Every Christmas since our daughter has been born we’ve made a shoe box for Operation Christmas Child for a little girl her age. Last year she had fun shopping but didn’t really understand what was going on.

(Side note, brother already has more hair than she did at 1 year 9 months)

This year at almost 3 she was way more involved and we added a box for a little boy. We talked about the purpose of the boxes and went on to Operation Christmas Child’s website and looked at pictures and found out what types of things we could put in the boxes and then headed out to go shopping. Our daughter ran from one thing to the next in the store, “Oh, the little girl would like this!” “Can we get this for the little boy?”

Arriving back home we had our daughter get the two boxes (we like plastic boxes instead of shoe boxes) and load everything into the right one.

Brother even got in on some of the action.

For the last step I had our daughter get out her coloring box and paper and draw pictures to put in the box. We’ll finish them off by writing a note and including a picture if I manage to get any printed this week.

This is a fun tradition that helps keep the perspective on giving instead of getting during the holiday season. Next year I’m going to plan ahead a little better and have our daughter do some little jobs around the house to earn money to purchase some of the supplies with. It will allow her to have even more ownership and hopefully make more of an impact.

It’s not too late for you to join in on the fun! Collection week goes through the 25th! Check out the Samaritan’s Purse website for all the details and to find a drop off location near you.

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This is an easy service project that your child can be involved in from beginning to end. My husband was out of town one Saturday, so while the baby napped my toddler and I got busy.

1. Select who you want to bless with a plate of goodies. Our recipients were an elderly couple, two individuals who had been spending vast amounts of time working on our church renovation, someone whose birthday it was, and a friend.

2. Find a recipe (or two or three) to make. We made two different cookies and a pumpkin cranberry muffin. Yum. Then get busy cooking. My daughter helped measure, pour, stir and roll.

3. While the baked goods are cooling, get out your coloring supplies and have your child draw cards for each person. After the cards were colored I wrote notes on them.

4. Distribute the food between paper plates, cover with plastic wrap, tie a ribbon around them and attach the card.

5. Deliver! This was my daughter’s favorite part. It was her “special deliveries”. I helped her walk up steps and let her stand there with the plate after we rang the door bell. She wanted to keep making more stops. From the smile on her face you could tell she felt important and that she was doing something nice. Having a 2 1/2 year old show up unannounced also made our recipients grin.

Out making deliveries

Do you have a favorite way to involve your child in serving? Next week I will be sharing another opportunity we involve our children in.

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