2017 was a rough year, on so many levels for the world, but the things that hit home to me where the numerous natural disasters that devastated millions throughout the world, including right outside all my family’s lands in Portugal. This season I felt the immediate urge and need to give back. I may have overloaded my scheduled and took on more than necessary during the holiday season, but alongside my cousin Cathia, we just had this intense passion to give back and help the causes we felt strongly about. To help the small villages back in Portugal, we held a breakfast bake sale after Sunday Mass before Christmas and it was a hit, so much so we’ll be working on having another this year.
Yet with so many causes, especially during the season of giving, one can often become overwhelmed on who to help, who needs it the most, what will make the most different…especially if you’re two gals who joke that they care way too much! It was just before Thanksgiving, and you know when certain things appear in your life in multiples, well in this case it was the foster care system. From This Is Us {yes I know I’m referencing to TV} Randall’s family was embarking on the foster care road, I had just watched Lion and was pitching the inspiring Natalie Norton, for The Refined Woman, whose family battled the strict rules of the foster care system and lost the children who had been their family of two years. I was touched, moved, and needed to do something to bring joy to these children, as taking on a foster child isn’t in the cards for me right now.
With it being the holidays we thought it would be a nice gesture to gift these local foster kids with a few items they’d need these winter months, and a few fun things of course. In most of these cases, these children are with families that have several foster children, so holiday gifts aren’t often many. So we stocked our carts at Target with winter hats and scarves, shirts, toys, and gift cards, along with boxes, gift wrap and ribbon to turn wrapping these gifts into a fun crafting party. I mean do you need any excuse to get with the girls during the holidays to sip sangria, eat cheese and so Christmas-y things all for a good cause!! And so on a cloudy Sunday afternoon we celebrated the holidays and a good cause with our Gift Wrap and Give Back Holiday Party!!
Each lady was invited and asked to donate an amount, which went towards purchasing all the gifts necessary for the list of children. Cathia works within the foster care system and was able to get specific details on the children, so we got them exactly the sizes they needed! This way we made it easier on the girls instead of them having to buy a gift, we did all the work for them, all we asked of them was to show up in their ugliest{pretty} sweater, as I like to call it, and be ready to mingle, get creative with wrapping and spread some holiday cheer
Here are a few shots I managed to snap that day…everyone loved this idea, even the gals who didn’t particularly love wrapping gifts, had a great time showing their creative chops. Cathia and I are all for the holidays, but more so helping others that we may already be considering doing it again next year!
We kept bites simple, with a bountiful cheese board, because no matter the party it just isn’t complete without a cheese board. The ladies also enjoyed my signature winter salad, butternut squash mac n’ cheese and kept the festive spirit going with my go-to holiday sangria. It all “wrapped up” on a sweet note with this vanilla and passion fruit layered cake.
We kept decor simple, yet classic with plenty of pops of holiday reds. The grand focal point was this floral arrangement that, in my opinion, exuded pretty cozy winter vibes don’t you think? Seriously, it’s going down as one of my favorite winter centerpieces I’ve created. Each lady’s sweater wasn’t just for spreading festive cheer, the best sweater was going home with these pretty flowers, and Amy’s awesome sweater dress of Mrs. Clause’s apron, fit with her glasses carefully stitched around her neck took these pretties home. It was seriously such a great Christmas sweater, but each lady just looked absolutely great in their fun sweaters!
We setup stations around fit with wrapping paper, ribbons and tags that had each child’s name listed. Once each lady selected a tag, we distributed the appropriate gifts for that specific child. And wow did the creativity roll, some made their own bags out of paper, created their own paper or wrapped boxes in tinsel garland. Each gift was sealed with a thoughtful card written by their special elf.
By the end of it, the tree was overflowing with perfectly wrapped gifts for 20 children! It was a fun time with all these girls, but what we all enjoyed the most was that we turned a pretty Christmas party into something that gives back, even if it was something as simple as gifting a foster child a gift.
No matter how busy, Cathia or I, were this holiday season there was no way we weren’t going to make time for this important cause, and we’re so glad we put together this festive christmas party!
Hopefully it inspires you to hold a fundraiser holiday party next year too!
Look at all these lovely ladies, and adorable babies, thank you so much for celebrating with us and all those who donated!!
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