Operation Christmas Child Gift Ideas

History of OCC & FAQ
Keep a look out on the Facebook page for a OCC GIVEAWAY!!!!

Buying items for an Operation Christmas Child box does NOT have to be a budget breaker.

OCC gift ideas on a Budget

This has become an annual tradition in our house. Our preferred place to shop? The Dollar Tree!

For real. We have an average budget of ~$10 per child/box. Our 3 children get to go with us to the store and scavenge over the toy aisle finding the perfect gifts. This is of course after we've double checked any stash we may have had at home. We encourage the kids to work together in order to be able to provide more items in each box while keeping the spending low.

Packs of multiples as well as gender neutral items are a great idea. We always take everything out of the package that is possible to be able to cram as much into those tiny boxes as possible. Below are huge lists of possible items to get your creative juices flowing.

  1. SCHOOL SUPPLIES:
    • pens
    • pencils and sharpeners
    • crayons
    • markers
    • stamps and ink pad sets
    • writing pads or paper
    • solar calculators
    • coloring and picture books
    • colored construction paper
    • small spiral notebook
    • stickers
    • foam shapes {with sticky backs}
    • scissors or hole punch
    • FAVORITE: boxes of crayons, markers, and other school supplies we stocked up on while they were on sale during "back-to-school sales}

     

  2. TOYS:
    • miniature cars
    • miniature people/dolls/action figures {NO WEAPONS or WAR FIGURES}
    • balls
    • bouncy balls
    • dolls or stuffed animals
    • musical instruments: kazoos, harmonicas, clappers, whistles
    • yo-yos
    • jump ropes
    • small Etch A Sketch®
    • jacks
    • marbles
    • toys that light up or make noise (with extra batteries)
    • Slinky,® etc.
    • Playdough{although, some children have been known to eat it not knowing what it was}
    • mini Frisbees
    • brand new kids' meals toys

     

  3. HYGIENE ITEMS:
    • toothbrush and toothpaste
    • mild bar soap (in a plastic bag)
    • comb or brushes {preferably compact or fold-able to save space}
    • washcloth {consider those "growing" clothes to save space}
    • mirrors {reflective but better if not actual glass}
    • chapstick
    • FAVORITE: bar soaps from hotels, small toothbrushes/paste from the dentist

     

  4. CLOTHING/ACCESSORIES:
    • t-shirts
    • socks
    • underwear {very hard to find in a lot of 3rd world countries}
    • loves
    • hats
    • sunglasses
    • hair clips
    • toy jewelry
    • watches

     

  5. OTHER:

    • thick plastic cups
    • bowls
    • plastic shoebox {rather than cardboard} so they can repurpose it
    • flashlights (with extra batteries)
    • hard candy

    Here's a post that includes lots of handmade items!

     

  6. A PERSONAL NOTE:
    You may enclose a note to the child and a photo of yourself or your family. If you include your name and address, the child may write back. Even if they don't, they would love to see the face and hear that someone is praying for them.

DO NOT INCLUDE:

Used or damaged items; war-related items such as toy guns, knives or military figures; chocolate or food; out-of-date candy; liquids, liquid soaps/shampoos, or lotions; medications or vitamins; breakable items such as snowglobes or glass containers; aerosol cans.

Reminder: you can always fit more into a box if you remove things from their packages. That's totally legit & the kids will have no idea they used to be in one more layer of wrapping 😉

Operation Christmas Child

Tomorrow, we'll learn how to pack a box AND there's also a fun video from Special Guest VEGGIES to get your kids excited up about helping!!!!

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Settled In September FREE PRINTABLES!

This post is simply full of every printable you might want from this months series- Settled In September. Click the image to download the printable For FREE! If I missed something, just comment to let me know 😀

Living Room: Mantel:

Homeland

Eating Spaces: Kitchen Decor:

fall printable

Fall

Laundry: Hanging Laundry Basket Shelf:

laundry basket labels:
blank template

Blank Basket Label 2

our labels

Basket Label TOWELS

School Room Organization:

Labeled Chore Chart cards and the tutorial

Toy Basket blank Template for Labels

blank tags

Our Toy Basket Labels

tags3

Boy's Room:

Sometime Being a Brother is Even Better Than Being a Superhero

Being A Brother

Master Bedroom:

Saying to paint on the wall-
I will Love you my whole life. You and No Other. And I you, You and not other.

