Hunt for things to put in charity christmas shoeboxes

Lyndsay_21

thanks for all the ideas i'll try and get a plastic mirror then for the girlie one, just wondering can u put knickers and socks in if they're new???

jap200

Lyndsay_21 wrote:

thanks for all the ideas i'll try and get a plastic mirror then for the girlie one, just wondering can u put knickers and socks in if they're new???

Just checked the Samaritan's purse leaflet (others may have different rules) and it states that you can put in:

Hat, cap, gloves or scarf

Do not include:
Clothing other than listed above

I don't think you should put the knickers/pants in then, but I'm sure my friend who helps with this said that socks (new) were OK - anyone else know?

Lara

Yes - we've put in socks. Leave label on though so they can see they are new.

Lyndsay_21

ok will do that then i bought some sock boot things from primark (yet again) to put in aged 2-6 i think they were so big enough for most young ages

jap200

Just a little extra thought on elastic bands:

You usually need to put a big elastic band around the shoe boxes when they are done (but check specific instructions for the charity you are using).

My postman sometimes drops big red elastic bands on my driveway - but not recently- so I asked him for some this morning and he happily gave me a handful. They are big and strong and will easily fit around the shoe box.

Lara

Found some yellow and orange ones today in Sportsworld (?) for 29p each. All in huge container by tills.

jap200

It occured to me that a cheap alternative to buying a colouring book to add to the boxes for the younger age groups would be to print out some pictures to colour in. I'm sure I have seen this sort of thing on kids websites before - maybe cbeebies or something like that. It would be easy to print out 10+ pictures for a box and wouldn't take much ink as you would be doing black only.

Also, I saved the dinosaur stickers that came free with last Saturday's Guardian newspaper. I think there are more coming this weekend.

My deadline is th 4th of December to get my boxes completed. Now all I need is the actual boxes - I think I will pop into a shoe shop tomorrow and ask if they have any spare.

Lara

I noticed this evening in my local chemist they had beaded purses for 50p plus lots of other little items that would fit into a shoebox. They had a huge clearance part and just put a few items in the window. Maybe worth checking out if you have a Lloyds Chemist near you.

Good Luck with your shoebox search jap200. Usually a weekend is a good time to get them as I have found in the past.