Simply Shoeboxes

OCC Shoebox Stockpile Saturday ~ 3/2/2019 ~ Donations plus saved 82% on Deals

Finally getting back to posting my Stockpile Saturdays. And what a busy week to get back at it!! We received donations, birthday gift orders, and got some great deals/clearance finds-check it all out below:

We hit a few Dollar Generals to see what we could find on 90% off clearance-lots of goodies for shoeoboxes, also some fun items to use next year in our ministries to seniors.

CVS was only 75% off, so still pretty high, but I had $4 in ECBs, plus, I had a $10 off $40, and was already buying about $20 for our household. So, I added some items on (some in the picture above, some for senior ministry) and got them like half off 75% off, so like 87% off, plus $4 off for ECBs.

Also picked up some Irish Spring on sale plus scanner coupon so worked out to about $0.25 a bar (old photo, didn't see the point of taking another photo packages of soap-LOL).

I found some new wrapping paper and a new coloring book at a thrift store.

We also found some more of the chunky pencils we like to put in 2-4 shoeboxes at Dollar General's 50% off clearance sale.

So that was the items from our shoebox packing budget, here's a couple things....well, more than a couple! ;)

My mother chose to get some stuffed animals for shoeboxes for her birthday, you can see a review of them here and a video unboxing and look at their quality.

We received a donation in the mail from Sew Delightful. So many goodies, the photo just doesn't do it justice, so here's a link to our unboxing video:

Spent from shoebox packing budget: $15.54
Saved $70.80 or 82%

Lego Deal at Walmart

Mallory let me know she found the Lego Classic Color boxes on clearance and WalMart and I looked it up, and those that still have them in stock mostly show $1 a box...normally $4-$5!! I know Brickseek isn't 100% right, but you might want to check it out or look in store! Lego make great additions to shoeboxes!

LEGO¨ Classic Blue Creativity Box 10706 (78 Pieces)

LEGO Classic Creativity Box, Green 10708 (66 Pieces)

LEGO Classic Creativity Box, Orange 10709 (60 Pieces)

LEGO Classic Creativity Box, Red 10707 (55 Pieces)

Hope this helps someone!! I don't always have times to share all deals, but I really like Lego, and wish I could pick these up myself, but my store seems out-maybe some of you will be able to get some!

We like to pair our Lego and Lego type bricks with these base plates from Dollar Tree:

If you're interested in the base plates and would like to buy a lot, would love for you to use my affiliate link - http://shrsl.com/1edo6 - to check them out-it won't cost you anything, but if you buy something through it I'll get a small commission which gives me more time to spend writing this blog, recording YouTube videos, and keep up the Facebook page and Pinterest boards.

Quality Crafts for Operation Christmas Child March Item of the Month

We like to include quality crafts in our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes and are glad to see it included in the OCC Item of the Month list for March. Over the years we have included sewn, crocheted, knit, upcycled, no-sew, paper crafts and more. We work to make them quality items the children receiving them can enjoy.

These are items I crafted for a shoebox a while ago.

We often share crafting ideas and patterns through this site and on social media. You can follow us on the following sites to keep up with all of our shoebox packing including sharing crafts:

We have written dozens of craft tutorials for items perfect to pack in an Operation Christmas Child shoebox gift. You can find all of them by clicking the image below.

We offer tutorials in the following categories if you would rather just check them out individually:

You may also like to check out more things I've made for my OCC shoeboxes here: Made by Cheryl.

Two other places we like to check for OCC Shoebox craft ideas:

We also receive handcrafted items from friends at opposite ends of the country:

Chelle & Vicki, from Chelle's Caybees in NC
Suzanne, from Sew Delightful in WA

If you've never considered handcrafted items to pack in an Operation Christmas Child shoebox, you may want to check into it this year. It's a great excuse to get a group of friends together to craft.

You can also donate handcrafted items directly to OCC as fillers. So if you find yourself crafting more than you can pack, find out more thru this link: Five Ways to Donate Fillers to Operation Christmas Child.

Plush Animal Review for OCC Shoeboxes from Dollar Tree

I (Cheryl) enjoy receiving Operation Christmas Child shoebox packing items for my birthday. This year I had gift money to spend and since I can't get out to shop much so I decided to order some plush stuffed animals from Dollar Tree since we include a stuffed animal in every shoebox. I also was able to pay with Paypal and use a $5 coupon they had sent for my birthday. Disclosure: I will be including Sarah's affiliate links in my review below--if you shop thru them she'll be compensated, so you will help keep Simply Shoeboxes online at no extra cost to yourself.

Below are my thoughts on quality, cuteness and appropriateness for including in an Operation Christmas Child shoebox. At the end of the post is also a video of our unboxing them and we show them in an OCC shoebox if you are interested.

