Operation Christmas Child

[live4christp1]

It's time to start shopping to pack our shoe boxes.

We let each of the kids pack a box. They can choose boy/girl and what age. DD usually decides to do a girl her own age and we don't have much trouble coming up with ideas.

DS has always done a box for a younger child in the past but this year wants to do a box more geared to his age (12) and we are having trouble coming up with good ideas.

Any suggestions??????

So far we've thought of these:
Rubicks cube
small hand held electronic game with extra batteries
????what about one of those flashlights that you crank?????do you think that would be something they would enjoy?

[belle&sebastiansmom]

12 year old boys are hard to shop for!

The dollar stores around here have cool sports shaped soaps and hair brushes. Practical, but I always include "staples" in our shoe boxes, along with the fun stuff. We also put candy (the kind that won't melt).

Wish I had more thoughts for you regarding the gifts you could send. But I really wanted to let you know to put a Christmas Card with your name and address. My family has been corresponding with a little girl from Belize who received on of our shoeboxes about 4 years ago. She sent a beautiful thank you note and we've continued our friendship since. She sends pictures and letters and we often send her little presents. It's truly been an amazing gift! And nice when you see your "charity" in action.

[live4christp1]

Originally Posted by belle&sebastiansmom

12 year old boys are hard to shop for!

The dollar stores around here have cool sports shaped soaps and hair brushes. Practical, but I always include "staples" in our shoe boxes, along with the fun stuff. We also put candy (the kind that won't melt).

Wish I had more thoughts for you regarding the gifts you could send. But I really wanted to let you know to put a Christmas Card with your name and address. My family has been corresponding with a little girl from Belize who received on of our shoeboxes about 4 years ago. She sent a beautiful thank you note and we've continued our friendship since. She sends pictures and letters and we often send her little presents. It's truly been an amazing gift! And nice when you see your "charity" in action.

That is so cool. We've always sent a note but never thought to put our return address. I thought maybe a book but I'm not sure where it will be going so I don't know if that's a good idea or not.

We have a World Vision child we sponsor in Zimbabwee that we correspond with regularly (actually DS does most of the correspondence as he was the one who initiated sponsoring a child and volunteered to give up 1/2 his weekly allowance to pay toward the sponsorship each month.....he refers to him as "my brother in Africa". The only down side is we aren't allowed to send gifts (we can send stickers, small things that will fit in the envelope but nothing bigger). DS hopes to be able to go meet him one day.

[sbell111]

I thought that this thread would have plenty of ideas for how I could get my wife to hold off a month to have our baby, but I guess not.

I'm not sure what it is about.

[live4christp1]

Originally Posted by sbell111

I thought that this thread would have plenty of ideas for how I could get my wife to hold off a month to have our baby, but I guess not.

I'm not sure what it is about.

If she feels like I did when I was expecting.........I'd say those chances are slim to none!!!!!

http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/OCC/

It's sort of along the lines of a Christmas Angel tree like they have at the mall only these boxes will go to a child in another country. You fill a shoe box (or other similar sized box) with goodies. They have drop off locations set up across the country to collect the boxes and then they distribute them.

[justjulie]

playing cards
small games like yahtzee or marbles or jacks
around here we have small soccer cones with a soft ball or hockey mini sticks

Just some thoughts ...

[clarabelle]

markers
socks
soap
ball
slinky
comb

[clarabelle]

I think the flashlight is a great idea

[live4christp1]

Originally Posted by clarabelle

markers
socks
soap
ball
slinky
comb

Your ball suggestion reminded me of an item but I haven't seen it in a while. If anyone can remember what this might be called or where I can find it let me know.

We used to carry a ball at Cracker Barrel.....it came in a small box (it was not inflated but wasn't your standard inflatable item).....it was made of really stretch material and came with a straw that you used to inflate the ball.....it aired up really easy and then it had a little stopper you inserted to seal it. You could then remove the stopper and deflate it and put it away. It was really bouncy like a play ground ball but also really soft.......I wish I could remember what it was called.

[minkydog]

I've been saving shoe boxes all year--we have about 14! I need to take them up to church so we can get them wrapped. A lot of people don't like the wrapping part--lid wrapped separately from the bottom. It is a pain in the butt. But they are often willing to buy stuff to go into the wrapped shoebox, so that's how we do it. Different groups in the church take turns wrapping boxes and others just take up the collections of small toys, pencils, batteries, baby dolls, stuffed toys, and toothbrushes. Then we come together and fill boxes until they can't hold anymore.

[madge]

Originally Posted by live4christp1

It's time to start shopping to pack our shoe boxes.

holy cow! our church's packing party isn't until mid-November! I've picked up some things on clearance over the summer, but haven't really given much thought to it other than that.

a tip -- we've been told that the plastic shoeboxes are much appreciated by those who receive them.

[madge]

Originally Posted by clarabelle

I think the flashlight is a great idea

don't forget the batteries!

[live4christp1]

Originally Posted by madge

holy cow! our church's packing party isn't until mid-November! I've picked up some things on clearance over the summer, but haven't really given much thought to it other than that.

a tip -- we've been told that the plastic shoeboxes are much appreciated by those who receive them.

We have a while to turn it in.....just starting to pick up items here and there and trying to come up with more ideas for an older boy.

I did read that today about taking the plastic rubbermaid type boxes. I guess that makes a good little storage container for the kids.

[sbell111]

Originally Posted by live4christp1

If she feels like I did when I was expecting.........I'd say those chances are slim to none!!!!!

http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/OCC/

It's sort of along the lines of a Christmas Angel tree like they have at the mall only these boxes will go to a child in another country. You fill a shoe box (or other similar sized box) with goodies. They have drop off locations set up across the country to collect the boxes and then they distribute them.

Thanks.

I did a little googling since my previous post. For reasons that I cannot discuss in this forum, we will not be participating this program.

[KatieG73]

Hi,

Operation Christmas Child/Samaritans Purse operate in the UK also - I would urge anyone donating a box to google this organisation first before making a decision to donate.

We donated to this for many years through my DD's school but many parents have now asked that the school find another avenue due to some very disturbing stories about this organisation and their methods.

Last year we all still put boxes together but donated them to a charity focused on deprived local children.

I'm not advising not to donate but I would advise read up on this operation before making a decison.