December 7 ~ Shoeboxes

This sweet graphic is by Little Birdie Blessings

This year was the first time I have participated in filling shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child.  My daughter and her kids have filled boxes a couple of times and have so thoroughly enjoyed and been blessed by this opportunity to share with those less fortunate.  It has been a great experience, especially for the children. 

So this year when Carrie mentioned making some dolls for the shoeboxes she and the kids would be filling, I decided to get my two oldest granddaughters (ages 10 and 12) involved.  Kids that age love to help others!  They jumped at the chance to fill a shoebox apiece for girls in their age range.

  The only downside was that I waited until nearly the last minute, so we didn't have time to make a lot of homemade items for the boxes.  We went to the dollar store on a Friday night,  and each girl filled up a plastic shoe box with school supplies, soap, toothpaste and toothbrushes, hair stuff, and so on.  The next day, we worked on a simple sewing project -- these purse size tissue holders  to add to the boxes. 

These ares some tissue holders we had made previously.

For the shoebox ones, we used Christmasy colors and prints.

This one has a bluebird button on it.

After that, the girls decorated the tops of the plastic shoeboxes with washi tape, stickers, and so on.  They each wrote a nice note in a Christmas card to tuck into the box.  (Sadly, I did not get pictures of any of this.  I'm having a few computer issues and am hesitant to put any new pictures on the computer.)

At the appropriate time, Carrie dropped off our shoeboxes along with those she and her kids had filled.   This was a wonderful experience for the older girls, and we will definitely be doing it again next year.  We are already planning to include a lot more handmade items and have been thinking of things we can make for the boxes.  It will be something very special to look forward to!