Our first adoption fundraiser event was a success!
We had 13 precious children in our care -- lots of them very young. The ages were as follows: 13 mos., 14 mos., 15 mos., 19 mos., 21 mos., 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 6, 7, & 8.
The kids had a blast together, and everyone was happy, well fed, and in their pjs when their parents came back for them.
Anna-Lise and Andy and I had fun, too. And we slept very good that night. :)
We were blessed with $230 to add to our adoption fund that night. Amazing!
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If you're thinking of doing a similar event, and want some ideas, here is how we approached it....
When parents arrived, we asked them to fill in a large sign-in sheet on the wall. This made for easy reference for caregivers.
Here are a few of the notes. (Insightful parents, no? ;)
'official animal guy'
'director of play :)'
'likes to escape'
'drama!!! :)'
'all boy...can be rough, but sweet, too'
'very LOUD!!!'
'sweet 'n sassy'
'a biter :('
We had a schedule, which we followed pretty closely.
We served a meal that was healthy, easy, and could be changed up to accomodate food allergies or picky kiddos. In short, everyone was happy and well fed by the time we left the table.
lunch meat, cheese, veggies & hummus, avocado, grapes, watermelon, etc.
We followed dinner with a healthy dessert -- Dreyers fruit popsicles (no corn syrup, food dye, etc.) The kids didn't know the difference! :)
After everyone was cleaned up and in their pjs, we dimmed the lights and turned on Shaun the Sheep. If you haven't seen Shaun the Sheep, you are missing out! The youngest to the oldest all watched with interest. We picked up this dvd for $5 at Target. We're going to wear it out. (Also on Netflix.)
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If you're interested, our next Parents' Night Out will be Friday, July 8. :)
11 comments:
Thanks again...if you do another one after July 8, please let us know. We'll be out of town next week. :(
Hi Kim. We will! We're hoping to do this 2 - 3 more times before our baby comes home. :)
We'd love to participate in the next one! We were just home from vacation that day, so it wouldn't have worked - it looked like you had your hands full though! :) What a great idea for a fundraiser!
Wonderful! For you. For your future and for the parents of these bambinos. Oh, and the kids. SOOOO cool.
One observation: Your sign in chart included a question: Food Allergies. I find that interesting. Good but limiting. What about "Allergies" E.g., to anything EXCEPT food - as in my wasp allergy or bees or spiders or cats or.... you know - anything else. I'm thinking that food allergies are a big deal to you and biased your question (that is the researcher in me) - LOL! I mean, it isn't funny but very interesting to an outsider. I'm smiling WITH you - not at you. Not sure this post is coming across right/nicely..........as intended.
I am stealing this idea soon! I just want that darn official approval, then we're going to start offering them too. I think it's such a great idea, and I love your schedule and chart. So cool!
Steal away, Jamie. I hope it works out great for you!
LOL Katie - you are so right! The food allergies are such a big deal around here that they are the first to come to mind. But next time it totally makes to just write 'Allergies'. :)
very interesting, thanks
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