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I realize that every time I write a new blog post, I intuitively start every first draft with the word "PHEW!" Haha... but that's real life, right? A total whirlwind.
Well this whirlwind was more like a magical Christmas snow flurry - and while I am very very tired from the back-to-back large-scale fundraisers, I am SO glad we did this one! Christmas is my favorite holiday and it was about time we did something for it!
I had a few goals for this fundraiser - I wanted to create an event that:
would be FUN and memorable for families (especially those with young children)
would raise enough money to warrant the time and money used to create it
wouldn't require additional help to operate (unlike our Halloween event)
wouldn't kill me
We can talk about that last one later (haha), but let's get into the results!
GOAL 1: Fun & memorable for families
The driving principle behind my passion for design (I do theme park/immersive experience design professionally) is that families that have fun together and make memories together stay together. I have lasting memories of activities and things that I did with my parents as a toddler/young child that are precious to me. But now, as a mom with a young child, I know just how appreciated it is when someone else does all the planning for an activity and all I have to do as the mom is get us in the car and go to it.
That's what I wanted to create here. Something that was fun, worth getting in and then out of the car for, and maybe, just maybe... lasting-memory-making.
I'm pleased to report that the event seemed to have a little something for everybody: many small children stood transfixed while watching the train loop around, even for 5 minutes or longer. The older kids liked hunting for tiny details that I would challenge them to find (I think if we do this next year I want to focus on implementing more of those). Everyone enjoyed picking out "where they would live" in the Christmas village if it were real.
Some kids got so excited about the Peppermint Mickey and the little light-up candy canes in front - and I was happy that it made out to be a great photo op for small and large groups!
One my favorite moments from this event was when an older girl (maybe a pre-teen) got out of her car and ran up the driveway by herself to quickly look over the train village (which took her about 10 seconds). The rest of the family stayed in the car, I'm guessing they were going around looking at lights and this was one of many stops. I asked if she wanted me to turn on the snow for her and she looked very surprised. As soon as the snow started, her pace instantly slowed down and she started giggling and dancing around in it. Moments later the car parked and the whole family came out of the car with big smiles to come play in the snowfall. What could have been a very quick look-over turned into a full-fledged "happening" for their family.
The snow machine we used (this one from Amazon) really wow'd a lot of people and was one of the best things we could have had at our event! It made my heart so happy to watch the moment I'd see the moms (who I knew must have all been very tired at this time of year) genuinely smile because of their kids' dramatic reactions to the snow and take out their camera. I think some memories were made this holiday season and I truly couldn't be happier about that.
GOAL 2: Raise money for the campaign
Given that I once again did not have much time to advertise publicly (which happened the first time we did our Halloween event as well), I wasn't sure what the final turn-out would be like. But people came! In total we had 319 visitors to Damian's Christmas Village and everyone was incredibly kind and generous! I am SO grateful for everyone who came to support us.
Our final amount raised was $2,707.43!!
I'm still working on adjusting all the numbers on our GoFundMe so that it reflects all money raised for our campaign (not just GoFundMe money), but I think it's safe to say that this event has brought our overall total to over $1,110,000!! What a great number to reach by the end of the year!
And if you're curious about the 43 cents, there were a few children who came with their own wallets and were so excited to buy things at the bake sale with their own money. Talk about heart-bursting!!
GOAL 3: Volunteers not required
Like I said, this event had something for everyone, and there were a handful of people who came solely for the bake sale, even requesting their favorite bakes that had been available at our Halloween event!
My goal for this Christmas event was to design it in a way where I wouldn't have to ask people for operational help during a time of the year when everyone is so busy as it is. I didn't send out any kind of sign-up sheet for baked goods or event volunteers. I was planning on buying store-bought cinnamon rolls and churros and selling hot chocolate and cider and just keep it as simple as that.
And yet, my friends and neighbors showed up anyway with the most incredible baked goods to keep me stocked through each night that we were open. They just did it.
I can't say enough what that meant to me.
I am marking this goal as being met in the sense that most nights I was running it all by myself and it was totally manageable to do so. Woohoo! BUT wow, a lot of people helped make this possible. I couldn't have done this by myself.
Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who:
purchased items from the registry that I posted several weeks ago or donated money and gift cards to help pay for supplies - Damian's Christmas Village literally could not have been created without you!!!
generously lent me their own Christmas village collection, adding a LOT to what would have been a much simpler display (you know who you are, THANK YOU!!!)
came over to help paint, put up lights, and even take down things from Halloween I wasn't able to do by myself
came to help operate the bake sale and keep me company on some of the nights!!
watched and shared social media content to help spread the word
advertised our event to their friends, neighbors, and community circles
came to the event!!
This community we are growing has the highest caliber of people and I am so grateful to each of you!!! Thank you for being in my "village!"
GOAL 4: Stay alive
I'm not going to go too in-depth on this one right now - I'll talk more about this later when I go over our new goals for 2025. But ok, I'll admit, I did feel some burnout with the back-to-back-ness of finishing our Halloween event and then creating a big brand-new event to occur just several weeks later. I am alive though, so I'll give myself a C+ on this goal (and "C's get degrees" as they say)!
I am a very ambitious person and sometimes I have a tendency to put way too much on my plate, then feel like I'm failing if I don't get everything done (even if what I did get done is a lot) - so with that in mind, I am actually very proud of myself for simplifying and making adjustments throughout the building of this project in order to make the best project I could by a reasonable deadline: I pushed the original opening date I had in my mind back a week, and even then I didn't fully complete some of the things I wanted to. But instead of scolding myself for "failing" my original plan, I made a conscious effort to pat myself on the back for my ability to simplify my plan and make adjustments on the go in order to get the project done. For me, that's actually a big accomplishment. And actually... maybe I'll change my grade from C+ to B- just for that, haha!
Looking Forward
New Years Eve is a big day for making goals - and I've been giving my goals for 2025 a lot of thought (I'll share my campaign goals with you all very soon!). I hope that with the time you may spend this week or next on what self-improvements you can make, that you are also remembering that you are awesome now. If you are here, if you are reading this, I can say definitively that you are awesome now. For one thing, your 2024 self was one of my greatest blessings this year and I am so so so grateful for the love, the support, and the generosity you showed to my son, to me, and to our whole family.
I am forever grateful to your amazing 2024 self.
See you next year ;)
<3
