Gratitude and giving back are on the top of our minds each holiday season. We’re trying to raise good humans here! When we announced a Momlando Playdate focused on a service project it was met with great cheers from families who had been looking to start traditions of giving back. We also heard from many of our friends who wanted to attend but couldn’t (the holidays are a busy time yall!) And so here we have for you, a how to plan a family service project! And remember, your community needs you all year long…feel free to use this any time.
The Project
Each family sorted, packed, and decorated a Thanksgiving food box for a family in need. Our playdate had ten families, so we were able to provide ten food boxes! Your family can decide how many boxes you’d like to pack. Or invite a group of friends over for your own playdate.
Choose a Cause
For our service project, our Thanksgiving boxes will be shared with young adult clients who are participating in IMPOWER‘s Village Transitional Housing Program. Most of these youth (ages 18-24) have aged out of foster care and have limited or no family ties and are working on achieving self-sufficiency.
Find a cause that speaks to you. Visit Charity Navigator to search for an organization near you and give them a call. Many local organizations collect food for families they serve and may have a list of items they’re collecting or other stipulations. They’ll also give you a deadline of when to have your food boxes in so that they can distribute them prior to Thanksgiving.
Make it Nice
We hosted our playdate at a local park so the kiddos could go play when they finished packing their box. We also had our favorite photographer, Jessica Connery Photography, on site to take family photos. Dadlando came up with this idea in hopes we could get our holiday card photos out of the way and avoid a whole photo session. Provide special snacks and drinks to your workers to keep up the pep in their step while they pack food!
What You’ll Need
Remember supermarket sweep? It feels just like that! My daughter had so much fun going with me to Costco and Publix to buy all the food supplies. Get creative on what you purchase. We tried to pack a few staple items in addition to traditional Thanksgiving foods. Each of our boxes included:
- 2 large cans of chicken breast
- 8 cans of vegetables (get an assortment)
- 1 can of cranberry sauce
- 1 box of stuffing
- 2 boxes of mashed potatoes
- 1 gravy mix
- 1 cake mix
- 12 cracker snack packs
- 1 jar of peanut butter
- 1 jar of jelly
- 1 box of pasta
- 1 can of tomato sauce
- 1 toothpaste
- 2 bars of soap
Note: If you’re hosting friends for a playdate, you could task each family with bringing a few items. Then everyone gets to take part in the supermarket sweep!
Get Creative
We used banker boxes to fill with food. Each family took time to decorate their box. We also had construction paper available for Thanksgiving cards to go in the boxes. The kids had a ton of fun coloring. And we loved the idea that each family who received the boxes will know how loved on and cared for they were.
We had a blast with this service project and know you will too. It’s easy to get your kids in the spirit of giving and start the holiday season with a joyful heart. Do you incorporate giving into your holidays? Tell us about it!
