A happy day is in the bag

We're one week away from Thanksgiving (yikes!) and I am hearing news that a local city council just voted to eliminate their annual donation to a very busy food bank. I'm not going to get into the politics of it all because that's not my thing. Instead, the news and its juxtaposition to the biggest eating day of the year made me think today might be a good time to share a story and extend an invitation to bring some cheer to people in your community.

The Story

In November of 2008, as the economy was tanking big time, our church did a "40 Days of Community" thing. We collected ourselves into groups based on where we live and were charged with coming up with a way we could serve our community for 40 days. Why only 40 days? I have no idea. Ask Rick Warren.

Rob and I happen to live not far from two super fun families that attend our church, so we quickly banded together and went about coming up with super fun community service ideas. I don't remember any of them now, although I suspect I floated the idea of picking up trash along public roads. I like things neat and tidy so when I take walks, the trash annoys me like any good indoctrinee into Woodsy Owl's Give a Hoot mission. So, yes, picking up trash is super fun to me but I know not to everyone. It's ok, I own my weirdness.

The service project we eventually landed on was an idea brought to us by Pam. She had heard there was a high school girl who had done this project for her Girl Scout badge thingy.  But when the girl left to go to college, the project went with her. So, yeah, we totally stole the idea. Which is why I can say without any fear of boasting that I think the idea is pure brilliance. So brilliant and well-received, in fact, we have continued our charge well past Rick Warren's 40 days. Six years past, to be exact.

The Project

Food banks serve an obvious purpose to help families put food on their table. But often, there's not a lot of fun extra stuff available among the staples. Especially for kids. And especially around birthday time.

So the brilliant idea...that was not ours...was to put together what we call "Birthday Bags" for kids whose families are clients of our local food bank.

Each Birthday Bag includes all the items needed for a birthday party: cake mix, frosting, candles, balloons, streamers, plates and napkins, etc. We also include some small age-specific toys for three different age groups.

We want to be thorough (yes, there are spreadsheets involved in this project), so we also create little packets of the needed vegetable oil for the cake mix (yay, food saver gadget!).

We make the oil bags by sealing 3 sides and then filling it with the correct amount of oil.
We bought the pump topper and discovered 3 pumps equals 1/3 cup.  That was a happy day.

Once the oil is in the bag, we seal it up and write in the quantity.
We aim to be full service.  

We have also worked out an arrangement with a local grocery store for the eggs (yay big chains with big hearts!). We pre-buy the eggs and then include a receipt and a homemade "coupon." The party giver simply takes both to the store to redeem them for a "free" 6-pack of non-organic eggs (we have recently had to specify the non-organic part; signs of the times).

Ok, the cat's out of the bag.  It's Safeway.  They are awesome!

Our group of 6 bag assemblers -- sometimes more with houseguests and such -- gets together one evening per month. We rotate who hosts. The host is responsible for contacting the food bank to find out how many bags they need, doing the shopping, and providing a group dinner. We typically put the bags together first and then enjoy a fun, laugh-filled, gratitude-infused dinner together -- always especially mindful that night how fortunate we are to be gathered around a table of food.

Over the years, we have settled into our own tasks. Rob and Jerry make the oil packets. Cathy and Pam assemble the gallon Ziploc baggies of candles, plates, napkins, balloons, streamers, and banners. Another Rob and I write the ages on the bag tags, staple the egg coupons to the bags, and fill the bags with the goodies. Then one of us with an available SUV delivers the bags to the food bank the next day. We've gotten pretty efficient at it and these days the whole process usually takes less than an hour.

Assembling plates, napkins, and streamers for the Ziploc Bag o' Fun

Lots of counting!  

The Ingredients

Each gift bag (purchased at Dollar Tree for, you guessed it, just $1!) is filled with the following:

• 1 box of cake mix (we like Pillsbury cake -- often but not always yellow)
• 1 can of frosting (Funfetti is our favorite because it's...FUN! and FETTI!)
• 10 plates in a fun color (blue, red, purple, yellow, green)
• 10 napkins in a fun color
• 1 streamer roll in a fun color
• 10 balloons (we've learned Dollar Tree balloons contain a lot of icky brown and black ones so we buy elsewhere)
• 1 Happy Birthday banner
• 5, 12, or 18 candles depending on the bag
• 1 bottle of bubbles (because you are never too old for bubbles)
• 1 packet of carefully measured vegetable oil (thank you, Jerry and Rob!)
• 1 receipt and homemade coupon for 6 eggs (thank you, Safeway!)
• 1 homemade card wishing the birthday kid a very happy birthday (thank you, Hallmark software!)
• 2 age appropriate toys (coloring book and crayons for the young kids; a bouncy ball and a can of Play-Doh for the grade schoolers; and a pack of gum and a deck of cards for the teenagers)

Ziploc Bag o' Fun!

The Numbers

Through some early trial and error with the fine folks at the food bank, we have found that a full batch of bags is 30 bags: 10 bags for kids ages 1-5; 12 bags for kids ages 6-12; and 8 bags for kids ages 13-18. We do most of our shopping at the Dollar Tree, Winco, and Wal-Mart, always to curious looks and sometimes the occasional brave question...often along the lines of "That's gonna be one heck of a party! Can I come?"

We average about $9 per bag, although it can vary with sales and such (cake mix is currently on sale at Winco for just 88 cents, for instance!). Accountants have told us that, with receipts, the expenditures can legitimately be considered a tax-deductible donation. Or it can just be an anonymous, undocumented donation. Totally up to the donor.

The Invitation

Genius, right? I mean, the bag is a gift to both the parent and the child. When money and food are tight, the thought of not being able to throw your child a birthday party is probably one filled with great regret and sadness. Although the cake and frosting are not particularly healthy, I am certain they go a long way to nourishing the heart and spirit of the birthday family. Likewise the bubbles.

So my friends and Rob and I have one food bank covered. That's it, just one...in one town in one county in the green, damp state of Washington. I can only assume there are a least a couple of other (thousand) food banks out there that would love to make room for lots of birthday-parties-in-a-bag.

In this season of giving thanks and giving gifts and giving help, I invite you to seriously consider contacting a local food bank to see if they would be interested in offering some birthday bags on their shelves along with the rice and soup and peanut butter. Then find some fun, like-hearted friends, organize yourselves, and get ye to filling up those carts to the bewilderment of all your fellow shoppers.

And be sure to give thanks.