Charitable Initiatives: Operation Christmas Child

Image from Operation Christmas Child website

Given that this will be the Mini Grumpy Egyptian's Christmas, we have decided to keep things low key, but I'm still looking forward to seeing her excited face when she gets a couple of new toys. Even with money being tight and such I couldn't imagine her not having something to open and that is where this charity comes in. This is the second in a little series detailing the charitable initiatives you can get involved with this year starting off with Operation Christmas Child.

Operation Christmas Child started some years ago (I remember filling a box when I was at school) and basically consists of decorating a shoe box before filling it with toys, books, hygiene products and sweets that are aimed at a particular gender and age group. The boxes are then collected at numerous locations across the country and dispatched to children across the world that without your box may not have received anything for Christmas. The deadline for dropping your box off is NOVEMBER 18. Click here to find your nearest drop off point.

This year I decided to create 2 boxes. The first for a girl and the second for a boy, both for ages 2-4. I gave myself a budget of around £12 per box and you will be surprised how much you can get for that. You also pay £3 for each box to cover delivery costs, so this was on top of my budget for the boxes. Here is a list of the items it is suggested you choose from along with what you are not allowed to include.

 

Here is a list of what I put in the boxes (shown above and about to be decorated):

Colouring pencils
Wax crayons
Writing pencils
Rubber
Pencil sharpener
Mini hairbrush and hair clips (girl)
Individually wrapped sweets (lollypops and chewy ones)
Teddy bear
Colouring books
Plain paper notebooks
Toy cars (boy)
Toothbrushes and toothpaste
Tambourine and plastic recorder (girl)
Stickers
Pencil case

I'm also writing a little notecard to go in each box to say we hope the kids like their presents.

Operation Christmas Child is ran by a religious group, which I know from talking to people in the past may put some off taking part. However I couldn't give a damn what religion someone is. If they are doing good and helping those in need, then you can't argue with that. Click here to find out more.