Shopping is hard - let's do math
Alas, no math, just shopping. So, I realized Halloween is coming up again. I'm trying to avoid chocolates, because a lot of cocoa is acquired through horrible cruelty, including child enslavement. Since the point of Halloween is that I give goodies to kids who drop by to make them happier, I find the idea of supporting the enslavement and torture of children while doing it to be a tad bit counter-productive.
So, I like giving out toys. It also avoids various dietary issues, and I figure the kids are likely to get lots of candy, but not that many toys. I, of course, always preferred toys when I went trick or treating, but they were very rare. But then, by the time I was 10, I never got any candy that I ate when I went trick or treating. It took me a while to realize I'd have a whole basket full of candy I didn't eat, and then I'd give it to my family members, usually my brother closest in age to me who was a bit old for trick or treating. So, he liked it, but I was less pleased. So, toys are good. And I'll get some pixie sticks too, if I can, just to include some candy. They are cheap, you can get a big quantity of them, and one of the kids expressed particular pleasure last year when he noticed that I was giving out pixie sticks. Maybe some lollipops too, although I don't know if the little boy who really liked lollipops at my old house trick or treats at my new house. It's not that far from the old location, but I don't know his trick-or-treating range. So, anyhow, maybe a little candy and mostly toys.
So, I was searching the web for ethical stores from which to acquire cheap, bulk toys. I tried a bunch of different search criteria. It turns out that the first step to acquiring such things is to move to the UK. Seriously, I kept finding store after store that caters to that - in the UK. But the currency conversion fee plus shipping from the UK would not be very practical.
So, I gave up. I decided that giving out nifty, little toys is sufficiently ethical and good for my Halloween acquisitions and I'd stop looking for an ideal store to buy such stuff from within the US. I did find some wonderful cheap party favors from US stores that would be reasonable for a kid's party, but they were still a bit too expensive as items for my to give away for Halloween, where I need to be prepared for a lot of trick-or-treaters. Things like $5 per kit decorate and make your own kite. That's pretty cool, and it'd be great for a child's birthday party, but that really adds up when you need to be prepared for dozens of children on Halloween, so it just wasn't in my price range. I still spent a fair bit, because I really like the idea of giving toys to lots of kids, and it's pretty much the only time I interact with the people in my neighborhood. But not as much as the kite kits would cost. I found stuff and placed my order, so I am mainly prepared for Halloween. I particularly like the mini-coloring books (Halloween themed) and boxes of crayons I got to give away and the dinosaur gliders. They're not fantastic gifts, but I think they're pretty good as Halloween offerings. At least they are things a child can interact with in some way, even though their entertainment value won't last for too long, but then neither does candy.
So, I like giving out toys. It also avoids various dietary issues, and I figure the kids are likely to get lots of candy, but not that many toys. I, of course, always preferred toys when I went trick or treating, but they were very rare. But then, by the time I was 10, I never got any candy that I ate when I went trick or treating. It took me a while to realize I'd have a whole basket full of candy I didn't eat, and then I'd give it to my family members, usually my brother closest in age to me who was a bit old for trick or treating. So, he liked it, but I was less pleased. So, toys are good. And I'll get some pixie sticks too, if I can, just to include some candy. They are cheap, you can get a big quantity of them, and one of the kids expressed particular pleasure last year when he noticed that I was giving out pixie sticks. Maybe some lollipops too, although I don't know if the little boy who really liked lollipops at my old house trick or treats at my new house. It's not that far from the old location, but I don't know his trick-or-treating range. So, anyhow, maybe a little candy and mostly toys.
So, I was searching the web for ethical stores from which to acquire cheap, bulk toys. I tried a bunch of different search criteria. It turns out that the first step to acquiring such things is to move to the UK. Seriously, I kept finding store after store that caters to that - in the UK. But the currency conversion fee plus shipping from the UK would not be very practical.
So, I gave up. I decided that giving out nifty, little toys is sufficiently ethical and good for my Halloween acquisitions and I'd stop looking for an ideal store to buy such stuff from within the US. I did find some wonderful cheap party favors from US stores that would be reasonable for a kid's party, but they were still a bit too expensive as items for my to give away for Halloween, where I need to be prepared for a lot of trick-or-treaters. Things like $5 per kit decorate and make your own kite. That's pretty cool, and it'd be great for a child's birthday party, but that really adds up when you need to be prepared for dozens of children on Halloween, so it just wasn't in my price range. I still spent a fair bit, because I really like the idea of giving toys to lots of kids, and it's pretty much the only time I interact with the people in my neighborhood. But not as much as the kite kits would cost. I found stuff and placed my order, so I am mainly prepared for Halloween. I particularly like the mini-coloring books (Halloween themed) and boxes of crayons I got to give away and the dinosaur gliders. They're not fantastic gifts, but I think they're pretty good as Halloween offerings. At least they are things a child can interact with in some way, even though their entertainment value won't last for too long, but then neither does candy.