Description: Party with a Purpose is an opportunity to gather young adults with a common mission of serving those in need while building community with a fun party!
Get Ready
- Prep Time: Begin preparing one to two months in advance. On the day of the event, plan for one to two hours of setup time.
- Volunteers Needed: A few leaders would be helpful when coordinating this event. You will also need young adults to volunteer to purchase gifts for families in need — the number will depend on how many families are identified to receive gifts. Think about the number of regulars in your young adult ministry and what gift contribution they can handle. You don’t want to create a financial burden for young adults, but you do want to encourage generosity.
- Supplies: Provide gift-wrapping supplies (paper, tape, scissors, bows) or find someone to donate those materials. You will need plates, napkins, plasticware, etc. for the meal. If you are providing food, be sure to order that in advance. You may alternatively ask young adults to bring a potluck dinner and refreshments. Provide nametags to help the young adults get to know one another.
- Reserve the Space: Reserve a room large enough for the number of young adults participating. You will need several long tables for gift-wrapping stations and a table for food and drinks.
- Ideal Group Size: Five to 50 young adults, depending on the number of families in need identified to receive gifts.
- Who is this for? All young adults, including young families with small children of their own. (Younger children might like to help pick out gifts for other children.)
- When is a good time for this? A Saturday morning during Advent or a weeknight.
- Publicize the Program:
- Use pulpit announcements and bulletin inserts to publicize the event at the parish.
- Send out an e-mail invitation to young adults and set up a Facebook event.
- You will want to provide a way for young adults to RSVP in advance so you can communicate with them about gifts to be purchased for the families. The Facebook event will work well for this. Once you know who is participating, a shared Google Doc might be a convenient way to let young adults know what gifts they need to purchase to be wrapped.
- Brainstorm a creative hashtag to use on social media to spread the word about the event.
Prayer for Program Planner: Loving God, as we begin preparing to be your hands in this world, grant us the peace to know your will and the courage to serve those in the greatest need. Be our guide and keep us always in your path. Amen.
Community Building: This program encourages young adults to give to those in need while providing an opportunity to grow with one another also. The gift-wrapping evening is a social experience for the young adults and includes sharing a meal. Purchasing the gifts can be done in pairs or small groups to encourage one-on-one relationship building within the group.
In Advance of Event
- Identify families in need of assistance during the Advent and Christmas seasons. Families should be able identify one to two gift items for each family member and/or a large family gift item to benefit the whole family.
- Begin this process at least one month in advance of the event. Think about how many young adults might participate and identify enough families to purchase gifts for.
- You might work with your St. Vincent de Paul Chapter to identify families in need.
- Set the date for your event — this will be the date by which all gifts should be purchased.
- Be sure you have reserved the room at least one month in advance.
- Share the list of items (wish list) with the young adults participating in the event.
- Have each young adult “adopt” a family member by purchasing the item(s) for that family member.
- Items should be purchased no later than the event date and brought to the event in order to be wrapped.
- Divide young adults into groups of two-five and assign potluck items for dinner (i.e., Group 1 brings beverages and desserts; Group 2 brings chips and dips; Group 3 brings main dishes, etc.
- An alternative to the above potluck would be to ask volunteers to bring money for pizza and drinks.
- Before the event, purchase gift-wrapping supplies or suggest that young adults provide their own.
Day of Event
- Set up the space with several gift wrapping stations: scissors, tape, and gift wrap on each table to be shared among volunteers.
- Set up refreshment tables with plates, cups, napkins and plasticware.
- Provide nametags for young adults to wear.
- Set the atmosphere with holiday music and/or decorations.
Event Timeline
- Welcome everyone. Consider including a simple ice breaker.
- Say a prayer for the families you have purchased gifts for.
- Eat dinner.
- Gift wrap.
- Suggestion: If more than one family is being served, have collection bins available to sort wrapped items. Be sure to label the items once wrapped so that parents know to whom the items belong.
- Say a closing prayer and commence cleanup.
Follow-Up
- Designate young adults to deliver wrapped items to the families or to the St. Vincent de Paul representative.
- Send thank you notes to the young adults who participated with interesting facts about the good work done by all (i.e., “Ten families served 150 gifts for children, 30+ hours of service.”)
- Include an evaluation in the thank you note to request feedback on ways to improve the experience the following year.
Ideas
- Invite a representative from St. Vincent de Paul to come speak to volunteers about the work they are doing in the community.
- Ask a local craft or gift store to donate the gift wrapping supplies.
- After identifying the family (or families) in need, ask if a date could be arranged to deliver the items directly to that family during Advent (one family member collecting the items would be appropriate). This extension will provide an opportunity to directly interact with the family that has been helped.
- Offer the families in need the chance to be adopted by the wider parish community. Have the parishioners drop off the gifts and the young adults will wrap them as a service to the community.
Help
- St. Vincent de Paul
- Catholic Charities
- Christmas Angel Tree, part of the Salvation Army outreach
