Shoeboxes!

We’re busy filling our shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. I recently came across this blog post full of fantastic suggestions, and I was thrilled to find a set of four small balls (soccer, basketball, football, and playground ball) that come deflated. The set includes a pump! I’ve read that boxes for boys ages 10-14 are the least packed boxes, so we chose to do those (since we have boys those ages!).

We spend very little on Christmas gifts in general. Our boys simply don’t need much and they don’t really play with toys. So we splurged a bit on these boxes.

All packed in a plastic water bottle, we added:

• Mini LED key chain flashlights (2)
• Pencils, sharpeners, and erasers (several of each)
• Ball point pens (4)
• Safety pins
• Comb
• Nail clippers
• Toothbrush travel set (with brush cover and toothpaste)
• Mini spiky rubber balls
• Cord bracelet
• Candy in a ziplock bag

We also added:

• Plain colored t-shirt (1)
• Underwear (1)
• Rope
• Small spiral notebook
• Soap in plastic travel case

There were so many other things I wanted to pack, but we couldn’t fit it all! I’m still not exactly sure how all of these things will get in these boxes, but I’m sure my husband can master-pack everything.

I was a little sorry we had decided to do boxes for boys this year when I saw this darling doll, though!

I’ve read elsewhere that they’ve had issues with any kind of candy (melting or rats getting into boxes!!), so I hope we’ll help eliminate those problems by double-bagging it and putting it in the water bottle.

Of course we have to watch Veggie Tales’ Saint Nicholas: A Story of Joyful Giving as we’re filling our boxes! It’s a great way to introduce kids to Operation Christmas Child!