Ideas for Operational Christmas Child Shoeboxes.

hardpressed

Softstuff wrote:

I just looked on the site, want to do this before I move away to Australia, but I can't find a drop of point near to me (did the search on the site). Does anyone know anywhere near Lancaster?

I think you'l find that lots of churches and schools are involved with Shoe boxes, they are usually collected in November so if you ask around you probably find somewhere that will take your box.

It's worth mentioning that shoe boxes are getting more difficult to find as shoe shop don't store empty boxes, Health and Safety apparently, so start saving them now.

Softstuff

hardpressed wrote:

I think you'l find that lots of churches and schools are involved with Shoe boxes, they are usually collected in November so if you ask around you probably find somewhere that will take your box.

It's worth mentioning that shoe boxes are getting more difficult to find as shoe shop don't store empty boxes, Health and Safety apparently, so start saving them now.

Thanks for your reply, unfortunately I leave England on 5th September, so won't be around for a november collection. Was hoping to find somewhere soonish. Will give a couple of local churches a call.

Didn't realise it'd be hard to come across shoeboxes though. Filling I have plenty of (I'm closing a party shop before I go, so the party bag toys etc will be ideal), but no boxes as yet.

catkins

I have done this in the past and would like to do it this year. I now live in Essex and cannot find a drop off point. Can anyone help me on this?

wigginsmum

Phone your local churches and ask - try the Baptists for example.

http://www.findachurch.co.uk

culpepper

Teenage:
A torch and batteries.
A little radio with a battery(like you see in poundland)You could put in a strip of batteries to go with it if its the miniature battery type,they have whole cards of them in poundland.
Small box of paints and a little book to paint in.
One of those biro pens with all the different colours in one pen.

tim_n

Is this being run this year? Looks like the site is 2005?

FunkyFairy

I did this last year i was the collection point for the village.

It is such a fantastic thing to do. I have my two boxes ready this year as i found it really hard to track down shoe boxes closer to the time.

My DD and DS do one each for a child of their age.

Chipps

Stationery items are always valued, they are on offer in loads of places at the moment, cos of "back to school" (I used to hate seeing those signs in the middle of the school holidays when I was a kid!!!!)
But don't forget to include a pencil sharpener!!!
I have sometimes bought a large packet of printer paper, then divided it up & folded it in half to make booklets of plain paper, with one sheet as the cover, printed with a colouring picture.
We once had a lady come to our women's group, who had been out with the shoeboxes, and she had seen some of the children who lived in a metal container. They had carefully unwrapped the shoebox, & used the sellotape to stick the wrapping paper up to decorate the plain walls of the container. She said that ever since seeing that, she always puts a sheet of wrapping paper in the box before filling it as a liner. She likes to use the paper that is like a mirror if possible. Having heard that, I also like to include one of the small rolls of sellotape, too.
Another thing she said is that the cuddly toys are always valued, even by the older boys, as many of the children lack affection and love to have something to cuddle.
There are lots of cuddly toys that are not too "girly"!
I like to put a ball in as well, as that is a toy that both boys and girls can play with - and share a game with others, too!

Chipps

Oh, forgot to say -
Nothing in the boxes that is liquid!!!!
As you can imagine, if some shower gel or shampoo split open in a lorryload of cardboard boxes a lot of presents could be ruined!

Some people can be fairly unpleasant, though. The lady who spoke to us told of one box that contained nothing but a toilet roll! Don't worry, it didn't find its way to a child. But what could the person who packed it be thinking about???

doddsy

Where I live there is a collection every year for small cuddly toys (people buy good ones from boot sales and wash them) every year. These are collected by the bin bag load and taken to the warehouse where they are used to 'fill in' any spaces in the boxes so that they are full.
doddsy