Charitable Gift Giving

For this month only, Cheryl’s Cookies has a collection of pink cookies where 10% of proceeds will go to the Susan G. Komen Foundation Columbus Affiliate (where Cheryl’s is based).

Shop Cheryl’s Cookies for the Cure collection

If you haven’t had one of Cheryl’s “cutout cookies”, you don’t know what you’re missing. They’ve been described as “cakes in cookie form”. They’re literally like little sponge cakes with real buttercream frosting on top, and they’re individually wrapped for freshness.

On top of this, you can save 15% at Cheryls.com when you use Coupon Code: TAKE15.

Each year, Macy’s outdoes itself with a great selection of pink products for sale in its Pink Shop that benefits breast cancer charities. This year is no different. Here are some of the most popular items for sale this year:

The ever-popular KitchenAid Stand Mixer, 5 Qt. Artisan Cook for the Cure Edition

A stylish INC International Concepts Top, Long Sleeve Hooded Breast Cancer Awareness Pink Ribbon Tee

An elegant GUESS Watch, Women’s Susan G. Komen for the Cure Stainless Steel Bracelet

Emile Henry “Bake for the Cause” Pink Pie Dish, 9″
There are many more products, from Clinique lotion to Donna Karan lipstick and clutch. To view all the latest products, click the “Go” button on the search box below:

For 2011, Puma has gone all out in supporting breast cancer causes.

This is the second year that Puma has put out a great line of Project Pink soccer-related products. There are products with Puma’s usual quality, but all with a pink flair.

Female athletes have been wearing pink Puma gear all year round to support the cause, from professional women’s soccer teams throughout July and August wearing pink to Golf athletes Lexi Thompson and Anna Nordqvist sporting head-to-toe Project Pink during the women’s golf major on July 8th.

For a limited time at the Puma Store (select “Project Pink” from the left-hand navigation), you can purchase your own gear, all of which helps support a great cause. Choose from cute T-Shirts, pink goalkeepers gloves, and even a regulation pink soccer ball (lower priced replicas which donate to breast cancer are also available at Amazon).

I had the opportunity to sample a couple great products. Here’s my take on them:

1) T-Shirts. These are very cute T-Shirts with the Project Pink logo on them and the tagline “Recognize, Empower, Engage”. One comes in black with a bright pink logo and the other comes in a darker pink with a bright pink logo. These are high quality 100% ring spun cotton T-shirts that look great and spread the word about this important cause. They retail for $30 each.

2) Gym Bag: This is a large black gym sack with pink and white accents, a white Puma logo, the Project Pink logo and the WPS logo. It’s the perfect place to put all your gear, and the whole bag ties up with two strings. It retails for $10 and the material is 100% polyester (with a canvas/vinyl sort of feel), meaning it’ll stand anything you can throw at it–muddy equipment, bad weather, and general locker room ickiness!

3) Soccer Ball: This is the best of the best Project Pink product at the Puma store. A regulation size 5 King soccer ball as used by the Women’s Professional Soccer League, it has the WPS logo, the Project Pink logo, and the Puma logo all around a bright pink, black, and white ball. While it’s a full-sized and official soccer ball, its panels are soft and cushy, making things like heading the ball a lot less painful. It comes at a cost, but remember that a chunk of the proceeds goes to the fight against breast cancer.

There’s also other soccer equipment at the Puma Store, such as shinguards and mini soccer balls.

Now that I’ve reviewed the equipment, I’d like to give away a T-shirt AND the $100 soccer ball to a true soccer fan. Here’s all you need to do to receive it:

1) “Like” this site on Facebook by clicking the button to the right of this screen.

2) Write a comment on this post talking about why you love women/girl’s soccer, either as a player or a fan. You can discuss your favorite player or team and/or talk about what position you play on your soccer team (if you’re under 18, please get your parent’s permission). Be sure to include your email address in the email field, not in your post (your address will never be used for anything except informing you if you’re the winner).

3) Add to your a comment a sentence or two on how you plan to spread the word about breast cancer awareness.

I’ll pick a winner from all the comments randomly and announce it here. If you know a soccer player or fan, tell them about this post and there’s a pretty good chance are they’ll get some great stuff!

But regardless, buying Project Pink products at the Puma store is a great gift to a young soccer fan which contributes to a great cause. Project Pink was launched in 2010 in response to a group of female soccer athletes looking to support breast cancer awareness and research. The effort has been joined by a number of celebrities and luminaries in women’s soccer, including Amy Rodriguez, Leslie Osborne, Karina LeBlanc, Alex Scott, Tasha Kai, and Marta. New this year are Julie Foudy and Nina Dobrev (of Vampire Diaries fame).  In 2010, they gave over $60,000 donation to the Breast Cancer Research and Education Fund at Magee-Womens Foundation.

For the last few months, Puma asked its fans at www.puma.com/projectpink to nominate breast cancer charities who this year would receive all of the proceeds from the sale of the aforementioned products, as well as other breast cancer-related initiatives.  Check out their page to see which charity was ultimately chosen!

