thebabyperks

Last year I made a blog post about what my family put in our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. This year I decided to do it again, I meant for this to be up last week but you know how that goes. 

Operation Christmas Child is an event through the organization, Samaritan's Purse. People pack shoeboxes for either a boy or girl (or both) of an age they select. At my church our Operation Christmas Child event ended but some other churches may be doing

We selected both a boy and girl in the age range of 5-9 and here's what we got:

For Both the Boy and Girl (5-9 years old):
1. A toothbrush/toothpaste set. If you are participating in OCC make sure you get a kit with a toothbrush cover because the kids most likely don't have clean countertop or cup to store their toothbrush in without it getting dirty. This kit also is in a plastic package, as you can see, which offers another layer of protection.
 2. Dove Sensitive Skin Bar of Soap. This soap is unscented which is what you want because it has less (if any) risk of irritating the kids' skin.
 3. Crayons. Kids love to color and we got the kids notebooks (below) so they can draw or write whatever they want.
 4. Mini Notebooks. See explanation above. 
 5. Washcloths. Each kid gets their own wash cloth. I read a story about a now-adult man who once lived in a Russian orphanage and was so happy to get his own wash cloth because everyone usually had to share them but because of the washcloth in his shoebox he could claim one as his own.
 6. Gummy Bears. Personally, one of my favorite snacks but gummy bears don't spoil and these ones are in Christmas colors to add to the festivities. 

Boy's Gifts:
1. A rubber ball to play with.
 2. Hotwheels cars because every little boy loves toy cars.
 3. A (Plastic) Christmas Ornament full of Legos. The plastic "ornament" doubles as storage for the Legos.
 4. A plain blue t-shirt. We got it a little big because we weren't sure if the boy was going to be 5 or 9. He can grow into it if he's five or it'll fit great if he's nine.
1. Jumprope. In elementary school I loved to jumprope. This particular one's handles light up. 
 2. Mini Doll. They say to try to get a brown hair/brown eyed doll. I went to the Barbie section but the Barbies are too big to fit into a shoebox. These mini dolls work perfectly.
 3. A plush stuffed bear. We saw mixed reviews on getting stuffed animals but I think that as long as the stuffed animal is friendly you are good.
 4. Sparkly Hair Clips. These hair clips come in a variety of colors and work in a variety of hair styles/textures.


Okay so that is everything we got for the kids. We bought all of these items from Target because they are higher quality materials. These are the only things these kids get for Christmas and it's worth it to my family to spend a little bit more so the gifts last. I hope you all got to participate this year and if not, you can next year.

Until next time,
Taylor xx

P.S.:
Operation Christmas Child 2014