photo property of Samaritan’s Purse/Operation Christmas Child
I know Christmas seems like the farthest thing from your mind right now but when back-to-school shopping rolls around, I see Operation Christmas Child sales!! When crayons and pencils are 12 cents each, I just have to buy them.
But I get it. I know you might not have the money for even one extra school supply right now. So, I had this bright idea a few months ago because Yancy sent Lydia a box of Chick-fil-a kids’ meal toys (new and unopened, y’all) to add to her Operation Christmas Child stash. I thought that was brilliant and said, “KIDS SHOULD TOTALLY SAVE THEIR KIDS MEAL TOYS FOR SHOEBOXES!”
How fun would that be? You could make it a year long Thing and talk about sacrificing what you love, giving what you have and more. For twelve whole months your kids would be practicing giving to others! I love it. You could even gift wrap a big box to store it all in to make it a little more fun.
{Plus, you could feel 1% better about buying your kids’ fast food because you wouldn’t have to clean up any toy wrappers and you’d be facilitating a servant’s heart. Eh?}
I’ve thought up a few more ways to gather more toys and supplies for your shoeboxes WITHOUT SPENDING A DIME. It won’t fill a million boxes, but it will help you fill them. Ready? Here we go!
- Save all the toys from goody bags your kids get at birthday parties.
- Have a leftover unused goody bag toy from a party you hosted? Keep it! It might be two at this party and three from another but they add up!
- Were you the room mom and bought some craft kits for your daughter’s Valentine’s Day party at school? If you have any extras, stick them in a ziploc bag and pack it in a shoebox!
- Ask your kids to save all their non-melty candy from school parties, trips to the bank or Halloween.
- Save all the swag and promotional items you get at the next conference, when you open a new checking account, or hit up the next local fair and craft show.
- Ask the folks who give out freebies (like the aforementioned) what they are going to do with their leftovers. See if they’d be willing to donate to your OCC stash.
- Keep your eye open for other weird stuff. For example, my dad’s company just changed owners and they had about 500 water bottles with the company’s old name. They would have thrown them in the trash if my dad hadn’t picked them up!
- Did your kids get a birthday or Christmas gift they already own? Either put it in the shoebox or ask your kids to “donate” it by returning it and buying gifts appropriate for a shoebox.
- Ask some friends to do all the above with you and see how much you can scavenge!
RIGHT?! How great are those? They don’t require money, begging or heavy crafting. They may require some self-control, foresight and commitment from your kids but hey–isn’t that worth it?
Where are some places you’ve scored big for Operation Christmas Child?
Not sure who/what OCC is? Check out my trip to see Operation Christmas Child in action in the Dominican Republic!
I thought about happy meal toys too, but on one blogger’s post — i forget who–they said not to send happy meal toys. I’ve read a number of “don’t even think of sending these things” list that I don’t know what is ok to send, especially on a really tight budget.
this was one of the posts.
http://thehumbledhomemaker.com/2015/06/operation-christmas-child-distribution
Hmm. Well, I’ve been on a distribution, too and cheap toys are definitely not the best for a whole box but to fill a box, I think they are fun add ins. Specifically, the toys from Chick-fil-a that we got were little craft kits!
Here’s the thing, I want to be able to fill as many boxes as I can. Spending $25 per box means I can send one or two boxes. Collecting other fun pieces from some of the places I mentioned help me send more boxes which means more kids hear about Jesus!
This post made me sad. Save out the kids’ meal toys and talk to my kids about sacrifice? I would much rather make them a PBJ and save the $$ to spend on something to make a child feel special. I understand that there are many things around us that we take for granted and that we could put aside, bit by bit, but I think we do others–and ourselves–a disservice when we imply that giving to the less fortunate is what we do with our leftovers and things we don’t want.
I’m not trying to pawn off our leftovers. I’m trying to help kids see that we throw things away b/c we’re too rich to see any good in it! We sent 100 boxes last year and yeah, many of the gifts were not what my kids got for Christmas. But it was 100 kids that heard Jesus’ love for them. And it was 100 kids my own kids prayed for and loved from a distance. I’m not suggesting we send worn out, sad boxes. I’m suggesting we do all we can to do more! Every bit counts and God uses it all!
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We all need to follow our hearts. This is advice, treat it as such. You don’t always do what everyone tells you. Do what is in your heart.