articles

A Charitable Trend in Parties

By Jennifer Chasse August 27, 2015
There’s a new trend in children’s birthday parties that moms (and dads!) will love as much as we do.

Increasingly, elementary school-aged children are invited to parties with a charitable goal. Along with coming to celebrate at the party, guests are asked to bring donations to support a local charity. The birthday child chooses the charity, the guests choose items to bring, and the charity and community benefit.

To celebrate my daughter’s 10th birthday we hosted a party where she asked her guests to bring contributions to a weekend feeding program for low income children across the nation. Children leave school each Friday with a bag of child-friendly meals. My daughter sees classmates who benefit from these donations, and this makes hunger a real issue for her. She was so proud to collect the donations she did- in her case over 60 pounds of food!

My daughter is certainly not the only generous one.  In the past few years she’s been invited to other charitable parties. Animal shelters have been popular and she enjoyed picking out toys, food and treats for dogs in the pound and knowing that might cheer them up.

Parents will love seeing guests buy something that makes a difference in the community rather than another toy or trinket that their child does not need. And the birthday boy or girl will, too! You might be surprised to discover the satisfaction of helping will be just as enjoyable as a gift for your child.

Ready to plan a charitable party to support your community? Here are a few ideas to consider.
  • Book drives
  • Soap, toothpaste, shampoo and personal care items for local homeless and women’s shelters
  • Underwear, socks, diapers and/or pajamas for homeless and women’s shelters
  • Art supplies for local recreation and art programs
  • Toy & clothing drives to benefit local shelters and foster care programs
  • Backpacks for foster children
  • Jeans to benefit low income teenagers (used jeans are fine)
  • Care packages for the military
  • School supplies for low income students & schools
  • Food donations for pantries/feeding programs
  • Dog & cat food and supplies