Party Recap...

I created a tablescape for PROJECT SECRET SANTA. It is an idea put together by A Few of My Favorite Things to benefit Jack's Toy Drive in memory of Jackson Malia. In Danielle's words: Let me tell you a little bit about this special boy before I get into the details of how it works.Jack is the son of one of my fellow moms of multiples and triplet to Katie and Charlotte. He was born on October 11, 2007 at St. Barnabas Hospital in New Jersey. He and his sisters all weighed three pounds at birth, but while his sisters were released from the NICU after 4 weeks, Jack struggled. On November 13, 2007, he was airlifted to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, one of the leading children's hospitals in the country, and his family had high hopes they would be able to help him. Unfortunately, Jack continued to deteriorate, and on January 2, 2008 he passed away.

Jack spent Christmas 2007 in the hospital and his family was so touched by the fact that Santa came to visit their sweet boy and brought him some small gifts. In his memory, they started Jack's Toy Drive so they can do the same for other children who will wake up in hospitals this Christmas morning.Last year's toy drive gathered more than 200 toys (read about it here). This year, through PROJECT SECRET SANTA, AFOMFT would like to help Jack's Toy Drive top that number and we'd love to have you be a part of it! Here's how it will work.

Over the next few weeks, I'll be sharing recipes, craft projects and party planning suggestions to help you throw your own Secret Santa party. But instead of buying gifts for other guests, we're suggesting that you ask your guests to buy gifts to donate to Jack's Toy Drive. And you can do that two ways - Jack's Toy Drive has an Amazon Wish List of toys that can be purchased and shipped directly to the charity or you can collect your own - maybe ask everyone to bring a teddy bear or something else that fits in with your theme. If you live in the New Jersey area, Jack's Toy Drive culminates on December 11th with a Breakfast with Santa at the Bloomfield Fire House where you can come and drop off all of your donations. For AFOMFT readers who collect toys during PROJECT SECRET SANTA and live outside of the New Jersey area, I will provide pre-paid shipping labels so you can mail them to the Jackson Malia Fund to be distributed. Oh, and as if giving back isn't incentive enough, the reader who collects the most toys will win a $100 American Express Gift Card. How great is that?