I'll Love You My Whole Life

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Master Bedroom {Settled In September}

I love our Master bedroom. We've gone from small, to tiny, to a little less tiny, to HUGE, and now to "just right". It's right off the living room on the same side of the house as the kids rooms but not connected to the same hall. A lot of people may not like that but for us, it gives enough distance but not too much ground to cover in the middle of the night when someone needs something.
The MASTER Bedroom

It also has a "hall bath" like feel to the bathroom BUT I like it because it keeps my clutter to a minimum and guest feel comfortable using either our bathroom or the "kids" bathroom which are both easily accessible. I don't like having rooms that are useless space, and for me that means not used daily. I felt wasteful in our last house with certain rooms because even if they were used daily, it was only for either for guest occasionally, a nap or bedtime baths.before pics of dressersThere are still some things I'd like to finish in this room but for now, we're settled. We sold our comforter set I bought just a couple of years ago when we moved into big blue. I loved the idea of a nice-looking bed spread but after we got it I realized the fabric was NOT comfortable, it was too hot and crunchy to sleep under, and a major hassle to make the bed with the bedding we slept with and then add on top the cutesiness. It rarely got used. Again with the wastefulness.

When we moved here, I decided since we had nothing really to have to match, I would start all over with something simple. Matt has a "no flower" policy in our room as well as nothing else too girly. I chose not to buy and new bedding and stick with the solid white down comforter we already have. I'd been wanting to paint our dark wooden dresser set {from Matt's childhood} for a while now but couldn't commit.

I took the plung after a date night with my hubby where we walked around target talking. I'd fallen in love with what I started calling the "target green color". I'd seen it on a cute picture frame there as well as a couple other random items. When we were parusing I also noticed I was drawn to dark navys. There we have it. I'm going crazy and painted the dressers GREEN!

Master Bedroom Makeover{furniture & lamp TUTORIALS to come}

I think this is a good compromise: fun but not necessarily masculine or feminine.

Then I took all of our black frames {sets & otherwise} we've collected over years and painted them navy blue along with an old green lamp that was in the girls room. In our last house(s) we decided to only put pictures of Matt & I in our master bedroom. Since our kids, friends and family are plastered everywhere else, we thought it might be sweet to have just us in our room. This also encourages us to take pictures together more often as well. Don't pay attention too close...some of these are OLD. 🙂 We also chose to make all the pictures black and white to make them feel more uniform. I love it.

I like the idea of having something red in every room and also think red goes well with the navy and green, just not too much of it. I was going to paint a could of the frames red just for fun but after starting...I realized I didn't have enough paint left in the can to finish the 2 I chose... oops. I decided to do the same technician on these as I did the table in Jamin's room. It didn't work as well but its okay for now.
spray painted picture framesThe big mirror on my dresser is one we've had floating around for a long time in different areas of the house. I think I may end up painting it red or navy as well.
decor on dresser after

Here's our closet organization:
Master Bedroom Closet Panoramic LABELED

Thanks for taking a tour around our master bedroom! 😀

Here's a side-by-side just for a better idea of the dresser transformationBefore and After pics of Master Bedroom furniture makeover

 

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Girls’ Room {Settled In September}

I talked earlier about purposely "theming" the kids' room for genders. This will eventually be the bedroom for all 3 princesses. I think this general girliness will last for years.
The Girls' Room

On the large blank wall, we have 2 twin beds in each corner. The post bed {that matches the dresser} was given to us by my sweet aunt after my cousin outgrew it. The trundle bed was my bed growing up and was my mom's and her sister's before that. It started as a medium brown wood before I painted it off-white for our guest room and then white for the girls room.We've always used the trundle part {not popped up} as the next step/toddler bed before moving into a tall twin bed.

Hope you enjoyed it. Oh, and yes, that is a black out curtain. It helps with naps and bedtime. I do have really cute colored sheers that are going to be hung as soon as I go buy a cheap curtain rod. 😀

Eventually, there will be a large "princess" tower in the middle of this wall. Magdalene means "high tower". The castle will have a banner on the top that reads, "Devoted Promise" for our Isabella {devoted to God} and Elizabeth {oath of God}. I am now waiting to let our awesome artistic friend do their castle/tower as well because, for real, you can't have J's room next to my sad tower now. lol

{castle for inspirational affect}
The General Idea for the Girls' RoomThis dresser was given to us with the post bed. The shelves are simple wood cut to the length we wanted it, painted and attached to the shelf braces I found at a yard sale years ago. I was going to paint them white but ended up leaving them yellow & think the extra color is fun.

