Favorite Things

 I have had a few people ask what were favorite things in the boxes.

 

There is not one specific thing.  I think well rounded boxes are the best option. 

Sadly some boxes were half full.  Or just had candy.

Here are a few things that the children were proud to show off.

Hats 

 

 

 

and sunglasses

Dolls were a favorite among all girls!

And both genders liked stuffed animals. Many hugs and squeezes were given when they found the soft stuffed animals in their box.

 

Anything that made music was a hit.

These two boys pictured below were so excited about their new t-shirts!

I wish I would have a video of them.  It was so neat to see.

 

And all boys enjoyed cars and monster trucks were a big hit as well.

We saw so many boys eyes get big when they saw cars!

and planes.

 

This guy was super pumped for his screwdriver

Balloons are always fun.

 A picture of the people who lovingly packed a box.

 

Candy!

And school supplies.

 

Soap and toothpaste also received shrieks of joy.  (Canadians can not pack toothpaste in boxes due to custom regulations)  I remember so many kids eyes lighting up from those two items. 

 

What are your favorite things to pack in boxes?

 

 

 

Don't Forget Valentines Clearance!

 Today I hit Wal-mart in hopes of finding some valentines clearance items like pencils and cups but everything was already gone.  At least in the one store I stopped in at.  So I started hunting through the treats for acceptable candy for shoe boxes (hard candy, no chocolate or gooey stuff).

I found these bags of heart shaped suckers.  Regular $4 on for $2.  There's about 100 in a bag so that makes each sucker 2 cents.  I wondered if I should've bought more but I already have candy canes on hand from Christmas clearance as well as these:

The ever popular "book" of lifesavers were on clearance at Wal-mart after Christmas for $1.50 making each roll .25 cents.

So don't forget to check out the clearance items after each holiday.  There's lots of goodies to be found!

Drawstring Bags

I've had these in my possession for a while, but wasn't sure what to do with them.  They are drawstring bags that sheet sets came in.  Then it finally clicked...put them into shoe boxes!  There would be many uses for a bag like this: to hold school supplies, toys, clothing, etc.  

We actually don't use flat sheets in our house (gasp, I know!  Am I the only one?!)  So I  have a very cute ABC flat sheet that's just waiting to be made into something.  I'm thinking maybe some more drawstring bags may be in order.  The only problem is that my sewing machine and I aren't on speaking terms right now.  I may need to remedy that.  ;)

2013 Stats Breakdown

I always like seeing the breakdown of the stats from Canada.

And I have to say Canadians are consistent.
The numbers are the same as last year

Girls
2-4           10%
5-9           31%
10-14       15%

Boys
2-4             8%
5-9           24%
10-14       12%

Do these numbers affect the way you pack boxes?

How were we able to go on our distribution?

I had someone ask how we got to go on our distribution.

We have a wonderful missionary couple who live in Mazatlan, Mexico- Mike and Gaby Dueck.   He is from our home church and married a beautiful lady from Mexico.  They have an amazing ministry there.  They work with the prison in the area,  they have a great relationship with the prisoners, and they have a church in the prison.  When the men get out of the prison they start attending their church, outside the prison.  They run 6 feeding centers and are hoping to open their 7th later this year. Numerous are run by ex-convects and their families, whose lives have been transformed by Jesus! What amazing stories of redemption.
Mike works with OCC and organizes the shoeboxes for the area of Sinola.
Because of this connection, we knew that they hand out boxes the first Saturday of January.  And they said that we'd be welcome to come and join them. Our church sends a group down every year to build a house and work in the feeding centers.  But they had never included a shoebox distribution, until this year.  I remember  writing this date down by my calender over a year ago and felt that God was calling us to go.  And God opened the door for our family to go with a group of 18 others from our community.

It was such an amazing opportunity to see the other side of the shoeboxes. After packing for years, it was amazing to see the children receive the boxes and hear about Jesus!

I'll be answering more questions in the coming weeks.

Tammy

Thrift Store Score!

Hey Everyone!  My name is Sonya and I'm excited to join Tammy on the Packing Boxes of Love blog. Thank you for your warm welcome Tammy.  So many great ideas to stretch a dollar, so we can pack even more shoe boxes.

I love to peruse thrift stores.  I came across two bags of new, unopened beads for 50 cents each.  I scooped them up and spent a few hours stringing beads.  I ended up with 28 necklaces for this years shoe boxes.

I did buy some stretchy lacing for stringing the beads on.  Not terribly expensive and also available at Dollarama.  The roll will do a lot of more necklaces for the next beads I find on my thrift store journeys.  ;)

If you're not up to making necklaces, you could also just include a small bag of beads and some lacing in your shoe box and let the kiddos put them together themselves.

I think these necklaces would work for boy boxes as well as girls.  My sons (ages 3 and 7) both gravitated towards them, so that's a good indication I'd say. :)

Meet Sonya!

I am excited to introduce Sonya!  She is an answer to prayer!
My time for this page has become limited and I have been praying for sometime for someone to come along side me and to help post more ideas, stories, etc. 
Sonya is married and has two adorable boys. She is from MacGregor, Manitoba.  She heads up the Shoeboxes in her church and has also been to the Calgary processing center.  I look forward to working together with her.