Donation Week on Operation Christmas Child Shoebox Stockpile Saturday ~ 6/18/2016

Well, I was on vacation with just one carry-on for 10 days, so I didn't have room to pick up anything, but this week was a different story!

Started out by coming home to unpack a box of donations from Suzanne from SewDelightful!  It had a fun variety of things-handmade dresses, toys, school supplies, etc.  Always fun when others come along side with our packing!

My sister, who is a church secretary, brought these home for us to use in shoeboxes, they seem to have been a promotional item that was donated to our church, when our church didn't end up using them.  Dozens of golf towels!!  They're nice sized, yet don't take up too much room. They seem sturdy, and have a built in brad to hang from nail, trig, etc. If you have connections to golf things, it might be something to ask for-overstocks of old, yet unused, promotional golf towels.

My sister and I had to run some errands today, and I scored a couple things for shoeboxes:

This flamingo was PERFECT as my mom is making a flamingo themed 2 to 4 year old girl shoebox, plus it was Gund brand which means it should really last well-that was what my favorite stuffed animal was as a child for over a decade, and he held up just fine!

And then at a thrift store I found a somewhat ratty tin, but it had these 7 wooden peg  toys-6 never opened, I like new for $2 total!!  So it works out to like $0.30 a piece-similar, but not as nice quality ones are sold at Dollar stores for $1 a piece, this is why I love shopping year-round everywhere for boxes-you get nicer items for less money!

Spent from shoebox packing budget: $3.21

Added to stockpile:

• 7 dresses
• 60 pencils
• 70 pens
• 9 wooden crafts
• 3 stuffed animals -- Read Why We Include a Stuffed Animal in Each Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes
• 6 whistles
• 7 misc toys
• 14 sunglasses
• 7 peg games 
• Plus dozens of
• Pieces of jewelry
• Baseball cards
• Golf towels

We like to craft as well as shop for our shoeboxes.  If you do too, we have shared lots of illustrated patterns.  Check them out here:  Crafting For Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes Tutorial Index.