Creating for a Cause
Heather and I first learned about Operation Christmas Child at Church and decided we needed to be a part of this amazing project. We researched it a little more and learned that OCC is the largest Christmas project of its kind and uses gift-filled shoeboxes to share God's love in a tangible way with needy children around the world. Since 1993, they have delivered over 113 million gift-filled boxes. Here is a link to learn more about Operation Christmas Child: http://www.samaritanspurse.org/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child/
So, the boys and I headed out to the Dollar Tree and Target to pick up the items for our boxes. I had only planned on making 2 but when I saw how much you could get at Dollar Tree by buying in packs of 3 or 6, we decided to make 6. The bins were also from the dollar tree but I am going to start saving shoeboxes over the next year because they are much sturdier. Here is a list of Suggested Itemsfrom the OCC website. Some of the items that I found at Dollar Tree are pencils, pads of paper, balls, play dough, kazoos, silly straws, crayons, pencil sharpeners, hair clips, soap, jump rope and hand sanitizing wipes. Then I picked up a couple larger items in the clearance section at Target for the main gifts like toy cars, card games and small stuffed animals. In all, I spent about $8 per box. Not bad! 
We came home and started assembling the boxes. They had fun deciding whether the toys should go in boy's or girl's boxes. 'B' also made crosses out of pipe cleaners and beads to put in the boxes. We included a letter with a family picture and 'B' drew a little picture and wrote "I love you" on each letter. We also payed the $7 for shipping online so that we can see where our boxes go (you can also put a $7 check in each box). Then we put the labels and rubber bands on them. Lastly, we prayed for each child that the boxes go to. 
The next night, we took them to our local church on a drop off night. (Here is a drop off schedule and list of drop off locations: Drop-off Locations). I have to say that this was such a meaningful and rewarding way to kick off the holiday season. I am so glad we did it. I think the boys learned a lot by watching the videos on the OCC website of the children receiving their gifts and how happy it made them. I will definitely be doing this again next year! I am going to watch the clearance and after Christmas sales as well as save those shoeboxes. Have any of you made Christmas boxes for Operation Christmas Child? We'd love to hear what you did. We can always use ideas for next year!
My husband and I also wanted to share our pictures of the boxes we made for Operation Christmas Child so that you can get ideas and see how easy and inexpensive it is to share our blessings with others and touch a less fortunate child. We bought everything for the boxes from Dollar Tree. So, here are our boxes and the age groups that we made them for:
Girl Age 5-9
Boy Age 5-9
Boy Age 2-4
Girl Age 2-4
This was the letter we included with each box. The amount of Operation Christmas Child boxes at our church was absolutely amazing! The entire church was filled with walls and walls and more walls just like this! When I think about how much joy this program brings to less fortunate children, it is just overwhelming and I am so glad we were a part of it.
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