When I was growing up, my mum would help usย pack up a Christmas shoebox of gifts for a child in the developing world. This year, Ava, Thea and I are taking part inย Operation Christmas Child.ย We are packing up our own box of goodies for a child who probably won’t receive any gifts.
Ava’s school is collecting the boxes, and have been telling the childrenย why they are doing it.ย Ava isย really on board and came up with loads of suggestions about what we could put in it.
Shopping For Our Christmas Shoebox
Iย took Avaย shopping for the gifts, and I could tell she really wanted to keep them for herself.ย We got a variety of arts and craft materialsย andย kits, paints, colouring pencils, notebooks and other stationary.ย I added someย gloves, and Ava choseย a skipping rope, a ball, and a soft toy.
We also added a toothbrush and toothpaste, plus a comb and a sparkly headband from Claire’s.
Ava was excited to pack everythingย into the shoebox, and Thea added a rubber that she was given at the weekend.ย I think we spend aroundย ยฃ25ย in total, and they ask you to contribute ยฃ3 towards postage.
Ava drew a picture of our family and wrote a card to say Happy Christmas. I hope the recipient can read her attempt at grown up joined up writing!
Aside from how much we enjoyed putting our box of goodies together, I think that it’s a great way to get kids into giving to less fortunate people.
Avaย told me that they checked each other’s boxes for liquids, foods and other things that aren’t allowed. There is a list of suggested items, as well as what not to put in, on the Operation Christmas Child website.
This video shows how happy and excited the children are to receive their Christmas shoebox – it makes me cry.
We are so, so fortunate and I am so happy that we can do this tiny thing to help one child have a happy Christmas.
Myย friend, Laura, who blogs at Laura’s Lovely Blog put together a box,ย why not see what she and her kids put in it?
Have you done a Christmas shoebox this year? I’d love to hear what you put in it, so I can steal your ideas for next year!
Great Video! Which country was this?
Hi Linda, I don’t know where it was actually, I wrote this last year and my memory is not that good! It’s so lovely isn’t it? xx
We did ours this week too, I think my children really enjoyed doing it. I loved the fact yours made a Christmas card to go in it too ๐
It’s such a great thing to do, I love getting the kids involved xx