Ideas for Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes

When my kids were little, I learned about Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes and I loved how this was a tangible way for my kids to help share with other children at Christmas time. These shoeboxes not only end up being a small gift for a child at Christmas, it is a way to share the gospel with these children, so they may learn that Jesus loves them.

The Samaritan's Purse website has some great tips on suggested items to pack in a shoebox. I want to share with you what we included in our boxes this year.

Operation Christmas Child Shoebox items for a girl

For the little girl's box we included:

  • toothbrush and toothpaste
  • wash cloths and soap
  • bangle bracelets and plastic cups I found on clearance after Easter
  • rubber bands
  • hard candy
  • crayons
  • Play-doh
  • little doll
  • Bible theme game tablet
  • memo pads
Operation Christmas Child Shoebox items for a boy

For the boy box, we included a lot of the same items, but we made sure to include:

  • hot wheels
  • bouncy balls
  • pencils
follow your box labels

Samaritan's Purse makes it easy to follow your box by allowing you to pay for the shipping for the box online. Once you pay your shipping online, you are prompted to print out your labels for your box. Just attach these labels and you will be notified by e-mail to let you know what country your box or boxes are heading to.

Collection of Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes occur every November. Through the year, you and your family can be collecting items to put in your shoeboxes and praying for the children who will eventually receive your gift for Christmas.



September Compassion Share & Tell

Blogging is taking a back seat in my life right now. So many things going on in real life...school started, volunteering a lot of Compassion events, a big sewing project, and a big baking project! Phew!

But I don't want to miss out on sharing with you what I wrote to my sponsored children this month. I was hoping to put together a few Christmas items to mail to the kids, but I will have to put that together in a couple of weeks once these crazy few weeks have passed.

Anyway, I decided to write my letters online this month and quickly share what I have been doing during my Bible time. Here is one of the letters:

Compassion makes it so easy to write to your child online. Once I had signed into my account and had written the first letter, it was really quick and easy to have letters sent to my other Compassion children. Since I was sending the same letter to each child, I was able to duplicate the letter, just change the name and template, and click send. It really is that easy!

When was the last time you wrote to your Compassion child? Has it been a while? If it has, I encourage you to log into your account and write to your sponsored child right now. These children love getting letters from you. They are encouraged by your words and your prayers.

Not sponsoring a child yet? For $38 a month, you can choose to be a blessing to a child. I pray you choose to make a difference today.