Operation Christmas Child Ideas

Leave a reply

kids holding plastic shoeboxes. This post give the best Operation Christmas Child Ideas!

Every November is collection week for Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes. (We had much younger kids in this post! Man, where does time go?!) Summer and fall is the perfect time to start thinking of Operation Christmas Child ideas.

[Having your child/family participate in child sponsorship through an organization like Compassion or World Vision is also a great way to build an ongoing relationship and come along side a family in another country.]

I love how simple this project is and how involved children can be.

Each child can put together a shoebox for a child their same age and gender and give ideas and input for what is going into the box.

Operation Christmas Child Ideas

Earning Money:

This is a great project to have your children earn extra money for and purchase themselves. If your children are young, you could match what they earn so they will have enough.

Small Jobs:

Find small jobs that don’t normally get done around your house and set a pay for each of them and give your children the list. They learn to work and how earning money works and you get a few extra jobs done.

Bake Sale/Lemonade Stand:

Another idea would be to have a bake sale/lemonade stand on your corner or as part of a garage sale and have the profits go toward the Operation Christmas Child Boxes.

Operation Christmas Child Box Ideas:

After the money is earned, you have to come up with what exactly to put into a small box. Of course Samaritan’s Purse has ideas for you on their website.

Be sure you remember: no liquids, toothpaste, candy/food, war themed toys, or breakable items.

Not knowing where your box will be going to can make a little difficult to buy for. You don’t know the weather or any cultural differences. If you know where you box is heading you’ll know if you can include things like scarves and gloves.

I imagine that kids will be kids throughout the world, though, so what your children are into is probably a good starting point.

The following list of Operation Christmas ideas consists of options for boys and girls and the littles to the older kids. A mixture of fun and practical is a good idea. And I know my kids love receiving “real” grown up things. Tools are a fun idea for any hands on, creative kid.

Fun/Toy Items:
Blocks
Legos
Art/Drawing Supplies
Dolls
Stuffed Animals
Small, real, musical instrument (some things just aren’t worth getting at the dollar store)
Trucks
Balls (deflate the ball and include a ball pump with extra needles)
Clothes (fun depending on the age 😉 )
Puzzles
Frisbee
Etch-a-Sketch
Coloring Books (age appropriate)
Marbles
Dominos
Jump Ropes

Personal Items:
Toothbrush (no toothpaste)
Hair Accessories
Soap (packaged in zipped bags to keep the smell contained)
Brush/comb
Shirt
Socks
Sandals
Washcloth/Towel
Nail Clipper
Blanket (small, lightweight especially since it may be going to a warm weather location)
Watch
Accessories
Draw String Bag
Coin Purse
Ball Cap
Sunglasses

Other Items:
Sewing Kit and Fabric
Solar Powered Lanterns
First Aid Kit (without medicine or liquids)
Screwdrivers (Head to Lowe’s or Home Depot for this and the following items)
Nails (in their package)
Level
Work gloves
Hammer
Bungee Cords
Rope/Twine
Duct Tape
Tape Measure

School Supplies:
Watch the back to school sales every July and August. It’s a great time to stock up on most of these things. For example, Crayola crayons are much nice than the dollar store ones and you’d be able to purchase them for the same price during the sales.

Backpack
Scissors
Crayons
Markers
Paints
Colored Pencils
Erasers
Pens & Pencils
Pencil Sharpener
Paper/notebook/journal
Ruler
Stapler
Calculator
Tape

I love starting early in the season focusing on others, and this is an easy way to do it.

There are over 55 Operation Christmas Child ideas to help you pack your box this year. Have you done the shoeboxes with your kids before? Any favorite packing ideas to share?

Gifts for Kids Who Have Everything

3 Replies

Do you struggle with coming up with gift ideas for the kids in your life? Do you especially struggle with coming up with gifts for kids who have everything?

wrapped boxes taking about the best gifts for kids who have everything

My posts use affiliate links. See the disclosure page for more information.

You are not alone! So many kids have the latest and greatest gadgets and everything that they could wish for. It definitely makes it a challenge to go shopping.

It’s time to start thinking a little outside of the box!

If presents are a problem at your house during the Christmas season, you might even want to consider de-emphasizing gifts this holiday season!

