Dos and Don'ts of Packing a Shoebox

There are many things I have learned the hard way in packing shoeboxes and many other ways that I have listened and learned from others. No pictures today but I hope you will take the time to read all my dos and don'ts to make better shoeboxes.

For years, I insisted on putting liquid or school glue in my shoeboxes. As a retired elementary, I hated glue sticks but really liked the Elmer's glue. I was told not to pack Elmer's but I wasn't told way not for many years. When I finally had the change to volunteer at the Processing Center in Dallas/Fort Worth, I learned why I should not pack the Elmer's. The reason...it is liquid and if the bottle gets a hole in it or leaks in any way, it can ruin the entire shoebox. Everything that is in the box can be soaked in glue and not be good for any one! So, let's start with the don'ts since I was so hard headed. lol

Don'ts
1. Don't pack any liquids. No glue, shampoo, hand sanitizer or anything else in liquid form. Not only
can it leak and ruin the whole shoebox, it is possible that it can ruin an entire carton of shoeboxes!
2. No food items or any items that have the word snack on the package. Many customs agents in countries will not allow those so don't put them in.
3. No chocolate. As much as we love it, it can melt and make a big mess in the shoebox. Also, it is considered a luxury in some countries and OCC can be charged a luxury tax on the entire shipment if they find even one piece of chocolate. Yikes! More than $7 for that shoebox!
4. No Camo any thing. Terrorist groups are using all colors of camo items to identify themselves. We don't want the children to accidentally be subjected to any of that.
5. No war toys, no guns, no plastic army men. In some countries, the children have been terrified by local armies and will be frightened by army type of toys.
 I think you should also be careful with our super hero toys also. Many of them look like war or fighting types of items.
6. Don't wait until October or November to start buying items for your shoeboxes. You can find good deals all year round. Plus, it doesn't seem as bad when you buy a little through out the year.

Dos

1. Do look for expiration dates. Did you know that toothpaste has an expiration date? I didn't until a few years ago. Look at the crimped end of the toothpaste tube to find the expiration date. Plan on it being at least 6 months out from when you turn in your shoebox. Eleven million boxes can not all be delivered by Christmas time. A few years ago, a customs agent found a tube of toothpaste that was expired. He held up the entire shipment for 6 months before he let it go through with that tube.
2. Do put soap in zip lock bags. I always wrap my bar of soap in a wash cloth. Then I put that in a zip lock and close it. I put that in another zip lock so it is double bagged and seal that. The reason is because soap smells.  A bar of soap just laying in a box for a few weeks will make the entire box and everything in it smell like soap. The candy will taste like soap!
3. Do put any candy in a zip lock bag. This will protect it from smells. Some candy sweats and gets sticky. In a zip lock, it won't get every thing it touches sticky.
4. Do go shopping after holidays. Most candy has several years before it expires (check the dates, though) I usually buy up lots of suckers and tootsie pops after Valentine's Day. They are on sale then for 50% off. I buy assorted candies the day after Halloween. Again, they are on sale at 50% off. You can also find stuffed animals, pencils, and other items on sale after holidays. The day after is usually 50% off. If you wait a few days, whatever is left with be 70-80% or more off. But the longer you wait, the fewer things are available.
5. Be watching in stores, like Wal-Mart, Target, grocery stores, etc for sale items. Also, check the clearance aisles often. You never know what you might find. I found school scissors at 2 for a quarter in April because the store had a new manager and wanted to get rid of things that the previous manager had stored. Also, check out the Target Dollar Spot shelves often. You can find lots of good things for a dollar. Sometimes, you can find them cheaper. Last week, my Target had red dot items at 70% off on the Dollar Spot shelves. I got bunch of art sets for 30 cents each! And yes, I bought them all.
6. If you are or if you know a crafter or a sewer, make things. My sister makes rag dolls. I gave her money for fabric and asked her to make a bunch for me. You can check Pinterest for all sorts of ideas on things to make. Clothes pin airplanes, girls skirts, felt dolls, finger puppets, sewing kits, and fleece scarves can all be found on Pinterest. They are great in shoeboxes and cost next to nothing. I buy fabric remnants to make girls skirts. I can make them for 50 cents or less each.

Next week, I plan to put an article on how to pack multiple boxes without breaking the bank.

Judy's List of What to Pack in a Shoebox

You can find lists for shoeboxes in lots of places so this is just one more. This is also my opinion of what you should pack in a shoebox, Some people may disagree with me and that's ok. The following lists are what I have found in packing shoeboxes for 15 years and in working as a year round volunteer for the past 4 years.

