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Get Involved with Operation Christmas Child!

Kelan Mahon
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Leeds chapter.

Get Involved with the Shoebox Appeal! 

December is just around the corner, which means Christmas is officially here. It’s time to get your tree up and get Michael Buble on repeat.

When Christmas comes around it’s so easy to get caught up in presents, they’re everywhere… You’ve probably already raided ASOS and wrapped your Secret Santa…

I love presents, whether buying them or picking them, wrapping them or unwrapping them. So why stop there? The Shoebox Appeal or Operation Christmas Child is a great opportunity to think about someone other than yourself this Christmas and it means you get to keep shopping to pick a gift that will really be appreciated this Christmas.

 

Operation Christmas Child is run by the Samaritans and has been around since 1990. Since then, more than 146 million children in over 150 countries have received a shoebox filled with gifts on Christmas day. For many this would be the only present they received.

 

What’s not to love? Grab your old shoebox and get filling…

 

  1. Find shoebox, wrap the box and lid in wrapping paper.

 

  1. CLICK HERE and download your label to stick on the box. 

 

  1. Go crazy, fill up your shoebox with toys and goodies.

 

  1. Enclose a £5 suggested donation to cover the shipping costs

 

The site if full of safe, recommended gift ideas but here are a few easy ones to get you going:

 

  • Stationary (Get funky with it and grab some felt tips, colouring books, stickers…)
  • Basic, ‘retro’ style toys (Stuff that never gets old such as Yoyo’s, packs of cards, skipping ropes)
  • Toiletries (Stuff we may not even think of, a toothbrush set, toothpaste, sponge, face cloth)
  • Clothes (Hats, scarves, gloves, socks, t shirts)
  • Hair Things (Hair brush, bobbles, hair bands)
  • NON perishable sweets (What is Christmas without sweets?)
  • Camping items (Sounds random, but things like a wind up torch may end up coming in really really handy!)

 

When you’ve filled your box up you can drop it off at Shoe Zone’s around Leeds until the 30th November! If you make your £5 donation online then you can get a bar code printed out and track our parcel to see exactly where it ends up. GET PACKING.

 

If you’ve missed the deadline DO NOT FEAR you can ‘build your own’ shoebox online. You can handpick the gifts from start to finish.

 

Happy shoeboxing everyone!

 

Image taken from website

 

Kelan Mahon

 

Kelan Mahon

Leeds '18

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