Shoebox Stockpile Saturday ~ 4/29/2017

It's been another slow Operation Christmas Child shoebox week.   This week has been more focused on ministering to my grandmother who is under Hospice in our home, than working on shoeboxes.  Kind of makes me think of James 1:27 "Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world." (NASB) Right now, we're called to focus on the widow. On my way to choir practice I did drive past a Dollar General, and ran in for 5 minutes and was able to get a few cute stuffed animals on clearance for 30 cents each!

Spent from shoebox packing budget: $1.92 

Added to stockpile:

•  6 stuffed animals

Check out why We Include a Stuffed Animal in ALL of Our Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes.

Donations from Sew Delightful for OCC Shoebox Stockpile Saturday ~ 4/22/2017

With my grandmother's condition (for those that don't know, we're caring for her at home, but under Hospice care and she's going downhill the past couple weeks), we haven't got a chance to do much for our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes, but that's where it's great to have friends who come alongside you, we got 3 great boxes full from Suzanne at Sew Delightful

So many useful & fun things!  Dresses, gloves, washclothes, stuffed animals, stickers, jewelry, plus lots of fun extras that if you follow the blog you know how I love to tuck in!  I'm especially excited about the largest sized gloves as we like to include work gloves or something in Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes for the 10 to 14 year olds, and last year it came down to like the last week before we found a good deal on them, and knit gloves work for that!

Zip Plastic Bags from MDSupplies & Services Review and How They Can Be Used in Packing OCC Shoeboxes

Here's a review of the zipper sealing plastic bags made by Dukal from MDSupplies & Service's special Shoebox Shoppers order form.     MDSupplies & Services has helpfully made us who pack for Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes a special order form of just items that can go in OCC hoeboxes...plus it has FREE SHIPPING!!!   (Disclosure: post contains affiliate links & I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on them)

MDSupplies & Services offers 9  different sizes of bags in cases of 1,000 (prices effective at time post was published -- use order link above for free shipping):

• Zip Bag, Clear 3 x 4" (ZIP34) $6.35 (less than a penny a bag)
• Zip Bag, Clear 3 x 5" (ZIP35) $6.99 (less than a penny a bag)

Light Week for OCC Shoebox Stockpile Saturday ~ 4/15/2017

It was a kind of light week for Operation Christmas Child shoebox stockpiling.  My grandmother who we care for has had a rough week, so we've been focusing on that.  For those who pray, we'd appreciate prayers, we're caring for her at home, but Hospice has been called in.

When running errands, I got to stop by Dollar Tree and get some soap with coupons.

My sister crocheted 2 Aunt Ida hats while sitting with my grandmother...she used to crochet and enjoyed hearing about the kids who would get the boxes.

Spent from shoebox packing budget: $2.27 

Added to our Operation Christmas Child stockpile:

•  A dozen bars of soap
• 2 hats

Getting cash back on shopping thru Swagbucks

Spring has sprung and at Swagbucks, the deals are in full bloom. They're giving back BIG Cash Back on your favorite merchants this week. If you haven't heard of Swagbucks, when you shop there you get cash back in the form of SB points for every dollar you spend. Then you redeem those points for gift cards to places like Amazon, PayPal, Walmart, and more! Sign up here to get started

The weekend is upon us and the weather is warming up, so now’s the perfect time to do a little shopping! I know some of these places we buy stuff for shoeboxes...what my family has started doing is if we're buying something (not on clearance) that we'd go in the store and buy, we often order it online to pick up in store.  It saves us time, and then we can get cash back!

Some of the current high % backs are great for shoeboxes (these return to regular cash back amounts after 4/16/2017):

Walmart = Up to 8% Cash Back

For shoebox "crafters" or those who like tools for the older boys boxes:

Lowe’s = 3% Cash Back
Home Depot = 3% Cash Back

And, then, places where you may not be able to get a good enough shoebox deal online, but you may need to pick up something for yourself, and then the cash back could go towards shoeboxes.

