AIBU to hate charity Christmas shoe boxes?

[unlucky83]

We get asked to one from the school and from Sunday school ...2 Dcs that is 4 of them...last year I cut it down to 2 - doing the same this year
I really really really hate doing them...but DDs are upset if we don't ...
(at school they have an assembly where the people organising it talk to the DCs about them)...
We wander round the shops/supermarket making sure we get all the essentials on the list - buying the cheapest stuff there is ...kind of think hats/gloves/underwear are probably made by the people we send them back to..
I know I'm not on my own - everyone I know who does one says they do the same ...
Even then each box costs at least £30 ...could the money not be better spent directly by the charity buying good quality stuff that is going to last?
On the lists they say extras - like PJs - how the hell do you fit a pair of PJs for a teenager in a shoe box with all the other stuff...I find I can never fit much 'extra' in...usually just sweets as treats - good job they get toothpaste and toothbrushes or they'd have rotten teeth to add to their misery..

Then you have to find a box...then wrap the bloody things...
I just find it really difficult to wrap the box and lid separately and not get an end result that looks like it has been chewed by the dog...just spent the best part of 30 mins wrapping one that looks like a 2 yr old did it...

So am I being unreasonable to hate them and dread the leaflets coming home?

YABU

There is no need to spend £30. I sped about a tenner and that has always been fine.

A few years back DD got a letter back from girl who had recieved the box we did. It was a lovely letter and exciting for DD to recieve as well [smie]

LRD

I went to a Roman Catholic church school and that's full blown religious fanaticism sadly. Indoctrination on a daily basis ( some of the things the 'staff' did and said will stay with me forever and not in a good way!)

I am now a very happy atheist but I can tolerate and see the good and the bad in nearly all religions!!

Whatever my personal views on individual religions I do believe that many do in fact do good works and this (OCC) I feel does fall not that category.

Sorry DOES fall not that category!!

Oh flipping autocorrect I give up

Not the same, not even remotely comparable, might.

I am willing to bet that each of the boxes you do gets divided up in to three boxes, there seems so much stuff in them.

I do it and I do it gladly (the only way to do charity,imo) and put in less than you. I do think they would still be gratefully received though.

I do it for the equivalent child to my child, iyswim, so this year will be doing for a 7 year old boy and an 8 year old girl.

Someone used to organise them at our work and I have very mixed feelings about them.

On the positive side, people were incredibly generous, much more so I think, had they just been asked for cash. I know that lots of them used it as an opportunity to get their family involved, and when I made mine up I encouraged DS to think of less fortunate children. So that's all good.

However on the other side, they do seem a very cost heavy way of raising money. Ours were being transported to Eastern Europe and even though they were being taken in a lorry, it was obvious that petrol and ferry costs were going to add a lot - so much so that we were also encouraged to donate cash to transport as well.

Secondly they were a lot of faff. They had to be wrapped in a particular way, not include certain items and have proper two piece shoe boxes. I spent about 3 day basically rewrapping and distributing stuff for a hundred boxes.

Thirdly - yes they were expensive, and you never know if you are buying the right stuff. I reckon you would struggle to fill it for less than £15-20 and that's with buying everything at a pound shop.

Fourthly I believe religous tracts go into them once they are made up - that bit makes me really mad.

Last year, when the person who was the organiser had moved on, we did a different christmas charity instead, which involved bringing in one wrapped up gift for a local child. Bit easier to administrate, but at least we were still doing something.

LRD I'm sorry I beg to differ, I could give many examples but it would not be appropriate on this thread.

Operation Christmas Child utterly disgust me, they really do. Dodgy as fuck.

Lots of decent charities (including some religious ones if that's your thing) would be glad of your £30.

Have a look at exexpat's links for ammunition if anyone questions your not doing them.

I won't do them because of the religious aspects - which I hadn't realised until I started posting here.

They always make me feel slightly uncomfortable in the same way harvest festival did as a child - in my experience people used to empty their cupboards of the stuff they weren't going to use, or whatever was cheapest in the shop which seemed to be missing the point. I know this isn't widespread (before I get told off) but it was rife in my school as a child.

Ok, I apologize.

I didn't realize you were starving and being refused basic necessities of life until you got baptized, in a culture where your parents religious was not Christian and that would separate you from them.

