60 Things To Do In 2015: Do a shoebox for charity

I have been looking to doing this Christmas shoebox all year. I think it's because I have haven't done one in a about 10 years and the fact that it's for a fantastic cause.

I have been searching the Internet since August to find the best charity to use and the nearest drop off point. To begin with, I was going with the Samaritons Charity. Their website was super useful! It had suggestions of what to pack in your box (I actually used a fair few of the suggestions from their site), they provided the labels, they told what age categories you could chose from. They even had a page where you could type in your postcode and find the nearest drop off point to where you live.

The only problem was, there is no drop off point in Guernsey. There was, on the other hand, a drop off point a 10 minute walk away from Southampton airport. As I was in Southampton last weekend, I had planned to go to the drop off point on my way to the airport but then my flight got cancelled so I had to spend all of my time trying to sort out a way of getting back home.

When I arrived back in Guernsey, shoebox still in hand and no progress made, I went back on the Internet in search of another charity that was collecting shoeboxes in Guernsey. I think I found two. The first one I looked at was going to be distributing the boxes in Germany and wanted the box to include things such as blankets, sleeping bags, thermals and anything that would keep them warm - basically everything that I hadn't already bought for my box. 

So I went with the second charity - The Rotary Club. I struggled so much to find the location of The Rotary club as I had never heard of the charity until a few weeks back. I struggled so much so that I donated my box on the last day they were accepting them and asked my Gran to help me find the location. We found it! And we did it! Whoop whoop!

Now let's move on to the making and filling of my box.

Wrapping the shoebox in Christmas wrapping paper was more a nightmare than you'd expect. In complete Charlotte style, I waited right until the last minute to wrap it, meaning I got in such flap that Tom had to send me into another room with a bar of chocolate while he took over. And again, in Charlotte style, I ate my chocolate and went straight back to help. Despite him trying to send me away again - yes, I am VERY stubborn. We got there in the end though! We had left over paper that was too small to wrap anything else in so we cut it into strips and twirled them for decoration in side the box.

The filling of the box process was so much easier than the wrapping process, mostly because I had already put everything in the box when I bought them all so I knew where I wanted everything placed.

I've had these two Tatty Teddy toys, both in a good condition, that have just been sitting with the rest of my collection for quite some time now. Rather than having them shoved away in the corner not being used, it's best they go to someone who is going to get more use out of them. I also put two little toy bears in the box - they were too small and fiddley for my liking so I didn't even want to try get a photo. Sorry.

To be honest, I don't really know why I added the giraffe bookmark - it has only just occurred to me that I didn't pack a book for them... Although, seeing as it's a giraffe, they could use it as a toy or they could use it with the school supplies that I packed. A flannel was actually on the suggestions list that I found on The Samaritons website. I was wondering around Poundworld with a colleague when we walked past the flannels. They had a range of different colours but I went with cream as it's a neutral colour - you know what kids are like, if I'd gotten a pink one they could have decided that they don't want to use it because they don't like pink.

A notepad and pen - another two suggestions from The Samaritons list. The pen that I got is one of those pens that has four different colour inks in the one pen and you just push down the colour that you want to use at the top of the pen. I probably should have gone for a big multi pack of pens as when one runs out, you've got a backup. But with this pen, I suppose you have an extra three colours after the first one runs out.

I also got this cute little pencil case that includes a whole range of owl patterned stationery when you open it up. It has a notepad (it's the perfect size to write your shopping list on), some colouring pens, colouring pencils, a rubber, ruler, sharpener, pen and pencil that even has its own little rubber on the end. There were other pencil cases on sale but this was definitely the best value for money in my opinion as it has a bunch of stationery included. Plus, it has such a lovely design encorporated throughout.

As you can probably tell, my box is aimed at a girl. We also had to state which age group the contents would best suit so I went for aged 8-11. All charities that collect Christmas Shoeboxes charge a transportation fee - The Rotary Club charge a kind £1 whereas The Samaritons charge £2. 

Once I sat back in the car after dropping off my shoebox, I felt so good, kind of proud. My Gran and I have decided that we are both going to donate a shoebox next year. I think I'll do one for a boy as I can't remember ever doing one for a boy. I haven't done a Christmas shoebox since I was in Primary school! I can remember doing them every year and then we suddenly stopped doing them after a certain school year. It's a shame really because it is so much fun.

Here's the link to The Samaritans Shoebox Appeal and for The Rotary Club's Shoebox Appeal.

Charlotte.