You can pack shoeboxes for a boy or a girl in these age groups:
2-4 years old;
5-9 years old;
10-14 years old.
Yes, it is true that more people pack boxes for girls than boys and more pack for the 5-9 age group than the others. You can pack for whomever you feel God is leading you to pack for.

This girl is carrying her box and boxes for her siblings.

I feel there are 6 groups or types of items that should go in every shoebox. Those are
school supplies,
hygiene items,
candy.
toys,
clothes, and
other or misc.
I think that it is good to have something from every category in your shoebox. I do this with mine.
School supplies
In many countries, you can not attend school if you do not have your own school supplies.
Composition or spiral notebooks
pencils, sharpeners, erasers
crayons
glue sticks
markers
solar calculators for older children
color books for younger children
Hygiene items
Many children in poor countries do NOT have these basic items or they share one with the entire family.
toothbrush
tooth paste
soap
washcloth
comb and/or brush
Candy
Hard candy
Smarties
Suckers
Tootsie rolls (no chocolate. Tootsie rolls are not chocolate.)
Tootsie pops
Gum
Toys
Jump ropes
Cars
Balls (kids everywhere love balls)
Stuffed animal (something to cuddle)
Dolls
Slinky
Yo-yo
Whistles/noise makers
Balloons
Play doh?? This is something to think about. Often children do not know what play doh is. I had one little girl who wanted to eat it. I was trying to show her how to form it into an animal and she kept opening her mouth. Play doh is non-toxic so it won't hurt them if they do eat it but it won't taste good either. It is also great to work on imagination. I will let you be the judge on whether to pack it or not.
Clothes
If you pay attention to the sizes and pack according to the age range that are listed, you can come pretty close to items that will fit.
t-shirts
caps/hats/stocking caps
socks
flip flops
shorts
skirts
underwear (age appropriate, please)
NO CAMO of any color...Even pink camo could be used to identify terrorist groups and we don't want the children to be mistaken for that.
Other items
hair ribbons, bows, barrettes, clips, etc
Older boys
hammer
tape measure
screw driver
bungee cords
fishing kits
Older girls
sewing kits
clothes line & pins
1 or 2 yards of fabric

Check back in a few days for dos and don'ts and for how to not break the bank.

What I Learned When Handing out Shoeboxes

I have packed shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child for 15 years now. I've been a year round volunteer for the past 4 years. I started out working with Church Relations and then, after our wonderful leader went home to Jesus, I became the area coordinator for the Mid-Texas area. I was so privileged this year to be selected to go on a shoebox distribution trip to Tanzania. I could not have been happier or more excited. I returned just over a month ago and while I have posted some of my pictures on here, I haven't shared with you some of the things that I learned. So here goes.

 1. Take the items out of the original packaging. I've had some people ask me "how will they know it's new?" Trust me, kids can tell if something is new or not. Now my reason for saying to take things our of original packaging is that often, it can be really hard to get out! I had one boy ask to to open a package with a harmonica. It had the hard plastic covering that was sealed together. How many 7 years old do you know that can open that? After I opened it for him, he had a great time blowing on it. Another boy asked me to help him open a remote control car. It looked really cool and the person who packed it had included plenty of extra batteries for it too. I had to literally tear the box apart trying to get  it opened. Finally, I had most of the cardboard torn off but it still was not free. When I turned the car over, I found screws going through the box and into the bottom part of the car. No one had a screw driver. I showed the screws to the boy & tried to indicate that it had to be unscrewed. I don't know if he was able to get it out when he got home or not. I do hope so. Here he is with the best I could do on getting the car out.

Another reason to take things out of original packaging is that you can get more items in the shoebox if the throw away packaging is not in the way.

2. Another thing that I learned is that heat is relative to what you are accustomed to. I've heard people say that they didn't want to pack gloves or stocking caps because the box might go to a warm country. The equator goes across the northern part of Tanzania. We were in Dar es Salaam, the largest city there. It's on the eastern coast by the Indian ocean but still only a few hundred miles from the equator. There were some children who were wearing sweaters! You can see 2 boys in blue sweaters in this picture.

When we asked why, we were told that they were cold because there had been a "cold" front come in recently and the temperatures were only in the upper 80's. They were not used to it being that "cool" and so they were cold!

The boys also LOVED the stocking caps!

3. Another thing is that people should fill the shoeboxes! I can fill any shoebox for less than $10 and I have filled them for less than that. And that is with good items, not junk! In another post, I will tell how you can fill a box for less than $5 so be watching. 

