Basically, you fill a shoe box (or small plastic tub the size of a shoe box) with small items (school supplies, toys, clothes, personal items, hygiene items and hard candy)! This could be the only gift these kids get in their whole lives. Matt and I started putting these together the first year we got married. Each year we put together a box for the oldest age group, which receives the least amount of donations (10-14 years). Once we started having kids, we decided that we would let each child pack a box for their age group. The youngest age group is 2-4 so Caleb will be putting a box together for that age for awhile. The first couple of years it was much more of a stretch to fill the boxes with enough stuff, partially because we didn't have very much money and partially because I just didn't know what to put in the boxes. This year I am so excited about these boxes! As soon as they announced the collection dates at church last Sunday I started planning and shopping. My parents put together a couple of boxes too so my mom and I hit the stores. We went to a couple of dollar stores, Wal-Mart and Michaels. Here is a list of what I bought for each box and an approximation of what I spent. Keep in mind that Samaritan's Purse asks you to include a donation of $7 to help cover the shipping costs.
Girl 10-14:
-Water bottle
-Pencil sharpener-4 pens
-4 pencils
-Coloured pencils
-2 bracelets
-Hair elastics
-Sewing kit
-Bag of hard individually wrapped candies
-Light weight scarf
-Socks
-Sports bra
-2 little pony toys
-Crayons
-Pencil case
-Scissors
-Bandaids and alcohol swabs (in a bag)
-Bar of soap (in a bag)
-Facial tissues
-Comb
-Toothbrush
-Beads and elastic
-Embroidery thread
-Necklace
-Turtle foam craft
-Tote bag with fabric markers
-Pad of paper
-Bouncy ball
Value: $28-32
Boy 2-4:
-Tiny frisbee
-Bar of soap (in a bag)
-Small dinosaurs
-Baseball-Bag of candy
-Facial tissues
-Crayons
-3 pairs of socks
-T-shirt (size 4)
-Toothbrush
-Teddy bear
-Scissors
-Colouring book
-Cars stickers
-2 exercise books (thin pads of paper)
-Water bottle
-2 bouncy balls
-2 cars
-Pencil sharpener
-Bandaids and alcohol swabs
-2 pencils
-Coloured pencils
Value: $28-32
Boy 10-14:
-Bar of soap (in a bag)
-Bag of candy-Football flyer
-Wood workshop build a race car set
-Bandaids and alcohol swabs
-Scissors
-Facial tissues
-Pad of paper (Team Canada Hockey)
-Soccer ball (deflated) - not pictured
-Air pump and needles
-Water bottle
-Pencil sharpener
-2 bouncy balls
-Pens
-Pencils
-Coloured pencils
-Toothbrush
Value: $30-35
As you can tell we have a few staples in our boxes. All the boxes have toothbrushes, soap, bandaids, alcohol swabs, scissors, bouncy balls, pencils, pens, coloured pencils, and a bag of candy. Water bottles were new additions this year and I love them! I packed mine full of pens, pencils, coloured pencils, facial tissues, bandaids, alcohol swabs, pencil sharpeners, bouncy balls and hair supplies (where applicable). My advice though is to find some that are tall and skinny. The ones my mom bought were a little wider and shorter and made for more challenging packing. Matt's favourite thing to put in the boxes is a soccer ball. I couldn't agree more. I mean what kid, no matter what age, wouldn't love a soccer ball? All in all, it'll cost us right around $110 to put these together plus the $7 a box to send them; however, if you 'donate' more than $15 to help send the boxes then they will give you a tax receipt. I see so much value in putting these boxes together and helping my kids realize that there are children all around the world that don't get lots of stuff for Christmas. Last year Caleb didn't really help since he was only 6 months old but this year I made sure he helped pack the boxes. He put the pencils and pens in the water bottles and the candies in the bags. It was great to see him get excited about helping. I'm hoping next year he will help pick out the toys or something. I am also going to start looking for things throughout the year since we had a bit of trouble trying to find little crafts or a variety of items to go in the boxes. I thought the start or end of summer would be great to find bright coloured crafts. I also thought that back-to-school sales would be a great time to get cheap school supplies. If you spread out the cost throughout the year, then it doesn't seem like a such a big cost all at once.
Be joy-filled!
Came across this post on Pinterest! I'm finishing up my OCC box for a 10-14 year old boy, and I love the idea of putting the pencils inside the water bottle! Great idea.
ReplyDeleteI was searching OCC on Pinterest and came across the water bottle idea then found a picture of them being filled with all sorts of stuff. I thought it was a great use of space! I will be sure to use this idea again next year! Thanks for reading!
Delete