Next week is National Collection week for the “Operation Christmas Child” shoe boxes, so I thought I’d dedicate a blog post to how my family packs these little babies and how you can get yourself involved!
First off; if you don’t know what Operation Christmas Child is, you have most likely been living in a very dark and dusty cellar for most of your life and I’d like to welcome you back to civilization. Simply put these are little shoebox-sized boxes that people can fill with different things, usually toys, personal care items and school supplies, and then they are sent to countries where children otherwise wouldn’t be getting anything for Christmas.
Now for the rest of us who have been seeing these little boxes for years, here are some VERY simple tips to keep you stress-free and ready to give!
Picking an age:
When packing a shoebox to send away you can pick from three different age groups, ages 2-4, ages 5-9, and ages 10-14. If you have kids of your own, try picking age groups that match your own children so that they can really get involved with the process of picking things and filling the box. If you don’t have any children then go with the kinds of things that you enjoy shopping for, for example, if you like shopping for “baby” things go with a younger age!
Shopping:
We aren’t the richest family so everything goes on our budget, this means I have to search like I’m on a crazy quest to find the best deals so that I can find enough things to fill these boxes to the brim! You can do this by going to the sale bins, dollar stores, clearance stores, etc!
My fav things to put in the box:
- Tooth brush
- Brush
- Soap and faceclothes
- A couple small toys (dolls, cars, stuffed toy)
- Paper and crayons (good cause they don’t need a sharpener)
- Colouring books
- Calculator (solar powered)
- Sunglasses and a hat
** Don’t forget this year (2018) there is NO FOOD/CANDY allowed in the boxes
Once you have your boxes all packed, labelled, and ready to go you simply drop it off at one of the many collection sites! You can find the sites closest to you by simply entering your postal code into their nifty little map; https://www.samaritanspurse.ca/collection-center/
For those of you feeling totally overwhelmed you and you just don’t think that you will be able to handle this task, then here is a very good option for you!
Build a box online!
Samaritans Purse has literally thought about everything and they now have an option to pack boxes online. They give you the option to have them pack the box for you, where you just choose how many boxes you would like packed on your behalf, each box costs $40. Then there is an option to pack your own box online, they give you a list of all the essentials they will put into a box and allow you to pick any add-ons. The add-ons include things like, a stuffed toy, calculator, hairbrush, and sunglasses. You then also get the opportunity to write a note and add a picture of you and/or your family to the box.
I hope that you enjoy filling these boxes and pass it on to the people in your life like my parents did with me and I am doing with my family!
For any more information visit the Samaritans Purse website at;
https://www.samaritanspurse.ca/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child
