The Value of Donations

Bundles of Love receives thousands of pounds of donated supplies each year, but there are some items that we need cash to purchase. If you are wondering how your donation help your less fortunate neighbors, look at the following “price list”…. We can make a little go a long way!

$1 will purchase batting to make a warm infant quilt for a needy or hospitalized infant

$3 will provide a baby with a starting supply of baby soap, baby wipes and diapers

$5 will pay for flannel to make 4 receiving blankets as well as several bibs or burp cloths

$10 will help us buy pronged snaps (at cost) for more than 30 newborn or preemie sleepers

$20 is the average cost of a newborn “bundle” for a family in need, typically a diaper bag filled with newborn necessities, mainly hand-made items including:

• a baby quilt
• a small afghan
• fitted crib sheet
• 2 receiving blankets
• 2 bibs
• 2 burp cloths
• 2 sleepers
• 2 infant gowns
• 2 t-shirts or “one-sies”
• sweater, or jacket / pants set
• hat
• booties
• infant toy
• washcloth
• baby soap
• baby wipes
• 2 day supply of diapers
• seasonal items such as a summer romper or winter bunting, hat and mittens

If you'd like to make a donation, please click here for our donation form.

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Hats Galore!

We currently have an overabundance of hats, especially preemie hats. Although we have donated some of the extra hats to organizations in other areas, we still have more hats than we will need in the near future.

We are especially swamped with preemie hats. The hospital nurses are sensitive to the needs of the babies they serve and therefore are particular about the type of hats used. Since the skin of premature infants is especially delicate, most nurses have shown a preference for very stretchy, soft, knit fabric hats. If you knit or crochet, please make only newborn sized hats (you must be able to easily fit two fists into the finished hat). If your hats are not coming out the right size, try switching to a larger hook or needles.

We don’t want you spending your valuable time making items that will end up being stored or are not needed by the organizations receiving our donations, so below are a few guidelines.

Guidelines When Making Hats

• If you make the “picket fence” hat (the pattern that has two points at both ends), use the large newborn size. This pattern is not suitable for stable knits or woven fabrics, including flannel. Hats made of these fabrics may be unusable since the hats must stretch in order to be put on or kept on babies’ heads.

• If you have fabric that isn’t very stretchy, please use only the tam hat pattern.

• If you like small, take-along knitting or crocheting projects, consider some of these projects instead of hats:

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Ruth’s Knitted Preemie Mittens

For preemie I use baby yarn and #5 needles.

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Serger Tip

Woolly nylon makes a nice soft serged edge on blankets or t-shirts.

If you are wondering just how to thread your serger with this fuzzy thread, try Ruth’s tip:

I tied a bit of regular thread to it and threaded that through my machine.