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  

OCC Shoebox Stockpile Saturday ~ 7/21/2018 ~ Summer Clearance and Such

This week's shoebox shopping got of too a good start when I found some fun stuff at Hobby Lobby for 80% off

Next day I stopped at Dollar Tree to pick up the pencil sharpeners we like to use for our shoeboxes-often they're harder to find closer to shoebox packing time, so got what I needed now-if you can't find them in your store, they are available to purchase online and possibly pick up for free in the store. (affiliate link-I'll be compensated if you purchase after clicking on it)

Also stopped at a Mighty Dollar to get the rest of the balls we needed for our boxes, plus the whistles were buy 1 get 3 free, so got some of those!

Finally, I got a code for penny prints at Walgreens so got 25 (the limit) of those for our shoeboxes.  Plus the pencil cases they had on sale for half off-which I plan to use to make Pencil Granny Filler Packs like last year.

Spent from shoebox packing budget: $33.12  

Saved $62.95 or 65%

Saved thru clearance Hobby Lobby Clearance:  $45.47 
Saved through B1G3 deals: $3
Saved through Walgreen's photo discount code: $8 
Saved through Walgreen's Sale:  $6.50  

This post contained an affiliate link and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links, this helps me afford the time to write this blog and keep up the Facebook page.  But, I only share affiliate links for items I think would be good for shoeboxes, and fellow shoebox packers.  Most the time it will be things I've personally reviewed or packed.

OCC Shoebox Stockpile Saturday ~ 7/14/2018 ~ Dollar General Deals and more

I had a pretty good week-was able to get most of the remaining school supplies we needed!!  Dollar General was having some back-to-school sales, plus $5 off when you spent $15, which made for an even better deal, here's what I was able to get at a few different stores/days.:

I also stopped by Mighty Dollar and picked up a couple things:

Spent from shoebox packing budget: $43.16 

Saved $67.50 or 61%

Saved thru Dollar General sale prices:  $52.50 
Saved through Dollar General $5 off $15 deal: $15 


Plus, I got this photo text from my aunt, she was able to get the crayons we needed:

OCC Shoebox Stockpile Saturday ~ 7/7/2018 ~ Great Deals-Saved 85%

I was able to get some pretty good deals for shoeoxes this week!  First I got some nice clearance at Hobby Lobby-some 66% off summer, plus a couple craft kits more like 95% off!

I went to a thrift store, I was able to get some new games, a math kit whose packaging was pretty messed up and missing a few pieces, but the 4 pieces that were there were really cute and unused, so I'll take them out and send them.  Also, a like new stuffed that I just couldn't pass up-too cute!!

I went to Bargain Hunt-nothing too exciting, but did pick up a few fidget spinners-I know there's some controversy about these, but these ones seemed study, and I'll only put them in the oldest kids boxes.

I stopped at Big Lots to pick up some of the $0.17 notebooks-I was able to use the $5/$15 coupon I'd gotten for signing up to their loyalty program.

Spent from shoebox packing budget: $20.07  
Saved $112.39  or  85%

Saved thru clearance:  $17.13
Saved through Thrift Store special: $1
Saved through Bargain Hunt prices: $6.72
Saved through watching Bargain Hunt % off: $7.84
Saved through Big Lots Back-to-School prices: $74.70 
Saved through Big Lots Coupon:  $5