U.S. Toy Order for OCC Shoebox Stockpile Saturday ~ 6/25/2016

I placed my first order from U.S.Toy this week for our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes.  Here's what I got:

That's just the overview, I plan to post photos of the individual items with reviews.

I also had some ECB from CVS from previous shoebox purchases that I needed to use up before they expired, so I picked up this t-shirt, $2.50-nice soft fabric, hopefully they'll still have some left if/when they go on clearance.

Spent from shoebox packing budget: $15.93

Spent from gift cards we have earned or won online: $52.06

Added to stockpile:

• 1 T-shirt
• 1 foldable Nylon Kite w/Pouch
• 6 jump ropes
• 5 dozen "activity packs"
• 4 dozen pen necklaces
• 8 dozen pencils
• 4 dozen pencil sharpeners
• 7 dozen stencils/rulers/etc
• 1 dozen mind teasers
• 1 dozen Mini Metallic Maracas
• 1 dozen wave maze puzzles
• 1 dozen prisms
• 1 dozen kazoos
• 4 dozen plastic tops
• 5 dozen blowouts
• 2 dozen stuffed snowmen [ Check out Why We Include a Stuffed Animal in Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes]

We like to pack themed shoeboxes.  If you'd like to see some of the ones we did in the past check out the posts in this series:  Themed Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes.

Donation Week on Operation Christmas Child Shoebox Stockpile Saturday ~ 6/18/2016

Well, I was on vacation with just one carry-on for 10 days, so I didn't have room to pick up anything, but this week was a different story!

Started out by coming home to unpack a box of donations from Suzanne from SewDelightful!  It had a fun variety of things-handmade dresses, toys, school supplies, etc.  Always fun when others come along side with our packing!

My sister, who is a church secretary, brought these home for us to use in shoeboxes, they seem to have been a promotional item that was donated to our church, when our church didn't end up using them.  Dozens of golf towels!!  They're nice sized, yet don't take up too much room. They seem sturdy, and have a built in brad to hang from nail, trig, etc. If you have connections to golf things, it might be something to ask for-overstocks of old, yet unused, promotional golf towels.

My sister and I had to run some errands today, and I scored a couple things for shoeboxes:

This flamingo was PERFECT as my mom is making a flamingo themed 2 to 4 year old girl shoebox, plus it was Gund brand which means it should really last well-that was what my favorite stuffed animal was as a child for over a decade, and he held up just fine!

And then at a thrift store I found a somewhat ratty tin, but it had these 7 wooden peg  toys-6 never opened, I like new for $2 total!!  So it works out to like $0.30 a piece-similar, but not as nice quality ones are sold at Dollar stores for $1 a piece, this is why I love shopping year-round everywhere for boxes-you get nicer items for less money!

Spent from shoebox packing budget: $3.21

Added to stockpile:

• 7 dresses
• 60 pencils
• 70 pens
• 9 wooden crafts
• 3 stuffed animals -- Read Why We Include a Stuffed Animal in Each Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes
• 6 whistles
• 7 misc toys
• 14 sunglasses
• 7 peg games 
• Plus dozens of
• Pieces of jewelry
• Baseball cards
• Golf towels

We like to craft as well as shop for our shoeboxes.  If you do too, we have shared lots of illustrated patterns.  Check them out here:  Crafting For Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes Tutorial Index.