Party for a cause!

When it comes to parties for my own kids - I'm one of two things - the worst Mom EVER and just do the minimum (and do THAT late!) - or I go completely overboard and make other moms growl for setting the bar too high.  For that, I do apologize.  Two of my kids had fall birthdays - and I'm just getting around to throwing something together now, in March.  Not because they don't deserve more - but because I just get distracted by ALL THE OTHER parties that I deal with daily!

In my defense, my youngest will turn seven in May, and I'm already planning that one.  Mostly because she's decided to do something so TOTALLY cool that I have no choice to get on THAT party train.  Jackie is passionate about cheetahs and has been her whole long life.  While researching cheetah conservation recently for a school project, she bumped into the Cheetah Conservation Funds website and noticed that other kids had donated birthday money towards the cause.  That was all she needed.  In spite of Jackie's tiny stature, she has never done ANYTHING little and this was obviously going to be no different.  Our initial conversation went something like this...

Jackie  " I want to have a party and everyone has to bring money for cheetahs instead of presents"

Mom "Cool!  Do you want to invite your whole class?"

Jackie "I want to invite the whole world.  I am going to raise more money than any other kid on that site"

Mom (nervously) "Well Jacks, about how many people are we talking about here?"

Jackie "I want to raise $7,000,000 - so allot Mom"

As a general rule, I don't try to limit my kids expections, but I felt like maybe we needed to set a more attainable goal for a six year old.  But even her scaled down goal was more than I could get my head around - which meant that it was going to require thinking outside the box.  And that's my speciality! 

If your kid comes to you with a similar idea - consider setting up a community page on Facebook with links to their charity.  (see below for our links!)  We checked out our charity with the Charity Navigator first to make sure that they use their funds in a responsible fashion.  We then set up a First Giving page - so that people can make donations directly to the charity and we can keep track of it. She's also asking every person she meets to help out! (thinking about a business card maybe?) And we are working on a fundraising /birthday event where we can invite a bunch of people.  We're still within a 24 hour window of starting this project, so there are allot more ideas to come.  If you have any, please feel free to share!  

If you are here because YOUR family has a birthday coming up - Happy Birthday!  Happy Planning!
If you would like to check out what Jackie is doing, click on these links!

Wild Jackie's Cheetah Chase
Jackie's Fundraising Page
The Cheetah Conservation Fund

And for help with planning your next party, check out 

Party Jumpers