I never considered Dollar Tree stuffed animals much until last Easter when Sarah packed a shoebox from Dollar Tree's Easter section. We normally buy more expensive ones on clearance. She said in her post, "I have to say-I totally fell in love with these stuffed animals, often $1 stuffed animals are not that nice, but Dollar Tree often seems to have some nice ones, and these-especially the lamb-was SO CUTE!!!" I just had to buy more of those this year, too as I also fell in love with them and was very satisfied with the quality.

This image is from last year's stuffies, this year's have embroidered eyes instead.

Ordering them online (Easter Floppy Plush Animals SKU: 284202 ) would mean I would get two styles of bunnies also (as they come in a case), and since we seem to always have an abundance of bunnies Sarah finds on clearance, I decided to just have her pick up some of the ducks and lambs when she picked up my order at our local Dollar Tree (free shipping to store). I would definitely buy these again. They seem sturdy, have embroidered faces and are adorable.

My online order included Fuzzy Friends Plush Hanging Sloth SKU: 279941. From the image online I thought these would be perfect for the 10 to 14 year old boys, except for the lightest one which I thought would be sweet for the 10 to 14 year old girl shoeboxes. Being 14 inches long I knew they would need to fold over to fit in an Operation Christmas Child shoebox which should be no problem. They were, indeed, long but very narrow so they fit with lots of room left over. They are very soft with the exception of the felt feet & hands. They have cute smiles tho a few faces were not stuffed full. I think they are okay, but I personally would not choose to buy them again. My husband packs our 10 to 14 year old boy boxes so I will need to see what he thinks. He may like to buy them again.

I also ordered a case of Fuzzy Friends Plush Sea Animals SKU: 243944. I fell in love with the fish and the turtle. I also thought the shark would be great for the older boys. I think these are made well enough, but I was disappointed with the stiffness of the felt fins on the fish (not so cuddly), otherwise they are nice and soft. And I love the bright colors. The shark was also not as cute as I expected so I may not choose to order another case of these but I will need the opinions of the other packers in my family. They are a good choice for the boy boxes.

My last case was for Fuzzy Friends Plush Baby Animals SKU: 243946. The giraffe just kept calling my name -- I couldn't resist. He did not disappoint -- I think he was mine and Sarah's favorite. This set of four animals were well made and all passed the cuteness test. This is another set that I would be happy to order another case of when I need more animals. I think they all would be great for either boy or girl Operation Christmas shoeboxes.

When Sarah went to pick up the order at Dollar Tree she found another adorable duck. I think this little guy is by far the best quality and the highest cuteness score, but unfortunately I have not been able to find him online. Perhaps they will soon carry him online, too.

I found the easiest way to find their full selection of stuffed animals was to search for "plush" on the Dollar Tree website. Here is a direct link if you are interested: Plush Search on Dollar Tree.

To order online you need to order by the case (either 24 or 36 depending on style), or you can order less and pay a handling fee. Shipping to your local Dollar Tree store is free. Dollar Tree often runs shipping deals, like currently shipping via UPS is just $1.00 (valid through 02/28/2019 at 12:50am ET). Final disclosure: links in this post to Dollar Tree are affiliate links-meaning Sarah makes a small commission when an order is placed thru one of them.

I definitely plan on ordering more plush animals from Dollar Tree for filling our future Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes.

Shopping Year-Round for Shoeboxes for Greater Value

If you follow this blog you'll have seen my Stockpile Saturday posts and know I like to shop year round for shoeboxes, I thought I'd write a post to illustrate why. So, in between National Collection Weeks 2017 and 2018, I set aside some of the best deals I found to make a sample box to show an example of just how great of a box one can pack for just how great of a price just by keeping one's eyes open at various stores. So here's the sample 10-14 year old shoebox for a boy.

The retail value of the box is $113.65, but we only spent $4.54!!! This is a slightly extreme example, and you might not be able to find these exact deals, but I'd say in 2018 we averaged less than that spent per box after deals, donations, and crafting and the value per box was over $25. Here's another example boxes from deals shopping year round.

So, how did I get those deals? There's a few different ways: shopping CVS deals (combining coupons, sales and ECBs), Dollar General Clearance, Bargin Hunt deals (as little as a quarter), etc. I also had free samples/promotional items I didn't need myself. Another big way to get deals was through Office Depot Rewards (read more on my other blog here) I got items at no cost to me, I just used rewards I got for turning in used ink cartridges and reviewing items. Here's a video that breaks it all down:

Disclaimer: unlike our yearly boxes I share, this is a sample box to see for myself and show what could be done in a blog post, this exact boxes was not sent intact as these items were based on value/deals not choosing to go together, but it is a good mix/example of what I put in boxes.