Gifts for Kids Who Have Everything

Experience Gifts

An experience gift is a great option. You can create memories with the recipient or they can create them alone. This could be anything from a fun adventure to learning a new skill.

This post has some great ideas for experience gifts.

Money

No kid will ever turn down money. Perfect for them to spend or put towards a savings goal. If you are looking for a unique way to gift money, check out these posts!

Gift Cards

If you know restaurants, stores, hobbies, etc that the child likes, you can pick up a gift card or two! Here are some ideas on how you can wrap a gift card to make things a little more interesting.

Shop for Others

Only you know the recipient and if this idea would work for them. But if their personality and the situation is ideal, this is a fun idea if they truly don’t want or need anything. Instead of spending the money on them, you can either donate in their name or, better yet, give them a budget and let them help you shop and donate the items.

Here are some places to look into:

World Vision and shop their online catalog

Angel Tree or another similar organization

Pregnancy Center – donate cash or buy items for their clothing room

Book

Think back to when you were the recipient’s age and what your favorite books were. Purchase the book and include a card saying why you purchased that particular book for them and what you enjoyed about it.

Themed Gift

Put together a bundle of goodies according to a theme.

It might be craft supplies, coffees, food, game night fun, rock climbing, cooking essentials or one of many other things. Gather the must haves and put them in a basket or bucket to gift.

Mission Trip

What a great idea for a teenager! This can get pricey, so it’s probably not the best option if you are on a budget. There would be a lot of details to this, so it might not work for it to be a complete surprise but how fun. If you aren’t the parent, you could coordinate with the parent before gifting the money for a mission trip and then work out when, where, and with what organization after giving the gift.

Sentimental Gift

Is there something special to your child, something that belonged to a grandparent or another important person in their life? If they are mature enough to appreciate it, this gift might be treasured for the rest of their life!

Have you found any great gift for kids who have everything? Do presents end up being a struggle in your house year after year or have you found a method that works well?

Be sure to check out these other gift guides for more ideas:

Best Experience Gifts for Kids
Educational Gifts Kids Will be Excited About
The Best Craft and Art Gifts for Kids
Gifts for Kids Who Have Everything
Gifts for Teen Girls
Gifts for Teen Boys
Gifts for Preschool Boy
Gifts for a 2 Year Old
Gifts for Preschoolers
Gifts for a Home Cook
Gifts for a Fitness Lover

smiling girl next to tree and gifts for kids who have everything

square picture of wrapped boxes for gifts for kids who have everything
smiling girl next to tree and gifts for kids who have everything

How To Make Oat Flour at Home

3 Replies

Are you wondering how to make oat flour?

jar full of oat flour! Have you ever wondered how to make oat flour? This post will tell you how!

I’m a fan of making things myself. Especially things that are super easy.

Usually it’s significantly cheaper to DIY and a lot of the time it’s better for you too.

Oat flour is one of those things. Don’t spend extra money paying someone else to grind your oats! Do it yourself. It takes seconds. Nope, that’s not exaggerating.

It really is as easy at it seems.

All you need is:

  • a blender
  • old fashioned rolled oats

a blender with oats in it. If you've ever wondered how to make oat flour, this post will tell you how.

Let’s talk blenders for a second. I received a JC Penney brand blender when we got married 12 years ago. Nothing super expensive or fancy but it worked. Until it didn’t. It burned out after a couple of years.

Next, we got a Ninja Prep. Again, nothing super expensive. I think we got it on Black Friday for under $40. That worked okay for a while. Then it spend a year of making me wonder if each use was going to be its last until it finally hit the dust a year ago.

After months of internal debate (I struggle when it comes to spending money), we settled on a refurbished Vitamix. (That’s the one I got – super, super great deal on 2018 Prime Day for just over $200.)

It is a dream.

The homemade oat flour comes out so much finer than it ever did in the Ninja.

How To Make Oat Flour

It’s as easy as measuring your rolled oats, putting them in the blender, and turning it on.

30 seconds. That’s it – and you are done and ready to bake.

If the recipes calls for 1 cup of oat flour, put 1 scant cup of rolled oats in the blender.

measuring cups with homemade oat flour. If you've ever wondered how to make oat flour, this post will tell you how.

2 cups of rolled oats equals about 2 1/3 cups of homemade oat flour!

