I was introduced to Operation Christmas Child about ten years ago, and I love how easy it is to send a Christmas package to a child across the globe! Every fall our church places a huge stack of empty shoe boxes in the lobby, which are to be taken home and filled with goodies for the needy children of the world. When Paul grabbed one on our way out of church a few weeks ago I decided this would be a great activity for us to do together.
We decided to fill our box for a boy between 10-14 years old. On the OCC website, they list five basic categories and suggest that you put at least one thing from each of the 5 categories in your box. I found this list very helpful as we shopped – especially because I don’t often purchase gifts for a 10-14 year old boy (much less one I didn’t know!). Here are the categories:
- A “Wow” Item
- Personal Care Items
- Clothing and Accessories
- Crafts and Activities
- Toys
After shopping Walmart and Dollar Tree, we came home with $25 worth of goodies to fill our box. Paul did most of the choosing and picked out things he enjoyed as a young teenager. I believe that God will direct our box to the perfect young man who loves these things too! Here’s what we chose:
- 2 t-shirts
- package of #2 pencils
- colored pencils
- pencil sharpener
- note pad
- toothbrush
- playing cards
- dominoes and travel connect four
- Star Wars socks
Watch the video below to see a closer look at the items and to see how everything looks all packed into the shoe box. This is such a fun project for any family!
Have you ever packed a shoebox for Operation Christmas Child?
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*I am not affiliated with Samaritan’s Purse or Operation Christmas Child, and this post was not sponsored.
Come Home For Comfort 
Thanks for sharing about Operation Child. I’m unfamiliar with the program, but I’ll be sure to check it out!
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I wasn’t familiar with OCC until a few years ago – it’s really a great tradition!
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Update: I was able to locate an OCC drop-off site here in town. There was a write-up in the newspaper that comes with the ads. The program seems to be really taking off!
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Whitney, thank you for this! I picked up my first box at church this year and wasn’t exactly sure what types of things I could put in (even with the instructions ha ha), it’s nice to see examples!
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I’m so glad it was helpful for you, Cari! We always have a hard time knowing what to get – shopping with that 5-category list in my hand really helped.
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