Santa Shoeboxes - the Reveal

Remember I shared in my last post that I had what I deemed as amazing creative concepts for the Santa shoeboxes? Well I am now ready to unveil the concepts and the finished products including the gifts purchased for each box. Good news! All the gifts fit into the boxes! Bad news I spent too much money on gifts. 

The crafting part wasn't the disaster I imagined. I do see some flaws in my work but I didn't cry or throw any boxes at the wall. Mr. Deep, who clearly read my last post, kindly pretended he couldn't see any of the defects that I pointed out to him on the boxes.  Or maybe his eyesight is just really poor.

I did end up getting the plastic boxes from Plasticland. They are nice and sturdy but glue doesn't want to stick to the plastic so I had to get creative and use tape. The tape caused a few wrinkles that I don't love but that I will live with. 

The theme I imagined for the 9-year old boy box was the African Big 5. They are rhino, buffalo, elephant, lion and leopard. I know from my trip to the zoo that boys love animals especially big ones and they love to take pride in the fact that these are African animals. 

I had planned to use some decorative tape as part of the boy box decor given the glue problem but the tape kept tearing. Much like the paper towels and tin foil that you buy here that seem to tear everywhere except where you want them to tear. 

This tape fiasco was how the project began and I was sure it was only the beginning of my challenges but luckily it was the only serious setback and things went pretty smoothly after that. I had to skip the green decorative tape and proceed without it.

This is the top of the boy box. I bought a small desk calendar that contained African wildlife pictures and cut it up to get pics of the big five. Oh and Tshepo is the little boy's name in case you were wondering.

side of box

side of box

2 of the 5 animals I put on the inside walls of the box

On the inside of the top cover I added fun facts about the big five. Ugh, you can really see the tape wrinkles. I may have to redo this part. 

Then I added foamy star stickers and a few embellishments to the sides of the boy box and it was done! Stickers seemed to attach to the plastic without any problem.

I think boys are easier to please than girls (I can hear male readers around the world wholeheartedly agreeing with me) and also younger kids are easier to impress than older kids. So I was nervous about creating a box for an 11 year old girl. Eleven seems like a tough age, not a little kid, but not a teen either. I didn't want to make the box too grown up but also not too childish. The theme I imagined for the girl shoe box was positive messaging/self confidence type stuff combined with things that are shiny. 

Tape wrinkles! I need a laminating machine! I also added the girl's name to her box and I could barely make it fit!

I bedazzled the sizes of the girl box with stick on jewels, foamy hearts and 3d butterfly stickers. When I thought maybe I had added enough, I kept on adding.

Now, onto the contents. There are certain requirements for the content of the boxes. They are: toothpaste, toothbrush, bar of soap, wash cloth, outfit of clothing, educational supplies, sweets (not anything that can melt) and a toy. The cost of the contents should be R250 - R350 (about $18-$25 USD.)

Girl contents and yes it is quite girly. Hopefully she's o.k. with that.

soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, lip balm (cherry of course) face cloth, 3 nail polish set with file, gummy candy, candy necklace, notebook, highlighter, pens, pencils, eraser, a mind enhancing game called IQ that is like a puzzle, polo shirt, shorts

Boy contents

t-shirt, shorts, gummy candy, skittles, notebook, pencils, colored pencils, eraser, soap, face cloth, toothbrush, toothpaste, glow in the dark stick on stars, what seems to be a new and improved metallic silly putty type substance, a rubber bouncing ball

The boxes are now complete and I will be dropping them off on the 29th to the Santa Shoebox people and they will deliver them to the kids sometime between now and Christmas. It was a really fun project and I will definitely sign up again next year.

Mr. Deep asked me if there was a prize for the "best box decorating." Clearly the man learned nothing from our camping trip and his competitive nature has not diminished in the slightest!

labeled and ready for drop off

Martha Stewart Part 2

While I wasn't concerned about trying to recreate the South African recipes that I wrote about in my last post this next project might be more challenging. While it sounds completely innocuous my personality is such that sadly I am going to turn it into a major undertaking and my self esteem will likely suffer. The project might involve large amounts of frustration and maybe even some crying.  It will be a good idea for me to work on this project while Mr. Deep is not home so he doesn't have to endure any freak outs.