Again, your blender will make a difference as to how fine the oat flour will be. Not as good of blenders will require a longer period of blending and will still result in a grittier flour – but you can still make it! I did it that way for years. 🙂

Be sure to “fluff” your flour when it comes out of the blender before measure. It can be a little compact.

A couple other easy and cheap things you can try making yourself:

Homemade Yogurt
“Refried” Beans

Â

Print
How To Make Oat Flour
 
Ingredients
  • Rolled Oats
Instructions
  1. Put the amount of rolled oats in the blender that you want of oat flour.
  2. Turn the blender on and blend for a minute - the oats will turn into a flour like powder.
  3. Loosely scoop into a measuring cup and use in place of purchased oat flour.

 

What are you favorite food items to DIY? Give this easy homemade oat flour a try before you go out and buy it again. Learning how to make oat flour is a breeze!

a blender and measuring cups with rolled oats. If you have ever wondered how to make oat flour, this post will tell you how!

Aldi Meal Plan

Leave a reply

We are back again with another meal plan that uses the produce and meat sales in this week’s Aldi ad. I love shopping at Aldi – the bulk of my purchases come from there and then a will pick up a few items that are on sale at other stores. So an Aldi meal plan is the best!

If you struggle with coming up with ideas for what to eat this week, I hope this post gives you some inspiration.

I’m a huge fan of using menu planning as a way to keep grocery costs down (my first point in this post on drastically reducing your grocery budget). No matter how many of these recipes you use, I highly recommend you get your downloadable menu plan template and put it to use. It has saved me so much money over the years:

This week, I’m not only going to include the sample Aldi menu, but I will also share what I’m feeding my family for the next week on my $170 a month grocery budget. This means twice as many ideas.

Aldi Produce and Meat Sales to Check Out (10/10-10/17):

These prices are in my local ad – your prices might vary.

  • Gala apples (1.49 for 3 pounds)
  • Oranges (1.99 for 3 pounds)
  • Red grapes (.85 a pound)
  • Pineapple (1.29 each)
  • Grassfed ground beef (4.49 a pound)
  • Bone in chicken thighs (.79 a pound)

Each week will include one or two vegetarian meals. This is a great way to keep your grocery budget down. Another tip for a lower grocery budget is to select just 4-5 of the listed suppers and eat leftovers the other nights. (This is also a time saver!)

Aldi Meal Plan

Suppers:

Potato Sausage Soup (use potatoes and kale leftover from last week)
Crispy Chicken Thighs (make extra to use in the chicken rice casserole)
Taco Salad with salsa and chips. (Use ground beef and/or beans)
Pasta Pomodoro
Chicken Rice Casserole (use the leftover meat from the chicken thighs)
Vegetarian 15 Bean Soup

Snack and Side Ideas:

Apples, oranges, grapes
Carrot and celery sticks
Roasted veggies (carrots, celery, potatoes, green beans, etc)
Homemade biscuits

Frugal Lunch Ideas:

Pancakes
Sandwiches
Rice Cakes (with peanut butter or meat)
Leftovers
Beans and Rice
Roasted Vegetables
Salad

Frugal Breakfast Ideas:

Oatmeal
Hard boiled eggs
Pumpkin muffins

$170 per month Menu Plan for this Week:

Okay, and now for my family’s menu for the week. I plan using the method I outline in my menu planning template:

Saturday
Pancakes for lunch
Chicken and Veggie Noodle Soup for supper

Sunday
Eggs and hashbrowns for lunch
Small groups for supper

Monday: Leftover soup

Tuesday: New spaghetti squash recipe (bought the squash when it was on sale last week)

Wednesday: Kids eat at church

Thursday: Leftover spaghetti squash

Friday: Pizza night

Breakfasts: Oatmeal, leftover pancakes, eggs

Lunches: PB sandwiches on homemade sourdough, veggies, fruit, salad, deli meat

Snacks: Grapes and pretzels

What’s on your menu this week?

Thanksgiving Tradition Ideas Your Family Will Love

8 Replies

Thanksgiving. What comes to mind when you think of the holiday? For me I think of family, food, being grateful, travel, cool weather, beautiful leaves, cranberry salad. What Thanksgiving tradition ideas do you have?
dinner plate setting and the ultimate list of Thanksgiving tradition ideas

Affiliate links are used. See our disclosure page for more information.