  The children were great about not crying or complaining because their box didn't have as much as someone else's but it really hurt me to see a box that was not very full! 

  Ok, you may have heard that they will be filled when they get to the processing center so you don't have to worry about it. Well, that is true BUT the people checking the boxes are volunteers and are human. Some of the volunteers have different ideas about what full it or about what is a good box. I DID see some boxes that we handed out that were not very full. Also, at the processing center, they depend on "filler" items that are sent by the collection centers. Those can run out! Not every collection center sends "filler" items. Most of the filler items are the smaller toys also. Sometimes I have seen some good things for filler but usually it is the smaller toys. Every shoebox should have at least one WOW item in it. 

4. I was able to see that OCC is really a church to church operation. Of course, not all who fill shoeboxes are involved with churches. Many scout groups, schools and clubs fill shoeboxes and we are so happy about that. But most of the shoeboxes are filled through churches. When we handed out the shoeboxes, we went to churches in Tanzania to do that. The churches invited groups from their area or neighborhood to come to the distribution. 

This is the inside of one of the churches where we hand out shoeboxes.

This is a group of children who were excited to be allowed to come to a distribution. This group came from one of the public schools in the area.

By inviting children to come, it allows the church to know who receives a box and to be able to follow up with the child and his/her family after the distribution. Knowing how many children are coming also helps to have the correct number of shoeboxes. It would be terrible not to have enough to give to the children.

5. Shoeboxes DO make a difference in children's lives. A gospel presentation in the children's language is presented to the children before the shoeboxes are handed out. It could be with music and with stories or just with stories but it is always in the language the child speaks and understands. The children are given an opportunity to accept Jesus Christ as savior. There is also a booklet called the Greatest Gift that goes with every box. It is in the language of the child also. Here is one of the ones that we handed out in Tanzania.

 This is written in Swallii.

The children who receive a shoebox are also invited to participate in The Greatest Journey program. The Greatest Journey is a 12 week discipleship program written for the children in the language of the child. I got to see one of the lessons while I was there. The children came to the church on a Saturday for this. They were very eager to participate and were happy to be there. They were also very well behaved. I wish that I had taught classes where the children were this excited to learn when I taught in public school. 

Be checking back in a few days and I will have posts on dos and don'ts of packing a shoebox. I will also put up a post with a list of items that are great in shoeboxes and some tips on how to pack several shoeboxes without breaking the bank. And don't forget to include $7 for shipping of the shoeboxes. For more information, go to Samaritan's Purse.

Red Wolf

Materials needed:
In Wilderness stamp set SU (#120537)
Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set SU
Gray card stock 4 1/4 x 5/1/2"
White card stock 4 x 5 1/4", 2"square, small scrap
Red card stock 2 1/4" square
Versa Mark ink pad
Heat tool
Cherry Cobbler embossing powder SU (122949)
Cadmium Red Deep acrylic paint
Cadmium Yellow medium acrylic paint
brush
Cherry Cobbler ink pad SU
Regals Candy Dots SU (#130932)
Word Window punch SU
Stampin' Dimensionals SU

1. Paint the white card stock like was done here.
2. Emboss the small white square of card stock with the wolf head using Cherry Cobbler embossing powder. Versa Mark ink and a heat tool.
3. Mount the embossed square onto the red card stock square. Use Stampin' Dimensionals or other dimensionals (SU are my favorite) on the dried painted card stock.
4. Stamp  your greeting from Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set with Cherry Cobbler ink on white card stock. Punch it out with the Word Window punch.
5. Place two dark red Candy Dots on each side of the greeting and adhere it to the bottom right side of the painted card stock. You can use red brads, if you prefer.
6. Mount the painted card stock on to the gray card stock. Mount this onto a card base and add your own greeting on the inside.
This is a great card for a man.  

Victorian Birthday Card

Well, bringing the flu B back from my trip to Tanzania has really thrown me for a loop! I hadn't gotten the flu in probably 30 years, since I started taking the flu shot. They said that this year the flu mutated and the shot wasn't as effective. I really felt bad for a couple of weeks. I'm doing a lot better now but I still have that lingering cough!

Here's a card I made for some of my July birthdays.

