More Budget for Shoeboxes

 So, if like us, you enjoy packing shoeboxes and would like to increase how many items you have to pack, but the shoebox area of the budget only has so much to spend.  I try to share deals or moneymaking apps/sites every Friday on our Simply Shoeboxes Facebook page.  But today I'll share another option-using some of our gift budget.  We do this in two ways:

First, among ourselves sometimes the gifts we give for holidays or birthdays are actually shoebox items.  This may be a nicer version of an item we would often pack, for instance in the photo below, we often send plain combs, but will send these fun brushes instead.  Or it might be an additional item like the head bands.  This makes the gift fun, and practical!

Another option is if you have friends/family who have everything they need, but you still need/want to give them a gift, and they have a heart for children is to pack a box in their honor.  One way to make this personal is to pack the box with a theme related to them.  The amount spent toward that could just be shipping, could be a couple items to complete the theme, or could be the entire box's contents depending on the amount you have to spend on that person.  If you activate tracking labels you can even share where they went.  Then you can give theme a photo of the box with some text like: "This shoebox was packed for a 5-9 year old boy in Ukraine, Europe in your honor with a Carolina Blue color theme because of how much you like the Tar Heels."  With their permission, you could even include their photo and/or contact info.  Here's photos of a few boxes we packed "for" our pastors this year.

The "Tar Heel" one in the example above.

Superhero/Lego/games themed

A very girly little girl box.

Another option would be to invite them over to pack their own box, if you have your packing supplies set out to pack yourself-that way it'd be a a shared time as well!