That must have been really hard - I had assumed you meant you just went to a Catholic school.

MrsW - they used to claim (and maybe still do, I just don't trust them at all) that they were motivated by Christian values but didn't force religion on children by bribery. Then someone demonstrated that they did, in fact, do just that.

I don't want to dominate this thread with OCC, which may not even be the scheme the OP is doing, but if you don't know about them, do read up.

Try this link more OCC horror stories.

Nasty, used as a bribe to indoctrinate disadvantaged children into a religion.

I help at a sorting centre for blythswood care in Scotland.
We check about 5000 boxes over 2 weeks.
We remove chocolate and sweets that expire too soon. Not all boxes get Christian material it depends which country they go to.
The very large boot boxes some people use have to be split up as they are too large to fit into the containers. We have to get 12-13 boxes in a container as the boxes go by volume so larger boxes take up more room and that costs more.
The items people need are very basic. I used to find them difficult to do but now I have seen what a really good box contains it isn't so bad. Toiletries, hats scarf gloves sox pens pencils and toiletries. All helps.

I'm not sure what OCC do - these are two smaller charities - and one isn't religious...
I sent my DCs to Sunday School cos I went - and made up my own mind later in life ....guess if it is full blown indoctrination it might be a bit different but our church is quite mild (Church of Scotland) and do actually do good things for our community - so while I can say I don't believe in God myself if it brings comfort and does no harm I can't see the problem - and that's what I wanted them to learn about ...

Ahhh Musical the religious one I do is for Blytheswood ...

So most people seem to be doing them wrong anyway, according to those who help?

My school does them, but asks each child to donate a small toy/pound shop item instead of food at the harvest festival. They bring in any empty shoe boxes and the teachers wrap/assemble. They can also bring a fully done box if they want. I think that is a nice compromise - the boxes get done, the parents don't feel too pressured to spend a fortune and the children get to see how when lots of small things are combined one wonderful thing results.

I've just thought that - Why have I faffed around wrapping the bloody things in paper if it isn't going to be sent in the box anyway???
And would places like Blytheswood not be better getting the money and buying the stuff really needed in bulk - or even sourcing it locally?
If you send one toothbrush -it is supposed to last a year? Or shampoo? how do people feel if they can't afford to buy stuff like that - get it, use it, like it - but never get it again until the following year ...if at all?

Raven - you've already missed the first OCC thread of the year - it was last week, and the PR chief of OCC UK came on and told us that if OCC was banished from UK schools, British children would never learn about compassion and self sacrifice...

They seem to have started doing presentations in schools last week - maybe earlier than usual?

Every year we have this concern, about the prosetylising.

Personally I don't like OCC as they are pretty hard sell. And I agree economically it doesn't make sense.

But

-- you can find softer versions,
-- it is a brilliant way for small children to realise that not everyone is as lucky as they are, makes it a reality for many of them,
-- one MNr said last year that she had had them as a child and they made a huge difference to herself and her family.

I'm afraid I am far meaner.

We are asked for a scarf and or hat. These are often home made. Cost of one beanie, 90 p ie the yarn. If I make a scarf as well, comes to about 3 quid in all.

Plus toothbrush, 50p from Tesco/ Wilco, toothpaste , 25 p ditto. Soap 20 p ditto. Flannel 50 p.

Game, often good quality second hand ( one of Ds's) or playing cards, and ball of some sort. Prob about 2.50. Sometimes a plastic mug or water bottle.
Pencils and pad, prob about 1.50.

Sweets about 1.50.

10 l overall.

When it's the church one, we get the congregation knitting and there is a huge pile of scarves and hats and all the elderly members if the congregation feel really involved and useful..and actually we put out a plea to the congregation to contribute, so it's not just the children. Then on Shoebox Sunday, everyone gets together, the Bleep boxes are wrapped, children go round in pairs filling a box, overseen by adults, and coffee is provided. It makes it much less painful. But we also do conventional charity find raising, eg using Good Gifts or a local charity.

YANBU. The "Operation Christmas Child" boxes are run on a vast scale by a global organisation called Samariran's Purse. There have been numerous bad reports about them, including accusations that they are only interested in indoctrinating children into their brand of Christianity. Every box has religious material added to it, as their primary purpose is evangelism.

exexpat - linky? I luffs a good OCC thread....