Comfort Kits

Event Description

Your team will get a good night's sleep knowing they helped children in need get the same with these comfort kits. Sadly, most children who are homeless or placed into foster care have what few belongings they possess in a plastic bag. In this event, teams participate in challenges to earn a bag, that will give dignity back to this child, as well as comfort items, such as a stuffed animal, a bright and colorful blankie and books that they can call their own. Your group can even add a personal touch by decorating these items.

As guests arrive to the event they'll be invited by the emcee to take a seat at any table. Here, they'll be encouraged to introduce themselves to their tablemates who have now become their teammates for the next hour.

Each table is pre-set with fleece material, scissors, and directions on how to make a no-sew fleece blanket. They'll also find an envelope. The emcee explains that inside the envelope, teams will find 3 separate challenges. Teams must be successful at the challenges to earn the supplies to complete their comfort kits. Challenges encourage the attendees to work together in a fun way that promotes discussion and the sharing of childhood memories.

One challenge is a printed piece with partial images of the covers of popular children’s books. For example, can you name the title of the book with the image you see here? Of course, it's The Giving Tree. Once teams fill in all the book titles they take their completed sheet to the table specified on the handout. If correct, the team will be given six books and a supply of blank bookmarks to be decorated and ribbon to tie around the books for a festive presentation. Using ribbon makes the books look fun but doesn’t obscure the titles ensuring that age-appropriate books are given to the recipients.

Another challenge has teammates working together to find and cross out all the words in a word search. Words such as kindness, caring, and compassion focus on the charitable nature of the event. Once all the words are found, attendees string together the leftover letters to reveal a secret phrase. When they say that phrase to the staff at the designated table, they will receive the bags for their comfort kits. These bags can be decorated with the fabric markers that are provided for each table.

The final challenge is twofold. The first task is for each team to talk as a group about their favorite childhood toys and then list everyone’s name and favorite toy in the spaces provided. There is only one rule – no toy can be listed more than once. The second part of this task is to answer a series of toy trivia questions. For example, "According to a Yale University study, which toy's scent ranks 18th among the 20 most recognizable to American adults?"" The correct answer is a crayon. When teams present their answers to the staff and have a minimum number correct, they earn stuffed animal "skins" and fluff as well as "adoption certificates" to go with the stuffed animals.

Attendees will have a great time working with their colleagues to prepare these comfort kits to brighten the faces of children in need.

Inclusions

• Set, strike and delivery of an event for teams of 10 participants
• Procurement and preparation of all comfort kit donation supplies
• DJ to provide microphone for emcee and background music throughout the event
• 3 Comfort Kits per table of 10 participants to include:
• One large zippered tote bag (20"W x 16"H x 6"D, 80 gm Non-Woven Polypropylene Bag with Zipper Closure)
• One 16" stuffed animal "skin" (choose all teddy bears or a variety of different animals) with zipper closure, stuffing, and printed adoption certificate to be filled in by attendee. Stuffed animals are ASTM-F963 safety certified.
• One no sew fleece blanket consisting of one print fleece and one solid color fleece (48 x 60 each)
• Two books and two bookmarks
• 2-3 pairs of socks and underwear
• Supplies for all activities including scissors and instructions for no sew blankets, fabric markers for bags, regular markers for bookmarks, ribbon, etc.
• Delivery of completed comfort kits to a local non-profit serving homeless children or children entering the foster care system
• Professional event leader to emcee and organize the event
• Event assistants to set up and strike the supplies and assist teams
• Equipment and supplies for all challenges including graphic design, printed materials, writing utensils, etc.

Additional Event Information

Note:  Based on event location and group size, event details may differ slightly from above description