How it Started
This project came out of an event we hold called “The Santa Social”. We organize activities, light refreshments, and other entertainment as well as a free picture with Santa and a present when you leave. It’s been so popular that we haven’t even needed to advertise to have all the spots filled both years we’ve held it. Argyle used to have a “Breakfast with Santa” event and due to various factors, it wasn’t able to continue but we kept hearing that people would love to see it come back. While we weren’t able to do a pancake breakfast, we wanted to bring back the festive event. In the spirit of the old event, we kept a few key components while planning the new one:
Santa, Argyle, giving, and free.
Last year, during the event, we had a mother come up and tell us how much she and her family enjoyed the activities. She explained that their family were not expecting to receive such a nice present at the end, and expressed concern that their family was taking up a spot for another family who could use those things more, even offering to donate some money to the event. This gave us the idea to target the event more towards families who might not have the means to get pictures with Santa or the means for many gifts to give.
One of the drawbacks of offering pictures with Santa is that it limits how many families we can invite. Santa can only physically take pictures with a certain number of kids during the 3 hour time frame of the event and so, we came up with a solution:
Two Santa Socials
One public:
With all the fun activities and events but without individual photos or gifts. Santa will walk around and mingle with kids during the event, rather than being restricted to taking individual photos.
One invitational:
With help from our local service groups and organizations like Investing in Children, London Intercommunity Health Center, London Public Library, and Family Center Argyle, we can invite those families who may not be able to buy many presents and help give them a memorable holiday experience by offering them pictures with Santa and a gift to take home.
Angel Trees
While we were trying to figure out the best way to plan the changes to the event, someone brought to our attention, “Angel Trees.”
Argyle Mall, when it was still a fully connected mall, used to do Angel Trees for the local community. We had a ton of folks reach out, wanting to get involved with the Santa Social when they heard about our idea to help out lower income families during the holiday season, and we thought this was a great way for people to support families in their own community.
Q: What is an Angel Tree?
A: Angel Trees are decorated with numbered paper Angel Tags with the first name, age and gender of a child in need. Sponsors remove one or more tags from the tree and purchase appropriate gifts for the child or children described on the tags.
HOW TO GET INVOLVED
We’ve partnered with Toys R Us in Argyle to set up an Angel Tree for our Invitational Santa Social. When you walk into Toys R Us, you will see a tree with angel tags. Pluck an angel (or two!) and shop for the child described on the tag. You will be directly supporting local Argyle families, and it’s really fun to go present shopping for kids (trust us, we’ve done a lot of it!)
STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE:
1. Go to Toys R Us at Argyle Mall after November 20th
2. Find the Angel Tree (it will be located at the front cash area, ask an employee if you can’t find it)
3. Pick an angel to sponsor, or two!
4. Go and pick out a present based on the information that’s written down about your angel. Presents should be around $25-$35
5. Pay at the cash and tell the cashier it’s a present for the Angel Tree and give them back your paper angel (you can sign your name or leave your gift as anonymous)
6. The cashier will keep the present for us at the BIA to collect and we’ll take care of the rest! We’ll wrap and address the presents
It’s as easy as that!
Thank you for your help in making the holidays a warm and welcoming time for as many families as possible, and we hope to see you and yours at our public event. We’ll be there with bells on!