Operation Christmas Child #2

Happy Friday everyone! Today's post is going to be part 2 of my Operation Christmas Child post (see Part 1 here). If you didn't catch yesterday's post, Operation Christmas Child is a worldwide charity project set up by Samaritan's Purse. The organisation ask people to make up a shoebox filled with Christmas gifts and other essential items so that the joy of Christmas can be brought to children all over the world, in countries were they have likely never received anything like this before. I just think it is such a wonderful appeal and I wanted to join in. I hope you enjoy reading!

In yesterday's post, I explain all about the different age categories that you can choose, and showed you all what I put into a shoebox for a 5-9 year old boy and a 5-9 year old girl. I decided this year to put together several boxes and I have two more to show you :) Below are photographs of a shoebox for a 2-4 year old girl and a 10-14 girl. Each box should include toys, stationery/school supplies and hygiene products, and you also need to wrap your box in christmas paper :) 

Christmas Shoebox for a Girl (2-4 years old) 

 

The charity suggest three essential categories of items to include, the first being toys :) It was quite difficult to think of what kind of toys to include in this box because some toys are suitable for 4 year old's but not 2 year old's. I decided in the end to make the box much more appropriate for a 2 year old child, however I still feel that the items in my shoebox will still be great for a 4 year old too :) My mum managed to find a xylophone, which is awesome and I thought play-doh was something fun. The website also suggests adding a 'wow item' like a cuddly toy or a doll, so I added a little bear teddy bear. I thought some memo cards too and they were the perfect size to fit into the shoebox.

The next category of items that Samaritan's Purse include in their suggestions are school supplies. I decided to just into a pack of crayons and a mini colouring book (which I forgot to include in the photo, oops) because a child of this age is likely not in school yet. Hygiene products are an essential for these boxes so like with the 5-9 year olds shoeboxes, I added a flannel, a toothbrush, toothpaste and a bar of baby soap. I couldn't not get this little girl a hello kitty sponge, too because they are just so cute and double as a little teddy too :) I added some super cute hairclips and bobbles, too. The final items I included a plastic bottle, a gloves & hat set, some socks and some rainbow drops vs the haribos that I picked up for the older children, as I wanted to make sure a 2 year old could enjoy some sweets if she happened to get my box. 

Christmas Shoebox for a Girl (10-14 years old)

Putting together a shoebox for a 10-14 year old was tricky, because I didn't want to make the items too 'baby-ish' but I still wanted it to be fun! I think I managed to get a good balance :) I included the same hygiene products as with my othr boxes: toothpaste, toothbrush, bar of soap, flannel, little packet of tissues but then I also included a wash bag for her to put all of her items in. I thought it was a good idea to include a hairbrush, too and I wish I'd gotten her a few hair accessories now too. I did find her some toy jewellery that I thought was great for her. For the 'wow item' I added the same blue teddy bear as my previous box just because it's adorable and really soft. I also added some cosy socks as a second 'wow item'. 

As for school/stationery supplies, I choose a colouring book (with stickers inside), pencil crayons and a heart-shaped sharpener and two mini notebooks, as well as a small owl diary and pen that I got in one of my Kawaii Box subscription boxes because I thought she'd appreciate it more than me :) For toys, I popped a My Little Pony jigsaw puzzle into the box because who doesn't love jigsaws!? and also its a flat packet so fits easily into the box. I also thought a skipping rope would be an awesome toy for an older girl. Extra items that I wanted to add to my shoebox was a drinking bottle, gloves and some haribo sweets. I also found a few other items for my Kawaii Boxes that I thought made cute additions, a panda eyemask and a little pink bracelet. I hope she enjoys her box!

I hope that you've all enjoyed reading about Operation Christmas Child! I also hope that I've inspired lots of you to get involved yourself next year and create a shoebox filled with presents for a child in a poverty- or war-striken country. Here's a link to the charities youtube channel, where you can watch the sweetest, heart-warming videos of children from lots of different countries opening their boxes and also watch videos about the charities mission work. Even though I'm not a christian myself, I do love what the charity do and that they bring hope and faith to the lives of children and their whole communities :) 

Thankyou for reading!

 ♥

Which age group do you think you'd choose for your box?