Count and Win

When Ammon was in Kindergarten, he came home one day with an announcement for a Box Tops class contest. I looked through all our cupboards, and cut out all the box tops I could find, which totalled 27. I thought we had a great chance at him winning, but I was totally wrong. He didn't win any prizes with the 27 box tops we turned in, and at the time I had no idea how the other kindergartners in his class found so many box tops in their house.

I'm a competitor, and once I knew about the school's box tops contests, I started preparing for the coming year's contests. I started collecting Box Tops year-round, and I asked grandparents and babysitters to clip and save their box tops for us as well. And for the next four years, Ammon was always one of the top 3 students in the whole school with the highest amount of box tops turned in.

Through the school's box tops contests that Ammon participated in, I became very passionate about Box Tops myself. For those of you who may not be aware, every box top turned in equals 10 cents for our school. I know it doesn't sound like a lot, but with the three contests that our elementary school does each year, the yearly earnings total nearly $1000 every year. It is such an easy way to earn money for our schools! All you have to do is cut out the little pink square before throwing a product away that displays it. I became the Box Tops Coordinator for the PTO program in our school when Ammon was in first grade, and I ran the contests for several years. In the past five years, I've counted thousands and thousands of box tops. One year, my friend Gina helped me with the contests and she counted them all for me. And the following year, she ran the contests completely by herself while I was in charge of other activities as the PTO President. This year, I'm in charge of the Box Tops contests again, and so far, we've had two contests. The big Box Tops contest, the one that determines the individual with the most turned in, was in January. Since Ammon now goes to the middle school, I divided all the box tops I had (500 total) between Jonah and Micah to turn in for the competition. And for the first time, Jonah and Micah were now one of the top 3 winners in the school. At the school's assembly at the beginning of March, I announced the winners. Jonah and Micah tied for 3rd place and were awarded each with a $5 gift certificate to the school's book fair. They were so happy!!!

I am like the Box Tops nazzi. But all of my cutting and counting really pays off for my kids, as well as their school! It's a win-win!!!