My niece is crazy about Vera Bradley. The bags are very well made, and the colors are simply beautiful. You can also get a stunning number of accessories, from lanyards to coin purses, to wallets, to watches, in matching colors. They make great birthday or Christmas presents, whether you spend $75 on a tote bag or $6 for a napkin or binder clips!

If you’ve been shopping for a Vera Bradley Bag, mark down Saturday October 8 on your calendar. Vera Bradley has dubbed it Tickled Pink Day“. On this day, 25% of your purchase price for any Vera Bradley product online or at most stores will be donated to the Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer. In addition, if you make a $25 donation directly to the Vera Bradley Foundation, you’ll get a free gift.

But that’s not all! When you shop at verabradley.com between October 1-16, 2011, you’ll get Free Shipping on orders of $75 or more.

Missed the 8th? You can still help donated to breast cancer awareness and research throughout the year. When you purchase products in a variety of pink colors shown above, including Tea Garden, Twirly Birds Pink, Loves Me…, Hope Garden and Pinwheel Pink, Vera Bradley donates 10% of the net proceeds to the Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer and other breast cancer projects and services.

Disclosure: We participate in the eBay Partner Network (EPN) meaning we may earn a commission when users click on links to eBay and make purchases. 

Each year I like to talk about one of my favorite pink gifts, the KitchenAid Pink Stand Mixer. I got a KitchenAid about 10 years ago and it’s been my best friend through countless breads, pies, ice cream, ground meat, grated cheese, you name it.

eBay has one of their daily deals going on now which has the best price I’ve ever seen on one of these. You can get a refurbished model from KitchenAid for only $189. I usually don’t get too excited about refurbished products, but these mixers are as durable and indestructible a product ad I’ve ever seen, so you’re safe. Plus, there’s a 6 month warranty. And of course, part of the proceeds will help the fight against breast cancer.

Get it here while you can!

Pink KitchenAid Mixer at eBay

If you missed the eBay auction, or if you’d prefer a new unit, you can shop KitchenAid’s Pink collection here:

Everyone needs a USB card reader, whether you need to move files from one computer to another or view your digital photos on someone’s computer. Barnes and Noble is selling a high quality IOGEAR card reader that plugs into any USB 1.1 or USB 2.0 port. It reads virtually all kinds of SD memory cards. including SD cards (the bigger ones), microSD cards (the little ones), MMC (older ones) and SDXC cards. It has a stylish pink design with the Susan G. Komen ribbon, comes with a removable cap to protect the USB plug, and is completely powered by the USB bus (no external power needed).

Barnes and Noble has a deal right now where you can save 10% on this SD card reader. In addition, For every pink card reader sold between September 1, 2011 and August 31, 2012, IOGEAR is donating $1 to Susan G. Komen for the Cure with a guaranteed minimum donation of $25,000.

Susan G. Komen for the Cure® is the world’s largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists dedicated to taking global action against breast cancer through research, community health programs and advocacy.

Novica, an online gift store in association with National Geographic, is a unique store that aggregates handcrafted goods from artists all over the world, many in developing areas or areas torn by war or poverty. They sell more than just unique gifts–these are as beautiful and authentic as you can get (why get a trinket that’s mass produced in China when you can get one hand-made by an artists in the original country?). Moreover, by supporting artists in their local communities, you help infuse much-needed support to these communities and help pull them out of poverty.

In addition to their usual support of local artists, during the month of October, shop NOVICA’s Pink Ribbon Collection and 10% Of Sales Donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. . In this collection you’ll find some amazing items from pink jewelry to handbags and clothing accessories.

Disclosure: We participate in the eBay Partner Network (EPN) meaning we may earn a commission when users click on links to eBay and make purchases. 

As most of you know by now, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Breast Cancer charities were among the first to really popularize “cause-related shopping”, as you’ll see from the sheer number of “pink” items you see around you this month. What started as a simple gesture of the Susan G. Komen Foundation of handing out pink ribbons to participants in a 1991 race in New York City has in the last twenty years turned into a phenomenon, with large and small companies designing “pink ribbon” products where a portion of proceeds goes to charity. While most of these pink products donate a portion of proceeds to breast cancer charities, perhaps the most important thing that they contribute is conversation. Whether you have a pink fishing pole, pink basketball, or my personal favorite, a pink Kitchenaid stand mixer, each of these things can start a conversation which can save a woman’s life.

This month, I’m happy to highlight some of the more exciting promotions and events that some great companies have in store for Breast Cancer Awareness month. The first is an auction by Kohls for some very unique artwork which started last week and continues to October 4.

The online auction offers ribbon sculptures designed by professional artists, with proceeds benefitting the Southeast Wisconsin Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, where Kohl’s corporate headquarters is located. Called the “Every Ribbon Tells a Story” initiative, Kohl’s commissioned artists to design 16 unique six-foot-tall ribbon sculptures, each depicting the artists’ personal connections to breast cancer and acting as a symbol of hope and support for those affected by breast cancer. The ribbons will be available for auction at www.KohlsCaresRibbons.com beginning Saturday, September 24 through Tuesday, October 4. Each sculpture is 6 feet tall and weigh about 80 pounds.