JCPenney – 15% Cash Back 
Nike – 20% Cash Back
Macy’s – 12% Cash Back
Gap – 8% Cash Back 

Hurry though, because these deal ends on the 16th!

Plus, if you've signed up through my links at some point this month (or do it now), you'll get a $2 (200 SB) bonus added to your account when you get your shopping SB! 

You can earn SB in all sorts of ways, including discovering deals and trying new products/services, watching videos, taking surveys, or just searching the web!

Check out our newest blog (Simply Earn & Save) for more info on How to Earn at Swagbucks Series, Introduction: How It Works & Signing Up. 

Disclosure: Links on Simply Shoe Boxes may be affiliate partners or referrals, and I may have been paid to write this post.

Just A Little Bit for OCC Shoebox Stockpile Saturday ~ 4/8/2017

I stopped by Mighty Dollar and found a couple coloring things buy 1 get 1 free.  I think I'm going to use the racing coloring book as the base for an Operation Christmas Child themed box for a 5-9 boy box.  It's really nice...lots of pages, words in English and Spanish, which increases the chances of the recipient being able to read it-we had boxes go to Ecuador last year.  It also has two pages of stickers, and a fold out racetrack scene with two pages of re-positionable stickers to put on it.  I have a racing pencil kit, and some Hotwheels already...excited to see how it comes together!  I also picked up a couple tools for the 10-14 boy boxes.

Someone also gave us this little drawstring bag-very study...thought it'd work great for a small tool kit for a 10-14 boy box:

My sister crocheted 4 Aunt Ida hats

Spent from shoebox packing budget: $5.34

Added to stockpile:

• Coloring book
• Coloring pad with pencils
• 2 tools
• 2 sticker pads
• 1 drawstring bag
• 4 hats

Check out our post:  What Type of Box to Use for Operation Christmas Child for information on how the box you choose to pack in can make a difference.

Toothbrushes from MDSupplies & Services Review ~ Options for Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes

Toothbrushes are something that I want to include in all of my Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes, but they can be expensive or be of poor quality and break down quickly.  So, I was excited to get to try three different toothbrushes  from MDSupplies & Service's special Shoebox Shoppers order form.  MDSupplies & Services has helpfully made us who pack for shoeboxes a special order form of just items that can go in OCC shoeboxes...plus it has FREE SHIPPING!!!   (Disclosure: post contains affiliate links & I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on them)

My sister or I used all of them a couple times a day for a week or two.  Here are the results. All in all, I think all of these are good options for shoeboxes.  All come

April Item of the Month for OCC Shoeboxes ~ Stuffed Animals

Samaritan's Purse has suggested items of the month for packing Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes, and for April that is stuffed animals!  That is one of my favorite things to put in a shoebox...they're SO cute!!  We actually pack them in every shoebox, if you want to know why, check out our post: "Why we pack Stuffed Animals in all our Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes."  Samaritan's Purse has shared a number of stories of kids who were really excited about their stuffed animal (or doll, but they're pretty close):

•  Denis -and- A Cowboy
• Yuliya -and- A Puppy
• Nanor -and- A Doll
• Luis -and- A Lamb

While stuffed animals are a GREAT item to include, they can be one of the more

Mittens, Hat & Soap for OCC Shoebox Stockpile Saturday ~ 4/1/2017

I was able to hit some 70% off Dollar General clearance this week, got a number of gloves and mittens for our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes
:

I also got one last of the Dial soap deals...hopefully they'll be more coupons this month for them!

My sister crocheted 1 Aunt Ida hats for our shoeboxes...she did some more for fillers.

Spent from shoebox packing budget: $8.33 

Added to stockpile:

• 9  pairs mittens
• 11 pairs gloves
• 6 bars Dial soap
• 1 hat

Do you like to craft for your shoeboxes?  Check out our Crafting For Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes Tutorial Index for dozens of ideas and patterns.