Hands on Charitable Christmas Stuff to Do?

You could take some extra supplies to a school in a poor neighborhood or donate spare clothes to the school nurse.
A guy I go to church with takes his son to the hospital on Christmas day and lets his son donate some of his gifts to the children there.
You could have your children make some cookies or ornaments and take them to either an old folks home or to a police or fire station.

Do something for someone in your city...not in another country...we have too many in need right here under your nose...that way you can be sure it gets to the intended people. People like notoriety for helping out in foreign countries...like adopting...when we have so much need in our own backyard...never could figure that one out. Go to a nursing home and bring a ray of sunshine to some lonely forgotten soul...now that could make a difference.

If your kids aren't in school yet, ask at the local preschool or elementary school as they normally get notices like this for things that young kids can help with. Our schools collect hats, mittens, diapers, baby and personal care items for a group that assists families who are leaving home due to domestic violence. My kids don't really get the domestic violence part (although we do talk about that kind of thing) but they know they are helping babies and children in need. Their school also collects gently used winter coats and new hats, gloves and scarves in December which are distributed to children in shelters and foster care. We pick an ornament from the giving tree at church and shop for a gift for someone. We also have a local organization that supplies Christmas gifts to over 1,000 local families in need. I take my older kids (this year I'll take them all...the youngest is 5) and we check in, get a list for a family and "shop" the warehouse, which is stocked with new items. Each child gets an outfit, underwear and socks, outerwear, and several toys/gifts and each adult gets clothes, hat/gloves and the women get pampering baskets and the men get toiletries and guy stuff. We then wrap and tag it all, bag it up and then "shop" for another family if we have time. That's the most gratifying thing that we do - check your newspaper or maybe ask at the local library if there is anything like that where you live. Your younger kids would be too young for that but your 5-year-old could get a lot out of the experience.

Other options are to make cards for soldiers serving overseas (if you google this you'll find the organization that does this) or wounded soldiers recovering in hospitals at home and abroad. This would be a great craft for all of the kids. If you have a nursing home in your area, you can also visit there and bring cards or treats. Call ahead and ask what you can do as most places have a volunteer coordinator who can guide you with what they need. One year we did a school project where the kids decorated paper placemats that were used in the nursing home dining room and those were quite a hit. Maybe you could make simple ornaments (pipe cleaner snowflakes, candy canes or wreaths) and bring those to patient rooms and let the patients choose one if they want.

We took clothes and toys to people who lost everything in a fire when I was 9. My M. was a real heathen but would come through if others were in need. She also gave them all our extra furniture. I still remember the family weeping and feeling so proud of her.

We took a family we know and showered them with every kind of help after asking the husband and wife of course. They were in a hard spot.
My daughter saw they had almost no food, had to drink tap water only, and considered juice and milk a treat. She also saw that many kids don't have lots of toys, etc...

She still asks me if we should make them more food or take them out to eat. I tell her since the M. is working 1.5 jobs, we will drop off precooked meals for awhile to help them out. The girl told my child she was so glad to not have to eat beans and rice every day anymore.

My daughter also realized taking care of her clothes allowed us to pass them on for this girl to wear. She is not nearly so careless.

Added: A., I just looked at the website and wanted to tell you that my mom picks out stuff on her own to put in her boxes. She doesn't do it through the website (she won't use a computer!!) So you don't have to do it through the website. It's more fun to buy the things for the box ourselves, to be honest!

Original:
Hi A.! Have you looked into Samaritan's Purse/Operation Christmas Child? My mom does this and absolutely loves it. Putting a box together for a child from another country is a really wonderful thing for kids to do. They choose a boy or girl, and you pick things together to fill the box. Then mail it in together.

My mom goes down to the warehouse near where she lives and works with a lot of the volunteers. Though you can't do that with the children, putting the boxes together is a joy.

Google it and read what it says. I'll bet your kids would love it.

Dawn

I second the suggestion of Samaritan's Purse/Operation Christmas Child but I'm betting the deadline for box drop off is nigh......check the website. We did this O. last year, but not this year so I don't know the due date. Fun for the kids to pick out the "stuff" for the box. And they can add a photo, draw a picture, etc.

Why not take your kids with you to the store with a list for the food bank. Our church gave us a long list and I took my daughter with me this year and she loved it! She was very thoughtful - picking things off the list I might not have - it's all different through a child's eyes.

