July Item of the Month for OCC Shoeboxes ~ Clothing

Samaritan's Purse has suggested items of the month for packing Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes, and for July that is clothing.  Here in the USA, we can send any article of clothing we want, as long as it doesn't make the child look like a soldier (so, a green camouflage shirt is out).  I think the UK is only allowed to send certain things, so be sure to check your country's regulations before you send something!

“One of my favorites in my shoebox was white socks because in the orphanage you get bad quality socks that always stink and have holes in them.”

–Timur, Central Asia (OCC website)
Clothing can be quite useful, often these children don't have shoes or only torn clothes.  While this may be one of the more useful/practical items sent, it can also
be quite fun!  Cute patterned socks, crocheting around the straps of flip-flops, etc. can make them "Wow" items.  Here's an impact story of one girl and her shoes:

Alina -and- The Princess Shoes 

Here is an image from Dress A Girl with a before and after of a little girl receiving a pillow case style dress.  My mom shared in an earlier post why she sews pillowcase dresses for her Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes.

New dress sewn by Suzanne of Sew Delightful.

One concern with sending clothing many people have is the room it takes.  This guest post written by Amy Lukens has some great ideas on getting clothes to fit and examples of what all she can get in a GoBox with clothes: Guest Blog Post - How to Pack More into Less.  And here's some photos of ones we've sent with clothes, some just a piece or two, some complete outfits. (NOTE: in the USA, we can no longer send the candy and toothpaste pictured in these).  You can click on any picture to see more details of that box and how we got it to fit.

Another concern is what size to send.  OCC suggests to send for the older end of the age range, and they can always grow into it.  And some things like socks and pillowcase dresses can fit a range of sizes...even T-shirts can be worn if a little large.

If you'd like to make clothing items for your box, here's some instructions for simple options:

• Simple Pillow Case Style Dress Instructions ~ How To Sew A Pillowcase Dress from Fabric
• Child's Simple Fleece Poncho with Yo-Yo Tutorial
• Simple Hand Towel Apron for a Child ~ How to Instructions

Photos Courtesy of Samaritan’s Purse.  Happy Packing!