Christmas Shoebox Time

Our shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child 2013 have now been dropped off so will soon be on their way to bring a little joy to a child in another land.  It's quite amazing what we can achieve with very little money by looking for bargains all year and making some nice things.

Some boxes we've completed this year: 

Girl 5-9.  The most expensive thing in this box is the plasticine which was still less than £1.  I always feel guilty making boxes for this age group as they receive far more than any other but we've had some things a while which didn't really fit into the older or younger categories so 5-9 girl it is.

A jigsaw puzzle (made up and laid on the bottom of the box in 2 sections with a cut out of the picture for maximum use of space), plain paper, A5 hardback notebook, A5 colouring book, A5 dot to dot book, mini colouring book with stickers, more stickers, fairy wings craft kit (removed from box with instructions cut out), plasticine, pencils, colouring pencils, crayons, sharpener, eraser, novelty dog eraser, alphabet and number stencil, toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, comb, 3 cards of hair accessories, pony bead bracelet kit, min baby born doll, skipping rope, barbie with knitted outfit, spare knitted outfit for Barbie, knitted hat, knitted puppet and a home sewn pencil case.  This box is 33cm x 15cm, a little longer than the recommended 30cm but not as wide with just a little space left for some sweets:
 

Another girl 5-9.  I made a ladybird purse (holding some hair bits) and pencil case for a little bit of continuation with the ladybird pencil topper, stitched some hair scrunchies and knitted the hat and barbie outfits:

Boy 2-4 with a little fish print lined drawstring bag to hold the puzzle (currently flat in the bottom of the box) or crayons or even the small toys or toiletries:
 

Another boy 2-4.  This box is larger than the previous one but they both contain a similar number of items just on a smaller scale:
 

Girl 2-4.  The doll was £3 in a 70% off sale, much more than we'd normally spend on a single item but irresistable at that price and compensated with a number of handmade things.  Knitted hat and mittens, a set of knitted dolls clothes, knitted puppet, stitched lined drawstring bag and hair scrunchies.

Making little fun things and browsing for bargains all year that we'd otherwise have no use for gives us immense pleasure knowing that they'll bring a little joy elsewhere in the world.