I was so excited that the kid’s school and our church both partnered with Operation Christmas Child this year. I know some of you guys are OCC Shoebox rock stars and you had you boxes packed ages ago. You are inspiring! But for some of the rest of us good intentions led to November when I realized, “Oh my goodness we haven’t packed our boxes yet!” I’m here to tell you, it’s not to late! But we are down to the wire. National Collection Week is November 16–23. That’s next week. The time is now!
There are guidelines as to what goes into the shoe boxes so make sure to check those out!
We took an afternoon and went on a shopping spree. The kids have so much fun doing this. They each got to pick out items for a box for someone their own age. I figure this way the things chosen are actually things a child that age would want. Now we pray that the right child with similar tastes is united with our boxes!
The girls had a blast. They boys didn’t understand why they couldn’t keep the toys themselves. 😉
Then for the fun part. We dump all the toys on the table and then sort them out to perfectly fit in the boxes. They were so excited.
Don’t forget to label and include $7 shipping. You can even register and print out tracking labels!
Then remember to take your shoe boxes to a distribution center next week to make sure those boxes get into the hands of sweet children.
Operation Christmas Child wants to know why you love packing shoe boxes. Share on social media using #ipackedashoebox and help spread the love!
When I pack the shoe boxes I see faces. Those beautiful faces of the kids I met in Peru on a distribution trip. What a neat ministry this is to families across the world!

My kids and I really like doing this also. They each get to fill a box for a child their age and gender too.
It’s such a great way to get them to think about others!
We packed our boxes last week. We have fun. I always have my kids pack a box for someone their age and gender and then any other boxes they can pack for a different age or gender.
They really seem to have fun picking out the things they would want themselves!