Picked Up A Few OCC Shoebox Items at CVS Black Friday Sales ~ Freebies & More

I was able to take advantage of some free CVS shopping this week for our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes.  They had two ads and several items fit perfect in the "what to pack in a shoebox" category.  Here's what I got and how I paid.  You can still get in on the CVS Ad for 11/27 as the deals go thru 11/29, Saturday.

Paid $8.02, Saved $24.60, received $13.34 in Extra Bucks (rolled some on these deals).

Total Savings for the week (see details below):  $24.60 or 67% with

WANTED Poster: Beanie Babies for OCC Shoeboxes & A Bountiful Donation

I shared the Beanie Babies collection image I made earlier.  But I changed it into a WANTED Poster and wanted to share it again in case any one could use it.  I emailed the image to my friend and she shared it in her small business but didn't get any donations for several weeks and then....well, see the image below!  My Operation Christmas Child stockpile is full of animals now.

These are actually Avon Full O'Beans animals. They were delivered brand new in the

A Surprise Source for Empty Shoeboxes to Pack for Operation Christmas Child!

Last year when we were putting on a spur of the moment Operation Christmas Child packing party for the kids at church we found we were short on shoeboxes.  We asked a friend with a small business to put out a plea on her Facebook page for empty shoe boxes.  We received several dozen.  One of her customers remembered this and when they had empty shoe boxes from their youth soccer team they sponsor they called her to ask if we wanted them.

Of course we did!  Twenty-two youth sized, sturdy boxes -- just perfect for 2 to 4 year old boy shoeboxes, I don't even plan to wrap them as they are a nice bright blue.

So if you need more empty shoeboxes for your OCC shoebox packing, check out your local youth sports teams and ask them to save them for you.  For more information on boxes to pack in check out this post:  What Types of Shoeboxes to Use for Operation Christmas Child Packing.

Packing Teddy Bears ~ I Couldn't Resist for my Operation Christmas Child Shoebox

Could you resist these sweet bears?  I had won a Kohl's Gift Card from a blog giveaway and while shopping online for my Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes, I saw these Kohl's Cares Bears on sale for just $2.50. I knew they were a little big and messaged a friend who I knew had seen some of these and asked if she thought they were too big for a shoe box.  Yes, she did.  But they were so cute!

And really they would be free and well, I just couldn't resist.  Surely since the original price is only $5 they couldn't be THAT big.  So I added just one to my order...my first order that is.  I just had to test him out.

I added the blue bow.  I hope to decorate each a different way for each box.

He is so soft and cuddly and squishy! That's it!  He is squishy!  We all know that is a good thing when packing shoeboxes.  I squeezed him into half of a Reebok

Organizing Storage--New Shelves: Preparing for 2015 OCC Collection Part 3

Christmas came early to my house!  And not only in the Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts we packed.

I outgrew my laundry room shoe box stockpile storage. 

I shared a few months back about my Shoe Box Stockpile Organization in my laundry room.  How I sort everything into Banker Boxes throughout the year as I shop and craft.  This year I outgrew that space and went looking around my basement for additional room.

There is a long, wide hallway beside the furnace room.  It is along the back wall and is mostly hidden from the living area -- well, sort of hidden. Nothing a couple of curtains wouldn't fix.  I thought it would be perfect for shoe box stockpiling with at least twice the storage I currently had.

With that large of a space I needed an economical way to "shelve" my boxes.  I didn't just want to stack the banker boxes from floor to ceiling as I don't have the strength to be moving them to add

Divide & Conquer: Preparing for 2015 Operation Christmas Child Collection Part 2

For years we have shopped and picked up whatever bargains or fun things we could find and then divided the goods by age group when we packed our Operation Christmas Child.  We knew shoeboxes for 10 to 14 year old boys were the least received so we tried to lean heavily in their direction when purchasing items.  There were also several items that we always put in each box, but beyond that we would fill the shoeboxes with whatever we had.  This year I wanted to do it a little different. I wanted to "divide and conquer."

I discussed it with family members and they agreed.  We would each choose one age group and gender and be in charge of making a list of items we wanted to include. This way it wasn't so much "my" project, but "our" project.  It would be a simple way to divide the decisions of what is important for each group.  Each packer will make the final decision for their group and it won't matter that we