Capital B: Helping Kids to Think of Others First with Disney FROZEN

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It feels like this week has been revolving around Disney FROZEN the movie coming out! Our little band of men loves this flick too- certainly not just a girl show :) We've had the chance to comb both our local stores for fun Walmart toys and the FROZEN DVD... all with the intent of giving them away...

This quote above is my favorite from the movie. I believe this, I know it to be true. That I'm happier when I'm not so self-absorbed and narrow minded. That I love, even crave, the deep-down good feeling of giving, of selflessness.

The kind of selflessness, or love, that made Kristoff turn around from having left Anna behind to (he thought) be saved. The kind of selflessness that governs Anna throughout this whole movie; that puts her on a horse to go after her sister when she could be scared or angry instead. The kind of selflessness that makes Olaf refuse to leave Anna when she needs to find a solution, even if it does mean melting. Maybe even the kind of selflessness that keeps Elsa locked in her room, alone, not wanting to ever hurt her little sister again.

Wow, FROZEN can sure get a person thinking and feeling and learning, huh?! I want my boys to learn from it, to learn in general how to think of others before themselves. Not the simplest concept when you're four or six, right? We do a lot of gift giving, card making, knock-and-running to that end. Hopefully they don't realize it's all a big life lesson... otherwise, the gigs up ;)

Thanks to #collectivebias, we got to visit both of our Walmart stores here in town looking for toys and other FROZEN goodies.

We knew that we wanted to send a #FROZENfun package to Coop and Ry's cousins, my nieces that are fairly close to their same ages. For real, my sister had two girls and I had two boys- it's cut and dried in this family ;)... They live just far enough away that we don't see them as often as we'd like. Unfortunately, the boys seem to like to tackle them without their consent when they are together, but it's really just because they are bursting with excitement for getting to see them at all. (I know, it's true, boys can be pretty weird. :P)

Really, the two little girls whom this package was for are incredibly special in my boys' minds. They love their cousins and this was a great opportunity for us to put that love into action, sending them FROZEN items that we all knew they would enjoy. Little did I know how unique the result would be...

I just grabbed what we found- some books and the Anna and Elsa Sparkle Dolls- and didn't think anything of it. We also chose some candies in FROZEN colors and some sparkly tulle to complete the package. The boys announced that girls love glitter... see, they get a small glimmer of feminine influence around here ;)

With our stuff gathered, they set to drawing their own handmade cards to include too...

Could you die over Coop's little Olaf drawing?! That was my favorite part! Ryder said his was Kristoff with the ice.... and would've taped about twenty pieces of candy to it if I'd let him. Every good package needs treats as far as I'm concerned. That part might have been with my sis and brother-in-law in mind ;)

We waited until the day of the movie release, on Tuesday March 18, to send this so we could buy the FROZEN DVD (only $14.96 at Walmart!) and see if any new stuff came out along with it that we could slip into the gift box at the last minute. We weren't disappointed- there was a fun book rack right by the movie display! There were actually several smaller displays like this one below in the toy section too...

Psst... want to know a great little secret, speaking of those little displays? There might just be a small little display in the freezer section, that's right, like frozen food... and that's because if you buy a 24 count package of Eggo waffles, you've got yourself a $5 off coupon on the box!

Truth: I totally forgot about this coupon in all of the action of buying the DVD (the boys might just have been running and hollering with excitement)... so I totally cost myself five whole bucks- boo! Don't make the same mistake I did... buy waffles at the same time ;)

Anyhow... these were our last minute additions to my niece's gift package. I let Coop and Ry keep the sticker book- they love any kind of stickers, like most kids. Plus, that way we could also add some to the outside of our box...

and carry it in the post office, so happy to be getting it on it's way. They wanted to call my sister ten minutes later to see if they'd gotten it yet- ha ha :)

But the actual ending to the life of this #FROZENfun package has been my favorite part... when I talked to my sister on the phone just after the girls did actually open the package, I got to hear the thrill in my youngest niece's happy, kinda-hard-to-understand voice- is there anything that warms a person heart more than child speak?! I also found out that my sister had been looking for an Elsa doll since before Christmas, with no luck at her own stores. She even said, "there's an Elsa doll in here, it's a miracle!"

That probably doesn't bring tears to the surface for anyone else, but it did for me :) That is the awesome reward of selflessness and giving, that mighty, tender burst of emotion when you've been successful in uplifting the recipient. Of course, I shared the conversation with the boys and got to see them feel a bit of that too... lesson added upon :)

Download an 8 x 10 of this quote yourself HERE :)

Love is putting someone else's needs before yours. And maybe even just their desires, or their happiness. Love isn't selfish. Love is the best feeling in the world... Olaf and FROZEN got that just right :)