Operation Christmas Child: The gift of love

Operation Christmas Child a project from Samaritan’s Purse that our family has been involved in for many years. This is an awesome way to give a child a gift who may not get anything at all for Christmas and to see that we can use some of our abundance to help make the holiday a little brighter for them. It is a great way to teach our children the importance of giving, to share our abundance with others who may otherwise never receive even a single gift in their lives to date.


How to participate

  1. Grab an empty shoebox or other small plastic container.
  2. Choose a gender and age group for your recipient and print off a handy label.{age groups are 2-4, 5-9, and 10-14}
  3. Go shopping or even better if you are crafty, make somethings!

Make or buy gifts to fill your box that will bring joy to a child. We/you can fill a shoe box with items that a child would like to receive. There are a few 'rules' such as no food or second hand items can be included, also please no toys of violence such as guns & swords.

I generally start with an idea of what age and sex child I want to aim for. I choose this year, we decided to gift a 8-10 year old boy. (I think this is a harder age group and therefore thought others might shy from it).

Just as I finished my boxes for this year, I found This free Small Doll Sewing Pattern made exclusively for Operation Christmas Child Shoe Boxes.

I love to sew and next year this is something I would love to do.
If you follow her blog she also has free tutorials for painting a doll's face and for other modifications.

Free pattern available from Sarah's blog.

Jamie and Amy each have 100 wonderful suggestions for possible inclusions so that you have an idea of what could go in such a box. It is not too late to make up a box this year, but you will have to hurry as they need to be pack and shipped to their destination very, very soon. I am sure that there is a drop off point near you, whether you are in Australia, New Zealand or USA. (I am not sure about other countries.)

Can I help in other ways?

You could consider donating towards the cost of shipping and other related project costs. $7 has been suggested for each box, though more or less is just as appreciated.

Every year, thousands upon thousands of generous people across the world lovingly pack shoe boxes with gifts a few months before our Christmas as a simple, yet powerful messages of God’s unconditional love.

Thankfully there are many people who participate in OCC each year.

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