I like the idea of giving to the firefighters/EMTs because firehouses are usually accessible to the public (call ahead, to confirm) and those people take long shifts to make sure you are safe.

You could also ask about taking the kids to a nursing home to sing carols. Maybe visit at lunch time where most of the people would be in the same room.

My kids are 5 and 2 now. We've done stuff mostly through the church to tell the truth, but when we lived in TX I was involved in a homeless shelter and a couple friends and I would go hang out with the kids, bring oranges or some yummy healthy treats, and visit with the kids. My 2 friends who are good at the drama stuff would do a puppet show me and another friend had the "job" of sitting on the floor and getting hung on. We'd have to spread our legs straight out so that we could fit more children. 2 on my lap, 2 on my legs, 2 hugging and holding onto my shoulders or neck, my arms holding hands or patting shoulders. Occasionally I'd bring my son to play with the children there (especially when I found some that I knew he'd like to play with). They'd just play and run and have fun, we'd have a snack time, we'd do the puppet show or tell a story, we'd pray with the kids and have some time where we'd practice lessons---how to apply what we learned. My older son saw the other children. It wasn't a "scary" place, it was clean. But he knew that they were living there and not in a house, and that wasn't too good. He had a little understanding that not everyone has a house and a million toys and books in the playroom. This helped him be more WILLING to share, to take better care of things because he saw in real life that they are luxuries and not just "automatically there". We'd do little events at the shelter where some ladies in our church were professional hair stylists and they would give free haircuts, and I'd be in charge of a nice dinner and some basic classes like how to fill out an application, or assistance with a resume, interviewing skills, some basic life skills like banking or whatever, others would donate business attire for going job hunting in, some kids would donate the toys and play with the children, we'd have music and a church service, etc. For other things that were not child appropriate (another shelter on the "bad" side of town, etc) I wouldn't let my son see that or go there, but we would line bags up at the church in aisles and he was only 2 at the time and would walk up and down the aisles with me. We'd drop one winter cap in each bag, then 1 pair of gloves, 1 bag of small toiletries, 1 bag condiments/cutlery (because we were feeding them later and just easier to have the bags packed with everything they needed and then they move on to the cafeteria style dinner), etc, etc. We went to Children's hospital and had a fun production with dancing, costumed people, games, face painting, etc. I did face painting and my son went with my bff to pull the wagon and pass out gifts to the children who were able to come down.

Now: we've gone to the nursing home where my friends again did the free haircuts and I would paint fingernails and my son would give them little giftbags with treats, candy canes, toiletries, flameless candles, non-slip fuzzy socks or slippers, small gifts that the nursing home suggested for us to bring, and he would just be cute and try to talk to them a bit. He can now call out the things for the Bingo game ( "B-5" ) or help use the dobbers to mark them because some people have trouble hitting it or finding it fast enough.
There's a boy in one of his little classes right now that is having a really bad time this year. The mom is single and has been without work for a bit, she has 2 little kids (ages 5 and 8) that live with her---the 8 year old found out the cancer came back. Her adult daughter's kidney is failing. Her adult son got in a fight with his gf and they were arrested and the 8 month old child taken away, now living with her......all in a little apartment. We adopted them and bought each child 3 new wrapped gifts, plus gave her some baby stuff my youngest has outgrown but we hadn't donated yet (an umbrella stroller, portable crib, high chair, christmas tree and ornaments, etc). An angel tree from a hospital, foster care place, capa, wherever---they're all over the place! The boys have both been on mission trips (just here in the states for now), on Indian reserves where we've helped set up a classroom and a clinic, distributed clothing and supplies, etc. My 2 year old doesn't really know much, but he is seeing from an early age that a lot of children don't live in a house like ours or have powerwheels to ride on or whatever. It will all be contextual later as he gets a little older and can put it together. Joseph has seen videos from the church some of the neat things that are being done in some other countries and expressed a desire to go there and help.
If you look in your local community's paper, I'm sure there will be plenty of information on opportunities there. Info on angel trees, military stuff, toys for tots, different events, food banks, foster/adoption agencies needing help organizing, Be a Santa to a Senior, book clubs that distribute books to children, the library may also be a resource for opportunities in your area (the resource desk). There are some opportunities that may be a lot of fun if done in the right spirit. Good luck!

It would probably be easier to answer if you told us the ages of your kids.