Waiting In Line for an OCC Shoebox

Tea Towels (inherited from my late mother-in-law) waiting in line for a crafting session with the sewing machine to become aprons for small girls to find in their Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts. Images of the finished product and a link to instructions are below.

Click for how to Instructions for Tea Towel Apron.

Check out our Crafting For Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes Tutorial Index post for dozens of DIY craft tuorials.

Shop Year Round to Fill More OCC Shoeboxes for Less Money

An example of an April shopping trip
to CVS.  The egg dye I got for free
and it had stickers in it that I could
add to my Christmas shoe boxes.

This may not be new to many of you, but shopping year round for Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts helps make filling MORE boxes possible as well as filling them more inexpensively. Combining coupons with sales often make for free hygiene items.  And shopping after holiday clearances nets lots of great toy & clothing prices.

One of my main sources is CVS.  With their extra buck program along with manufacturer and CVS coupons we rarely pay for toothbrushes and get soap at rock bottom prices.  And I often net clothing and toys for pennies on the dollar on clearance.  If you'd like to learn how to deal shop all year round check out the other financing Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes posts here at Simply Shoeboxes.

My 2011 CVS deal shopping stockpile for
Operation Christmas Child.
Image Source:  Simply CVS.

UPDATE 2017:  Candy, gum and toothpaste is no longer allowed in OCC shoeboxes.

You can see more of our shopping trips here:  Shoebox Stockpile Saturday ~ Adding to Our Operation Christmas Child Shoebox Stockpile.

Paid $2.50 for $47 Worth of Goodies for OCC Shoeboxes, Charity Sewing & Sailors

This was a great week for my various stockpiles for giving, especially Operation Christmas Child shoebox packing.  It is interesting the various ways of obtaining great deals and freebies for giving.  As you all know from original blog, Simply CVS, I do a lot of shoe box deal shopping at CVS.  They also have been a great source for health & beauty supplies that I have donated locally.  And now they are becoming a source for my nephew the sailor and his buddies in arms.  This week's

Shoeboxes for Sailors: First Box of Snacks for My Nephew

Shoeboxes with gifts of all kinds are great for brightening someone's day, not just children thru Operation Christmas Child.  It doesn't have to be someone in crisis, but just someone who needs to know they are loved and thought about.  Last week my nephew graduated from Navy boot camp.  We found out his new address Tuesday night and that he could receive goody boxes now.  So Wednesday I grabbed my largest, sturdiest shoe box a few packs of gum & gummy candy I had left from my Operation Christmas Child shoe box packing, and began baking M&M cookies while Sarah ran to the store to pick up some snack foods.

We wrote a few notes of why we choose some of the goodies like:

• using his grandmother's cookie recipe (who did not live long enough to see him become a grown man, but who would be the most proud of him)
• a regional snack from our area (we now live in the south)
• how some snacks were to jog his fond memories of his childhood (a "S'mores" to remind him of camping with his dad)
• and we took a cue from "A Few of My Favorite Things" and wrapped it brown paper for fun (no string, tho, just some packing tape).

So his mission is to help protect our nation, mine, to find new and creative things to pack in future shoe boxes for him and his sailor buddies!

Bouncing Balls @ 85% Off Clearance for OCC Shoeboxes @ Family Dollar

Well, it is National Collection Week for Operation Christmas Child.  My boxes have been dropped off as well as some extra stockpile of shoe box gift goodies to a packing party for kids at our church and a box full to Samaritan's Purse for use as fillers in shoe boxes at the processing center.  It's time to start shopping for next

Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes Delivered

We have delivered our family shoeboxes to church for Operation Christmas Child and also have been able to take well over 200 filler items to our church's kids' packing party and I still have some left over to send directly to Samaritan's Purse for their collection centers to use. All of those Dollar General Flip Flops (I ended up with over 130) will soon have new homes!  After they go thru A Day at the Operation Christmas Child Processing Center.