I'm not gonna lie. This part of the room feels cluttered. We purposely keep their rooms simple and don't have toys in the kids room because

  1. we want them to sleep without the temptation to play with toys
  2. we know there needs to be plenty of room for beds/dress(es) in the long run

Girls' Room Dresser & ShelvesThey are getting older and have random "stuff" and I've slowly let it leak into their rooms. More high school era frames with pictures of just the kids who share the room, painting the girls did with our sweet "Ms Biwee", piggy banks, iPod with sleep time music, and hair things both in and on the "headband holder" as well as the matching jewelry boxes their Uncle Andrew gave them that were cluttering up their bathroom which is also the guest bath have moved in here. I'm not sure if it will all stay or not.

Here's the dresser organization:
Girls' Room DresserCurrently, both girls pretty much wear the same size which makes it easy to do laundry as well as purchase clothes. I know this won't always be the case so we are practicing minimalism already. The girls do have their own drawers for PJs and shorts/pants since those seem to matter more than the size of shirts or dresses.
the girls' room closet

We also have the awesome wire shelves from the pantry installed in here for the girl's bed linens! Love it!!! This keeps them easily accessible and make the higher shelf open for larder-sized hand-me-downs and other randomness. {these are the kind of shelves that will be in J's closet as well}
The Girls' Room Linen ShelvingOn the back of their door we have a simple shoe divider used for just that, sorting shoes and other accessories. Larger things like boots remain in the corner of the closet but it keeps most shoes/flip flops tucked away.
Girls' Room Closet DoorOutside the closet is this adorable princess crown our artistic student from the valley made the girls. I added a dowel rod with ribbons hanging off of it so we could use it as a bow holder instead of the sad one I made along time ago.
how to make a princess bow hangerThe same awkward wall that pokes out when you come into this bedroom we also used for decoration. The long white shelf came from our living room and the smaller one was part of another black set and I painted it white to match the other stuff in this room. Elephants were sweet gifts and Ellie will get one when she arrives. Letters are already for all 3 girls even though it will be awhile before El joins the girls in here.
Girls' Room Decor Wall That's the girly room!

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Playroom Organization {Settled In September}

Playroom Organization

I have posted in the past about our system of centers. I've even created center labels as well as names for the kids to "check in and out of" centers to try and maintain organization and get them to clean their own toys up. This worked for a while and Definitely works with large numbers of children {ie daycares/preschools} but it got a little legalistic in our house and I wanted to simplify when we moved.

This time I made new tags {and still have some to be completed} to label the baskets. I LOVE the baskets, bens, tubs, whatever you call these canvas things. They keep everything organized while making it simple to put things away- chunk it back into the basket!

Panoramic Playroom Shelving Numbered Centers

  1. Library Basket
  2. Home Library {sorted}
  3. Playdough Center
  4. Electronic Center
  5. Puzzle Center
  6. Computer Center
  7. Baby Toys
  8. Ball Center
  9. Music Center
  10. Dress-Up Characters
  11. Potato Heads
  12. Wooden Blocks
  13. Vehicles
  14. Mega Blocks
  15. Homeschool Supplies
  16. Little People Center {village}
  17. HIPPY School Work
  18. Dress-Up Accessories Playroom Closet Organization

Inside our closet we have the Doll Shelf & the Dress-Up Costumes/Outfits as well as extra books {for higher level reading}, large toys {pop-up tent & tube}, and scrapbook supplies on the top shelf.

In case you were wondering:

  • red book basket {hanging on the wall}- $2 flea market find/spray painted planter
  • black bookshelves- Wal-Mart {similar to THIS tall one and THIS short one}
  • plastic book bins {on top of shelves}- oriental trading {wish I had a gazillion more}
  • labels- homemade printable {available at the end of the month}
  • square canvas bins {ON SALE}- target, home depot, anywhere I could find them cheap
  • rectangle canvas bin {one in doll shelf as well as other places throughout the house}- Wal-Mart {years ago}
  • doll house/shelf- handmade by my grandparents YEARS ago & revamped a few years ago
  • quilt rack {dress-up storage}- Pier1 as a wedding gift years ago
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