To have a grumble about overly prescriptive Christmas donation collections

Our school do shoeboxes for Teams4U which seems to be the people who originally set up Samaritan’s purse so I assume are similarly awful. Does anyone happen to know?

@curlywurlymum there are different shoebox schemes.
Samaritans Purse is well known to be avoided but other charity ones exist.
I always think people shouldn't outright refuse to donate one - just ask which charity is distributing them and make a decision based on that
I glad you enjoyed your box 🙂

I don't really agree - 95% of what I own is secondhand and most of it is much better quality than new things on sale within a reasonable budget. If good quality secondhand isn't good enough for a charity, the charity can sod off as far as I'm concerned. The need can't be that great if they don't want secondhand or else they'd make do with it like many of us have to,

It's lovely that you and your dc want to help others. But school should not be pressuring families into participating. How about you give your dc a budget and they could make their own Christmas box or bag for donation to your local food bank or womens shelter?

@curlywurlymum

That's lovely to hear you were appreciative. It's easy to be dismissive of these ventures from our comfortable middle class existence. I did them with my dc at primary and they chose the items carefully based on the advice (include school supplies like pencils and sharpener) and a few nice things like hair clips, a ball and puzzles.

My children’s school have done the shoe box appeal but have done one box per form so the costs were not on us to fill a whole shoe box. It is quite a list of what you can’t put in. Nothing edible or any liquids which pushes the costs up when you try and do a whole box yourself. I gave my 2 £5 each to get some things from Poundland to donate.

Samaritans purse use christmas shoeboxes to try and convert children to christianity, they add christian literature to the boxes people donate.
Not to mention they are a horrible charity who are homophobic at their core. I wouldnt touch them with a barge pole

The toys must be new because there are fools out there who only donate things that are absolutely disgusting and the last thing you need is to expose a new mum / baby to mould / fleas etc. But you can get a decent toy for under £5. Just give your dc a bit less this year for Christmas

The shoebox goes to very poor children in Eastern Europe. I know this because I received one as a (very poor) child and it was the only Christmas gift I ever received as a child. I remember every single item that was in that box and the pure happiness and excitement I felt. Because of this we donate boxes religiously every year, it’s organised by the kids’ school.

Also I don’t think anything is kept in the shoebox they will take everything out, pool it with everyone else’s and resort it all. Nobody actually receives the specific box you put together.

We never did the shoe boxes just explained to the children that they are not just given as gifts but the children are forced to listen to Christian spiel to be given the item and that we won’t do that.

Then we would go and donate 10 advent calendars to the local food bank for children.

If you really want to do the shoe box (but there should be no pressure!), could you join forces with a couple of the kids friends and make one between a couple of you? The kids still get to have fun building it but costs are then split?

I think so
ive even seen people on Twitter talking about how they used to receive them at Christmas and they were always just full of tat they didn’t want or need

It won't be compulsory to do this if you are going to financially struggle to buy new (and if the shoebox is Samaritans Purse I would refuse to do it and tell the school why).
I don't have an issue with the gifts having to be new. If you are told "secondhand is fine" you get a mix of stuff still in excellent condition vs half used colouring books and a bag of broken crayons.
It makes it easier to have a set rule of new.

The rotary shoeboxes only go to Eastern Europe to Christian communities (or secular but culturally Christian). They accept preloved items too

You could always check the charity shops for things new with tags? You can sometimes find new boxed toys as well.

Children and baby clothes can be bought very cheaply from Primark or Asda. Just something really small and fill the shoebox with cheap Poundland things. Once wrapped up and delivered no one will know who gave what but your DC will be happy.

Rotary shoebox is ok I believe?

I agree it’s a shame because I could give £100s of second hand Lego, resorted into sets with boxes and leaflets but instead it’s going on Vinted.
I will buy a new set but they are more expensive now.

I think it's awful that it's expected. I'm a school governor and am very concerned not to be putting financial pressure for anything on families at the moment. Don't they realise many of the parents may be struggling to get anything for their own kids never mind donating? It's quite insensitive during a cost of living crisis. You can be sure that those least able to afford it will go out of their way to do it so as not to be seen as poor.

Yeah I agree with this.

You don’t have to participate; vote with your feet when it comes to charity. I can understand buying new items when it comes to children, especially for toys, toiletries, and consumables. If you want to do something for charity, do your research and find a cause you care about as a family. There are many, many small and large charities to choose from.

I always buy some meals for the homeless in our city, and I also buy the ingredients for Christmas dinner for a family. The homeless meals are a fiver so you can give and not spend too much, and you can choose a smaller family to suit your budget for Christmas dinner. Both great charities and capture the essence of giving I think

What's wrong with that?

The shoebox one will be the "here have a gift and a leaflet about christ and how he can save your soul".

The new toys seems fair enough tbh. No one wants an old manky toy for Christmas and someone in dire straits deserves to have one new toy for themselves not hand me downs. If you have second hand toys then give it to a charity shop

I can kind of see the refusal to accept good quality second hand stuff. It gives the charity extra work to do to make sure that toys are safe, kitemarked etc, and toiletries haven’t been tampered with, or partly used. 99% of people would make decent contributions but there will always be someone who sees it as an opportunity to get rid of a load of old junk.