Winter items are needed even in South America…I lived in Medellin, Colombia and worked up the mountain and it could get really cold! Good idea to pick up some cute winter items!
I'm happy to hear Canada is allowing dice and playing cards! I never saw the problem with those items because kids can make up so many games with those, and they can play with others as well.
It depends on the culture. I guess in times past the boxes were typically going to areas with high gambling problems that those distributing the boxes asked for them to be kept out.
Happy New Year Nicole. We have similar issues with the playing cards in AU. I contacted OCC-AU last year (2023) to confirm playing cards (4-suite) can now be sent. However, playing cards that feature licensed characters bearing weapons are not allowed (e.g., Ninja Turtles). My Processing Centre was very sensitive to how children who were not familiar with the characters like the Ninja Turtles or Avengers my 'read' the cards, colouring books or toys - i.e., scare the child. As for Southern Climate items, locally we have a dedicated volunteers/teams that sew and knit clothing, including beanies for our shoeboxes. Some of our shoe boxes were sent to our northern hot climate neighbours, like Papua New Guinea, whilst others are destined for the Ukraine. So, if OCC-CA is promoting headwear / accessories may I suggest summer hats and pray the receiving child will find joy and purpose in the winter /summer clothing items in their shoebox.
It looks like the other distributing countries are slowly allowing playing cards. The UK started to in 2021. These are just suggestions by OCC Canada. Once it gets to the summer they’ll be suggesting the balls caps 😊
No actually! Ours mostly go to West Africa and Central America. West Africa does have big temperature swings in their peak seasons. We also send to the Ukraine, so that’s our coldest country. Again, these are just suggestions provided by OCC. 🙂
@@Kit.Nicole Thanks for the feedback. I never knew if Canadian boxes went to places the U.S. boxes didn't. I love your kindness and content; and roadtripping skills.
@@jettj6088 there are a few shared receiving countries from the looks of things. The Philippines was another one we sent to last year. And thank you! I was glad to be able to do that trip last year!
If you go to the OCC website for your country, theres usually a button that says “How to Pack a Box” or “What to Pack”. If you don’t see it there it should be h see the resources tab. I have some of the websites linked in the description 😊
Whew! When I saw your title I thought you were going to say soap is no longer allowed lol. I love the song 😊
Haha thanks Val! Soap is thankfully still a-ok 👌
Probably last year for soap
Winter items are needed even in South America…I lived in Medellin, Colombia and worked up the mountain and it could get really cold! Good idea to pick up some cute winter items!
Yes people tend to forget that even warm climates can have cold areas!
Yay!! Awesome!! 👏👏👏
I'm happy to hear Canada is allowing dice and playing cards! I never saw the problem with those items because kids can make up so many games with those, and they can play with others as well.
It depends on the culture. I guess in times past the boxes were typically going to areas with high gambling problems that those distributing the boxes asked for them to be kept out.
Yay for playing cards and dice in Canada! So many games the kids can play!
Definitely opens up the possibilities!
Yeah! Are they going to provide the bigger box for you?
No clue! That would be so nice though!
Happy New Year Nicole. We have similar issues with the playing cards in AU. I contacted OCC-AU last year (2023) to confirm playing cards (4-suite) can now be sent. However, playing cards that feature licensed characters bearing weapons are not allowed (e.g., Ninja Turtles). My Processing Centre was very sensitive to how children who were not familiar with the characters like the Ninja Turtles or Avengers my 'read' the cards, colouring books or toys - i.e., scare the child.
As for Southern Climate items, locally we have a dedicated volunteers/teams that sew and knit clothing, including beanies for our shoeboxes. Some of our shoe boxes were sent to our northern hot climate neighbours, like Papua New Guinea, whilst others are destined for the Ukraine. So, if OCC-CA is promoting headwear / accessories may I suggest summer hats and pray the receiving child will find joy and purpose in the winter /summer clothing items in their shoebox.
It looks like the other distributing countries are slowly allowing playing cards. The UK started to in 2021.
These are just suggestions by OCC Canada. Once it gets to the summer they’ll be suggesting the balls caps 😊
@@Kit.Nicole Yep! 🌞🎁🎁😎
Do the boxes from Canada tend to go to colder places?
No actually! Ours mostly go to West Africa and Central America. West Africa does have big temperature swings in their peak seasons. We also send to the Ukraine, so that’s our coldest country. Again, these are just suggestions provided by OCC. 🙂
@@Kit.Nicole Thanks for the feedback. I never knew if Canadian boxes went to places the U.S. boxes didn't. I love your kindness and content; and roadtripping skills.
@@jettj6088 there are a few shared receiving countries from the looks of things. The Philippines was another one we sent to last year.
And thank you! I was glad to be able to do that trip last year!
where can I find a list of acceptable items?
If you go to the OCC website for your country, theres usually a button that says “How to Pack a Box” or “What to Pack”. If you don’t see it there it should be h see the resources tab. I have some of the websites linked in the description 😊