If I’m honest, I am a bit torn when it comes to traditions. On one side, you know what to expect, the kids love it and look forward to them, it’s easy to plan. On the other side I don’t like always having to do the same thing.

I guess my balance is traditions that are held lightly. Traditions that we can take a year off of or tweak if needed.

Traditions that work for our family.

If you are looking to tweak your Thanksgiving traditions or add some new ones, I have a great list of Thanksgiving tradition ideas for your inspiration!

pile of pumpkins and the best Thanksgiving tradition ideas

Thanksgiving Tradition Ideas

Writable Tablecloth

Whether you get a cloth table cloth you reuse each year or simply cover your tables with butcher paper, have sharpies, pencils, or crayons available for everyone to write down one thing they were thankful for the past year. If you use the cloth cloth, have everyone initial and put the year next to their item.

Thanksgiving Tree

Gather some sticks and arrange them in a vase to make your Th. Set out a basket with leaves cut out of paper and some yarn. Again have everyone record what they were thankful for the last 12 months and hang on the tree. At some point during the evening someone can read them aloud.

Write Cards

Take a moment on Thanksgiving to have everyone write a card (or draw a picture) to let someone know how much you appreciate them.

Say What You are Thankful For

Go around the dinner table and have each person say 1-3 things they are grateful for from the last year.

Activity Sheets for the Kids

Set out different activity sheets for your kids to work on through out the day. It will help the times of waiting go a little more smoothly. Perfect quiet, not messy activity for when the kids are getting a little rambunctious. Here are some ideas.

Games for the Kids

Take sometime for fun and giggles. Plan a few special games for the kids (and adults even) to enjoy. You can find lots of ideas online!

New Dish Every Year

This would be so much fun! Something new and probably nontraditional making an appearance each November. If your Thanksgiving involves multiple families, I think it would be fun to rotate who brings the “surprise” dish each year.

Volunteer

Spend a part of your day volunteering. Look around your town for organization that serve Thanksgiving meals and see if they need help. Growing up we volunteered at a local church that served a meal in their facility and delivered meals to people that were working or home bound. We loved it!

Take a Walk

Spend 30 minutes or even an hour an a stroll around your neighborhood sometime after your meal is eaten and the kitchen is cleaned. As simple as it is, I can remember this happening in my home growing up.

Movie Theater

Going to the movies was a rare occurrence in my family. We did this once when I was still home and I’m pretty sure they have done it since I’ve been married. It was special enough that I even what movie we watched! (Treasure Planet, in case you are remembering.)

Pizza

Okay, it doesn’t have to be pizza but there’s nothing wrong with not having a turkey dinner. Mix it up an do the traditional feast one year and something completely different the next. Pizza and ice cream always seems like a good option though. 🙂 One year it was just my husband and 2 kids for Thanksgiving and we had fajitas.

Visit the Nursing Home

There are people in the nursing home with no family coming to see them for the holiday. Spend a little bit of time wishing the residents of your local nursing home happy thanksgiving. Have the kids draw pictures to give away.

Watch a Thanksgiving Movie

Instead of going to the theater put a BluRay in at home and let the kids relax for a while. There’s always A Charlie Brown Christmas or Miracle on 34th Street. 😉

Read Thanksgiving Books

Books are the best. Read aloud a few picture books – even over breakfast in the morning. I’m a fan of Read Aloud Revival, so be sure to check out this post for some great ideas!

Trivia

Have a little fun with a trivia game (and probably learn something while you are at it)! While you are preparing the questions for one year I’d go ahead and make them for the next few years. It won’t take much longer and your can separate out the questions into a list for each year. Check out these lists for some ideas.

Turkey Trot

I’ve only actually done this once, but it was so much fun! Cold and exciting. It was nice to start a day that involves so much food and sitting with some physical exertion. If you live (or travel to) an area with a Thanksgiving morning race, I highly recommend you give it a try.

There are just 16 Thanksgiving tradition ideas out of countless options. You can get as creative as you want.

I’m curious, what fun Thanksgiving traditions do you have in your family? Are you going to try any of these Thanksgiving tradition ideas this year?

fall tree and the ultimate list of Thanksgiving tradition ideas! pile of pumpkins and the best Thanksgiving tradition ideas