Make a donation through our Follow your Box facility to receive a unique barcode. You must print this barcode and place it inside your shoebox. If you are donating for multiple shoeboxes, please place a copy of your barcode in each. The specific barcode is connected to your email address, which enables us to scan each shoebox gift during processing, and notify you regarding how to discover the destination country or region of your gifts.

Once the barcodes have been scanned we will send you an email towards the end of January with a link to discover the destination of your shoebox gift(s). We will also have a link to a look-up tool on our main home page, once the destinations are ready.

Barcodes are only provided when you donate through the “Donate Online and Follow Your Box” section of our website. By donating online participants receive a unique barcode that must be printed and placed inside each of your shoeboxes. The unique barcode on the label is scanned during the shipment process.

If you included a barcode in your shoebox and have not received your Follow Your Box email by mid-February, it may be worth checking your junk/spam/promotions folders. You can also look up your destination by entering your email address into our look-up tool which can be found on our home page when the destinations go live.

Please note: covering your barcode with tape or damaging it in any way could affect scanning, as could using an ink saving printing mode. This may prevent us from tracking your gift.

You will receive one email towards the end of January with a link to discover the destination(s) of your shoebox(es). The link will show you all the different destinations scanned for barcodes linked to your email address. If you packed multiple boxes and all your boxes went to the same location, just one destination will be shown.

No. You can discover the country your box was sent to but, unfortunately, we are not able to provide pictures or information on the specific child who receives your shoebox.

Many countries in areas such as Central Asia or the Middle East are considered sensitive countries for Operation Christmas Child. If your box was shipped to one of these countries, for the safety of our partners working in the region, we are unable to be more specific about the country destination. We have however shared some insights and stories from hard-to reach areas around the world and hope you will enjoy them.

No. Unfortunately, we are not able to track your shoeboxes to a specific recipient, just the destination country or region where it will be delivered.

Once shoeboxes are delivered to Operation Christmas Child, there is no way for us to designate which specific country the boxes are sent to, or ensure that your shoeboxes are sent to various locations.

There is no way for us to designate which country shoebox gifts are sent to based on the contents of the box. Rest assured that the recipients are overjoyed to receive all of the items inside their shoeboxes, and find uses that may not seem typical to us in the United Kingdom, for all of the items.

Operation Christmas Child is unable to facilitate this.