Again through a conversation with Lauren, I learned about the Santa Shoebox project. It's a wonderful charitable effort to provide hundreds of thousands of Christmas gifts to needy children across South Africa. As soon as Lauren told me about it I knew I wanted to sign up. What makes this program so special and unique is that when you register on the website you choose the gender and age of the child or children that you want to provide for. Then, for each child chosen, you find  a shoe box, decorate it in a festive manner and fill it with gifts specific to that child based on age and gender. There are some items that you have to include in the box such as a toothbrush, toothpaste and soap. Can we just pause here to reflect on how sad it is that these children do not have these items and that they will be happy to receive them?  

Here are some of the challenges. First, you have to have a shoe box. I hate clutter so I don't have any. Second (and most alarming) you have to decorate the box in such a way that the child who gets the box isn't looking at the gorgeous boxes all of his or her friends received and wondering what's wrong with his box. Three, you have to creatively buy and pack the gifts so that they will fit in the box. I already know I am going to buy way too much stuff and that I will not be able to fit it all and the lid will be falling off. Note, you don't attach the lid to the box as the volunteers from the charity need to be able to inspect the box. So I can't pack the box the way I would pack my own suitcase - by sitting on it.

I want to reiterate that I really, really want to do this. I have been thinking about this project like crazy since I signed up. Having worked with the kids who live in Diepsloot I know these kids are going to be so excited to get these boxes (even if poorly decorated) and I also know that these might be the only gifts that they receive this year. 

Getting boxes isn't that hard. I can either buy shoes for myself (tempting but not really the point of the exercise), go to shoe stores and see if they have any extra boxes or buy plastic shoe boxes. The third option is a great excuse to visit a store called Plasticland which is an organizers paradise. They have every kind of box and storage item you can imagine. A plastic box is actually a good idea because the Santa shoe box website says that the child will likely keep the box. Remember that these kids don't have their own rooms and likely don't have their own bed so having a box where they can keep their personal treasures is a big deal for them.

While I think I am good at fashion and home decorating, I am not good at drawing, painting, crafting or wrapping gifts. I am also not good at baking. Even when making the simple lekker pudding recipe I was only about 2 minutes away from a smoke filled house. Any project that I take on that needs to come out looking a certain way is usually a major disappointment. Whenever I need to wrap a gift I try to get Mr. Deep to do it because he is very meticulous and all gifts that he wraps end up looking great. No, there is not a chance I can get Mr. Deep to agree to decorate these boxes for me.

So now you are thinking that I should just come up with a very simple concept for the box designs, something that I know I can handle and can make look o.k. with not a lot of angst. And you're right, that is what I should do but here is what is wrong with me. My imagination does not match my ability. I have these awesome ideas (artistic concepts really) about how I can decorate these boxes in a most creative manner and I am going to try to recreate what I have in my head. This means I need to buy at least one extra plastic box because at least one is sure to come out looking like complete crap and I will need to start over. This is the point when the crying might occur.

I signed up to provide boxes to a nine year old boy named Tshepo and an 11 year old girl, named Samkelisiwe (before dropping off the box you affix a coded label to it to ensure it goes to the right child.)  I chose the nine year old boy because in working with kids in grade 3 and 4 through Edu Fun, I think I know what a nine year old boy would like - answer; pretty much anything. I signed up to give a box to an 11 year old girl because I apparently had a moment of temporary insanity. I have no idea what an 11 year old girl would like. I only know what I would have liked when I was 11 and I'm pretty sure this girl does not want the Journey Escape album on cassette or pink legwarmers. So I have to give this one some thought. While Christmas is a way off, I have to drop off the completed boxes on October 29th. The charity needs time to check all of the boxes and get everything organized before they begin to deliver. 

I will document my creative process, box decoration and gift selection in my next post. The good, the bad and the ugly.

It was a great album!