Ohio Sports Themed Operation Christmas Child Shoebox for Boys Ages 10-14 Years Old

Last year my Dad packed 3 Ohio sports themed shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child.  When we make a themed Operation Christmas Child shoebox, we don't leave out anything on our basic packing list-we still put in hygiene, school, and art supplies, clothing, whistle, etc as well as toys (including a ball and stuffed animal) with a family photo.  We just try to find versions of what we are putting in that goes with the theme and occasionally an extra item or two.  We're from Ohio, as is someone who donates crafted items for shoeboxes, so this was a natural theme.   We ended up packing three in 2017: Browns, Indians, and Buckeyes.  All were packed by my Dad for 10-14 year old boys.  

The Browns one was probably the most on-theme as we were able to find and make actual Browns licensed items.  It all started with the "Sunday Funday" water bottles and grew from there.  Thanks to shopping our stash and help from our crafting friend, it turned out pretty well!

The Buckeyes box also got one of the football water bottles, plus lots of "scarlet" and gray! 

The Indians box was mainly red and blue with a little baseball thrown in.  We did find Indians' flashlights from H&J closeouts which helped the theme.

For more ideas/fun boxes, check out other shoeboxes we packed for boys 10-14 years or our themed boxes!

School Supplies for Shoeboxes Collection Poster

Samaritan's Purse has suggested items of the month for packing Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes, and for August, that's School supplies!  School supplies are so important as in many countries they are required to attend school.  I thought maybe a collection poster might be helpful to collect them from friends, congregation members, etc.  So, here's what I came up with.  Feel free to print it out, share online, etc. as needed to get more school supplies for shoeboxes.

If you like this poster, you may want to check out our other collection posters.

OCC Shoebox Stockpile Saturday ~ 8/25/2018 ~ A month's worth of shopping

Well, with getting back from vacation I'm a bit behind on sharing my shoeboxes finds!  While I was on vacation I was able to pick up some sports team themed items from "back home".

I also found some random items fun little items on a shopping trip.  Magnifying glass to check out (didn't like it) truck puzzle for car themed box, couple penguins for a penguin themed box, couple plastic craft kits for older girls, and a little book about rose types-lots of pretty pictures to look at!

At Dollar Tree I saw a car "Lego" type toy at Dollar Tree, and as I liked Legos as a kid and am planning car themed shoeboxes in memory of my uncle this year, I picked up a couple, then I went to CVS & found a car with blocks inside it on clearance-I plan to stick the two building kits inside it, plus probably one of the girl ones I got later at Dollar General.

I received 2 cartons of the new pre-printed cardboard shoeboxes from OCC-hope to post a report on them soon..

I ordered a package of the soap cases-under $20-so much cheaper than other sources.

I had gotten a $10 gift card from Oriental Trading, thankfully they had free shipping on any order, so I found some clearance items (dozen mugs, 2 dozen bags), plus a cup to get up to $10...ended up being on the dot-so didn't spend anything!

I also got to a Dollar General for the 50% off clearance sale...a couple things I found even ended up having been there so long they were only a penny!

Spent from shoebox packing budget: $32.82
Saved $65.98  or   67%
Plus some of the items were donated, and the soap cases not bought in bulk would have been quite a bit more.

Saved thru clearance at Oriental Trading:  $22.99 
Saved through OT gift card: $10
Saved through OT free shipping: $6.99
Saved through Dollar General Clearance:  $26