Materials needed:

White card stock 5 1/2 x 8 1/2" scored and folded at 4 1/4"

Lost Lagoon card stock SU! 4 x 5 1/4"

Pink stripe patterned paper 3 3/4 x 5"

Dazzles stickers by Hot Off the Press

Birthday stamp, Vintage Rose Garden stamp set by Jennifer Ellory

Whisper White 5/8" Ribbon Organza SU (#114319)

Lost Lagoon stamp  pad SU

Ticket corner punch

Glue Dots

Stampin' Dimensionals SU

This card is simple to assemble after you cut your papers to size. 

1.Punch all four corners of the Lost Lagoon card stock and the patterned paper with the ticket corner punch. 

2. Stick the lacy stickers across the patterned paper about 1" from the bottom and wrap around to the back.

3. Adhere about 6" of the ribbon just below the stickers on the patterned paper and wrap around the back also. 

4. Use about 6" of the ribbon to tie a bow and place on top of the other ribbon with glue dots. I used 3 to get it to hold in place good.

5. Stamp the greeting with Lost Lagoon ink across the top of the patterned paper.

6. Place Stampin' Dimensionals or other dimensionals on the back of the patterned paper. Adhere it to the Lost Lagoon card stock.

7. Adhere this to the white, folded card stock.

Add a greeting or note to the inside and you are ready for a birthday.

More Pictures of Tanzania

The past couple of weeks, since I've been home, have been wild! I went to the doctor on Monday morning, June 8 with what I thought was a respiratory infection, like I used to get all the time when I was still in the classroom. I was waiting on lab work when I almost passed out. Everyone seemed to go crazy. They said they had a place I could lie down until my turn for my labs. That sounded good to me. Well, they called for a doctor who called 911 for an ambulance. I would have thought that I was at a place where they could take care of a 911 call. They took me to the ER, where I spent most of the day before they decided to admit me to the hospital for observation. They kept me 24 hours & released me. The next day they called to tell me that I had influenza B and gave me a prescription for tamiflu. What I figured out was that when I said that yes, I had been to Africa in the past 21 days, they went crazy. I know, it's better to be safe than sorry but if they had just treated me for what I went to see a doctor about in the first place, it all would have been Ok. Well, the flu can make you feel pretty rotten for a while but I'm doing much better now. I'm reasonably sure that I picked it up on the 20 hour plane ride and I could have even gotten it at Wal-Mart!

OK, here are some more pictures of the trip.

Every place we went the children sang for us. These boys really put on a good show! 

After the shoeboxes had been handed out and the programs were over, there was lots of music playing, either from local musicians or from a cd player. Calvin had the microphone and was singing and dancing with the music. He asked me to dance with him and he sang to me. It was in Swalli so I don't know what the words were but it was fun and happy. I danced with him even though I have no rhythm and on my part didn't really look like any dance but we were all having fun in the Lord.

I asked this young lady what her favorite thing in her shoebox was.She is holding up a cross necklace that she was very proud of.

All of the children were so cute!

I took these pictures from the second floor of one of the churches. This is considered a middle class neighborhood. Very different than a middle class neighborhood you would find here in the US.

This is looking at one of The Greatest Journey books in the class that we watched. The children were here learning on a Saturday. They were all very well behaved.

Shoebox Distribution trip to Tanzania

I got home Wednesday evening after flying for a total of 20 hours! This was an amazing trip. We went to 6 different churches with 5 distributions of shoeboxes and one The Greatest Journey lesson. The children were beautiful! I fell in love with Tanzania. Here are a few pictures of the trip. You will see that the girls all have shaved heads. I asked about that and was told the the schools required it. It did make it a little hard to tell the girls from the boys when we handed out the boxes.

Perhaps later, I'll be able to most more pictures!

I've had people ask me about things like stocking caps and gloves before. They are concerned that they will go to a hot country and not be used. Well, Tanzania is on the equator and the kids loved the caps that they got! It's all relative. Some of the children were cold and wearing sweaters. They had recently had a "cold" spell where the temps got down in the lower 80's. They were cold because they were not used to that.

One of this boy's gifts was a remote control car. The giver even added plenty of extra batteries. I was very difficult to get it out of the box. I tried the best that I could but the box had the car attached with screws on the bottom. No one had a screw driver. I just hope that he was able to find one after he left because we were not able to get it out that day. Please, watch how your gifts are packaged. If the gift is in original packaging, please check to see if it can be taken out. The items in the shoebox do not have to be in original packaging. Please be sure the children can get the toy out to play with. Boxes and plastic packages are not necessary.

They were all amazed at the gifts in their boxes. This boy is showing off the flashlight that he found in his box.

They wear uniforms to school. Some of them were a bit ragged. The schools let the children have some time out to come get a shoebox.