schools since the launch of the program in 1996.

You can find out more about the program at the Walmart BoxTops for Education site. Even if you don’t have a child in school, you can help by checking the site and choosing a school to support. (My mom collects Box Tops for our school, which is great.)

Stay tuned for Friday’s blog post, where I’ll be crafting a countertop-worthy, DIY Box Tops collection bin. I’ll also be sharing one of my favorite Box Tops product recipes.

You won’t want to miss it!

Are you a Box Tops collector?

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of General Mills®. The opinions and text are all mine.