Christmas Shoebox Appeal FAQ

The Team Hope Christmas Shoebox Appeal is an annual campaign where thousands of people across Ireland donate shoeboxes filled with gifts for children affected by poverty in countries in Africa and Eastern Europe. It is an opportunity to share a little joy and excitement with children who live in circumstances where these can often be in short supply. 

Building a Shoebox has never been easier! You can either build your box at home or online.  

To build your box at home you’ll need to wrap a shoebox in colourful paper, fill it with items for a child and then drop it off at one of our many drop off points. We also request a donation of €5 to cover the costs associated with getting your box to a child.  

Or if you’d prefer, you can build your box online and we’ll do the work for you. You can use the fun box builder to select the items you’d like to see in a box, donate €20 and we’ll ensure that a box full of lovely gifts gets to child! 

You can team up with family, friends, neighbours or colleagues to try to raise as many boxes, and help as many children, as possible! You can order promotional materials such as leaflets and posters here or you can download our digital leaflet here.  

We like to ensure that every shoebox is filled with items from the 4W’s – something to Wash with, something to Write with, something to Wear and something to make a child go Wow! If you’re filling your box at home we have lots of ideas of things to include on our website and social media! We ask you not to include scary or war related items, liquids, large clothes or food (other than sweets!). You can find a list of things to include and things not to include here.  

If you’ve donated your box online Team Hope will ensure that it is filled with items from the 4W’s. You can use the fun box builder to select the items you’d like to see in a box before donating €20 and we’ll ensure that a box full of lovely gifts gets to child! 

This year it is ok to include new reusable masks in shoeboxes, but please do not include hand sanitiser as we cannot take liquids. 

The deadline to get your boxes to us is Friday 10^th November  

Team Hope will be celebrating Christmas Shoebox Appeal Week from the 6^th– 12^th November, where everyone will be encouraged to build as many boxes as possible and share their updates on social media using #MakeAChildSmile, #ChristmasShoeboxAppeal and #EveryShoeboxCounts.  

The final date that shoeboxes can be donated online is 23rd December 2023 – but the sooner you can purchase your Christmas Shoebox online the quicker Team Hope can arrange for them to be delivered! 

This year Flat Pack Shoeboxes will be available in Dealz and PepCo Stores nationwide and in Poundland Stores in Northern Ireland. You can buy a pack of 3 for €6 and a portion of sales will go to support Team Hope’s work.  

*Your flat pack shoeboxes state the recommended donation per box as €4 as they were printed in 2022. While we would really appreciate this donation, the recommendation for 2023 is €5 due to the increased cost of shipments.  

Team Hope is also able to facilitate bulk orders of Flat Pack Shoeboxes online, if you’d like to buy a large quantity of flat pack shoeboxes to fill together with your business, church, school, club, local community or extended family. If you are interested please contact us at info@teamhope.ie  

You can follow the latest news and updates from Team Hope on: 
Facebook at www.facebook.com/team.hope.ireland 
Twitter at @TeamHopeIreland 
Instagram at @TeamHopeIreland 

Or using the campaign hashtags 

 #MakeAChildSmile 
#ChristmasShoeboxAppeal 

#EveryShoeboxCounts 

If you want to donate online you will be able to build-a-box choosing items from the 4W’s that you would like to add into your ‘ideal’ box. These gifts are based on Team Hope Christmas Shoebox Appeal’s 4Ws – Wash, Write, Wear and Wow. 

There are over 400 drop off locations across the country, in particular all Dealz Poundland and PepCo stores, as well as First Stop and Toymaster branches around Ireland. A full list of all our drop off points will be available here from the 21st October.  

As a result of high increases in our international shipping costs we have had to request an increase in donation per Christmas Shoebox from €4 to €5. The increase in international shipping costs (by 25% in 2022) comes as result of the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine as well as the ongoing effects from the COVID-19 pandemic. This donation goes towards the cost of making the whole Shoebox Appeal programme happen, including promotion, transport and delivering your box to each child. 

As in previous years, the cost of donation a shoebox online is €20. You can donate your box here.  

Yes, there are lots of ways you can donate to make a box. This year we’re encouraging everyone to take part in whatever way they can. This could be through getting together with friends to make boxes together, helping promote the Appeal or running a fundraiser to make online boxes. Any donation, no matter how small will help us get as many boxes as possible. Feel free to get in touch with us if you’d like to get involved or make a donation but aren’t sure how! 

Yes please! We have up to 50 volunteer teams across the country who are active between mid-September to early December. They are often looking for more help to promote the Appeal or to collect and check the shoeboxes.  You can find details of your local coordinator on this page or email info@teamhope.ie – we look forward to hearing from you! 

For boxes donated at our drop offs we request a donation of €5. This donation goes towards the cost of making the whole Shoebox Appeal programme happen, including promotion, transport and delivering your box to each child. With increased costs this year, especially for transporting boxes, your €5 is very important.  

For boxes donated online, your €20 covers the purchase of shoebox contents, based on the 4W’s – items to Wash, Write, Wear and Wow, as well as helping to cover the costs mentioned above.  

If there are any surplus funds, they are used for Team Hope’s on-going development work with children, their families and communities. Details of this work alongside Team Hope’s annual audited accounts can be found on the About Us page

After you drop off your box it will be collected by one of our local volunteer teams. Our volunteers check all the shoeboxes to make sure there are no unsafe or inappropriate items and afterwards seal them with Team Hope tape – the next time they will be opened is by a child! They are then cartoned and loaded onto trucks to be sent to a country in Africa or Eastern Europe where our local partners will give it straight into the hands of a child.   

Team Hope seeks to honour the donor in all circumstances and as a result does not split up boxes unless in extremely exceptional circumstances (i.e. the box is simply too large to send!).  

This year, Team Hope aims to send Shoebox gifts to children in Romania, Transnistria (Moldova), Ukraine, Albania, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Eswatini, Malawi, Kenya and Rwanda.   

Team Hope will continue to send shoeboxes to Ukraine to children affected by the ongoing war, as long as it remains logistically possible. 

Shoeboxes are given to children, aged 2-14 years, in countries in Africa and Eastern Europe.  

If your child’s school is doing the Christmas Shoebox Appeal but you’d rather donate a box online, your receipt can be printed and brought in to class.

In our most recent audited accounts for 2022/23, 93% of Team Hope’s expenditure was spent on direct charitable activities and the remaining 7% covered support costs, governance and the cost of raising funds.

Team Hope, like many other organisations, has been motivated to help others based on the beliefs in the Christian tradition, which are compassion, social justice and the inherent value and dignity of all people. In line with these beliefs, we ensure that shoeboxes are given to children based on need alone, regardless of race, religion, political affiliation etc., and with nothing asked for in return.