Smiles Sent Saturday ~ November 14, 2015 ~ Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes

This week’s a little different.  Instead of something I mailed through the Postal Service.  This is about the shoeboxes I sent through Operation Christmas Child.  For two decades they've collected shoeboxes filled with school & hygiene supplies as well as toys and other items from individuals, families, and groups, then deliver them around the world to children in need or crisis.  My family's done it for most of those years.  Here's three of those boxes I packed this year for girls with different themes:

This was a "rabbit" box for a girl 2-4 years old.    Someone gave the us the rabbits-and they looked like a "mother & baby", so I didn't want to split them up-so I found other smaller items to fit in around it-I was quite pleased with how much I could get in!  I even found a small toy and thin composition book with writing paper in it to add later.

This was for a girl 10-14 years old.  I went with owl themed.  My mom sewed the owl bag, I found the owl report cover (which I used to make a Stationery Set), stamp, collapsible water bottle, and stamp were on clearance at CVS,  The crocheted bracelet with owl button was donated, and we already had the owl wrapping paper.  To be able to get more to fit I put the puzzle pieces in a zippered bag and tucked small items around it in the puzzle box.

This was a cat box.  The report cover had a a cat with a ball of yarn on it and was also a stationery set.  I was pleased with how many cat items I found I had as well as other items I was able to fit in.

Our family, including my aunt, packed 50 boxes this year.  You can see some others of those we packed for different ages and genders a Girl 2-4 years old, Boy 2-4 years old, Girl 10-14 years old, & Boy 10-14 years old) at my Simply Shoe Boxes.

The name “Smiles Sent Saturday” denotes my hope these things I mailed made the people who got them smile.

Smiles Sent Saturday~November 16

This week’s a little different.  In stead of something I mailed through the Postal Service.  This is about the shoeboxes I sent through Operation Christmas Child.

Our family packed  nearly a dozen boxes and we’ll be packing 100+ more with our church.  My mom is posting on her blog Simply Shoe Boxes about our “Spur of the Moment OCC Packing Party”.  But I thought I’d share photos of the 4 I packed.
The first one was for a 2 to 4 year old boy:

I hope he likes dinosaurs!

Smiles Sent Saturday~October 19

This week’s post is a little different. It’s not about mail I send someone, but sending someone the tools to write for themselves.   For years my family has enjoyed sending shoeboxes to needy children world wide through Operation Christmas Child.  We always include school supplies: paper, pens, etc.  This year, for the plain paper (I always like to put in plain paper for then to draw) I used free paper and cheap report covers from Office Max to make a booklet.  I got thinking, maybe I should put in some of my extra sheets of stationery paper in the front and back pockets for them to use:

I looked through my stash and was able to find quite a few kinds of paper from my stash that I had enough to share, plus some envelopes, each of the three boxes I did this for got something a little different.

I even had stickers to put in this one:

I think it turned out well, and is a gift I’d enjoy getting!  I was really glad I thought of doing it as my mom had read a story somewhere about kids in an orphanage being really happy about the paper in their shoeboxes as they could then write their siblings in another orphanage!

 

EDIT:  Added these photos to show how it fit in the shoebox.   The first is how it is when the shoebox is open, the second is how it fits with the lid down and rubber banded.  I found it bent better when the open side was up.  If the shoebox was a little shorter the long way I guess you could cut it down some.

 

The name “Smiles Sent Saturday” denotes my hope these things I mailed made the people who got them smile.

Off they go…

Well, we’ve sent our shoeboxes off to Operation Christmas Child again this year.  This is a program of Samaritan’s Purse where people in a number of countries fill shoeboxes with various items like toys, school supplies, candy, hygiene supplies, etc. then they send them to needy children worldwide. I believe it started in the early 90’s in response the Bosnian crisis.  Over the years these shoeboxes have brightened the Christmases of a number of children all around the world who otherwise wouldn’t have had any other presents or celebrations in hospitals, orphanages, refugee camps, and other dreary spots around the world.  Over the years my family’s boxes have gone to eastern Europe and Africa (that we know of either from letters, or through their