Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Shoe Boxes on a Shoestring

Many of you know that this week is collection week for Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes. And, since I know many of you are thrifty and have a desire to help others, I thought I'd share a few ways that I save items for our boxes each year without spending a lot of money.

The first thing is to shop year round for items. It never fails that when you are looking for inexpensive items, they are hard to find, you run ou of time and end up spending more. So, one thing you need is a place to store your stash. Any cardboard box, bin, drawer, etc... will do just fine. It won't do any good to remember to purchase the items if you can't find them when it is time to assemble your box.

This canvas bin sits on a shelf in my closet and is labeled, "Shoebox Goodies". We do one box per family member, so I just purchase with that in mind.

Ideas:
* Check clearance racks. I have found some wonderful toys on seasonal clearance, just because the package was seasonal. This year, Emily's box includes a My Little Pony that I found on the 75% off Easter clearance. Clearance racks are also a great place to find items like hand towels or wash cloths. After Christmas is a great time to check also. Target clearances out their dollar rack and I have gotten things 75% off of that as well.

* Shop school supply sales. This past year, we found one cent items at Staples including pencils, pencil sharpeners, etc... Crayons and colored pencils are less than a quarter.

* Shop free-bate items. This is especially great for items like toothbrushes and toothpaste. I'm always sharing about the Walgreens rebates we get, but our family cannot use up the quantity that I get free - so lots of these end up in shoeboxes.

* Shop sales. Walgreens has great sales on little items throughout the year like cars for 29 cents and soap 3/$1 or plastic cups 8/$1.

* Eat kids meals. When you go out, order a kids meal and save the toy for the shoe box. The kids meal is usually cheaper, still a good sized portion, and provides you with the toy to give away.

You do not have to sacrifice quality to get good deals, but it does take a training of your mind to be on the lookout for items. Now, I know there have to be other ideas you have...what do you do to keep the cost down?

6 comments:

Mary Ann said...

These are great suggestions! I love gathering these items all year. I keep my eyes open for new items from yard sales as well. It crept up on me this year, so I'm going to donate my box of goodies to a local charity for stocking stuffers instead.

Anonymous said...

This was my first year to do the shoeboxes. I have quite a bit of cardstock, including some nice scraps in my stamping supplies. I cut cardstock and folded it to card size then stamped up a bunch of fun images on my cardstock scraps and cut them to size. I used your idea of cutting out pretty magazine pictures and included some of those. I assembled a couple of cards (so the recipient would have an idea of how to make a card) and included a glue stick, some scissors, colored pencils, a stamp I already had, an ink pad, wipes, envelopes, scrap ribbon. We added other more practical items purchased on sale, but the art supplies were the main focus.

Monica Wilkinson said...

Christy, What a great idea! I never thought of doing that - thank you for sharing! :)

Anonymous said...

Hi, Monica -- great post about Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes! I'm remembering seeing where the headquarters is located in Boone, NC with you last spring! :)

In the Gazette article I told you about, the featured person said she could fill a box for $4-$5. What do you think your cost per box is?

Great job!

Love, Mom

Monica Wilkinson said...

Hmmm...I wonder how much each box is. I would say $4 would be a high estimate, though the plastic boxes they are encouraging you to use now is $1 right off the bat. School supplies and toiletries would be $1 or less and then toy items. I'm guessing my average is $3-$4, with your contributions. Though, David's boy box is usually a bit more like $5 since I have to buy "cool" boy toys for his box - he turns into a little boy filling that box, I tell you. Sounds like the S family does a great job at $4-$5 a box!

Anonymous said...

Hi Monica! The Samaritan's purse shoeboxes is one of my favorite projects. Like you, I collect goodies all year long. We usually do about 10 boxes. Purchasing throughout the year keeps it affordable for me. Each box costs about $3-$4 for us to fill. The $7/box postage fee was a difficulty for me, so I talked to my parents about "sponsoring" our boxes, and they do that for us! We save candy that we get from parades to fill the headspace in the boxes. We get lots of goodies from lots of people, since we have 6-almost-7 children, and many of these things never make it into my childrens' hands :) We don't need more stuff, but these boxes include the only toys some children will see all year! We like to put a little ball, crayons, markers, a toothbrush in all the boxes. Some get clearance t-shirts or small lego sets, Hot Wheels or hair bows, wallets, hairbrushes, stickers, small books, etc. etc. I snatch up $.30-.50 things when I find them, and only occasionally will spend $1 for an item. I found plastic pencil boxes for $.10 this year, so lots of little things went into the pencil box into the bigger shoebox. I heard a testimony by a grown woman who'd received one of these boxes as a child, and it made a big impression on her. She stressed the importance of including a personal note, and a photo if possible. We like our note to talk about Jesus' love for them.