children

A new spin on an old idea

Growing up, I celebrated Halloween. My favorite Halloween costume was my Wonder Woman costume complete with Linda Carter’s face as my mask. I thought I was the girl because I had the gold bracelets on, so I thought I could block rocks that my cousin throw at me. The bracelets were not successful, but it was fun while it lasted.

As I mentioned to you all in some earlier posts, blessings are chasing me down and overtaking me and the latest blessing came in the form of an email from Maria Bailey. The name didn’t ring a bell initially until I went to her website that lists the books she wrote. Oh, my goodness, she wrote the book on Marketing to Moms and I read it this summer. After several clicks, I realize that she is an incredible business woman with websites like Blue Suit Mom and Smart Mom Solutions, as well as, this cool, helpful mom who was encouraging and flattering about hear daily finds at Dahgurl. From TV show (The Balancing Act on Lifetime) to radio show (Mom Talk Radio), Maria is my new Internet gurlfriend. What did we do before the Internet?

In our interview, we talked about one of her favorite charities-UNICEF. The program that she is really excited about this time of year is Trick or Treat for UNICEF. Maria explains how easy it is for the program to work with regardless of your schedule. “The kids don’t have to go door-to-door. They could just clean out the couch and clean out the car to get the change.” I agreed with Maria about how simple it is to use the UNICEF box to put a different spin on Halloween. My children don’t celebrate Halloween like I used to. I find that the gore, the witches/goblins/zombies to be unneccessary and too occult-like for me. The season has also become unsafe in many neighborhoods, so we just do the malls and the harvest parties at local churches. I actually don’t miss the gum/candy/jawbreakers, although the kids sometimes get a little antsy when others tell them about how much fun they had. I don’t see the purpose any more especially since I’m always preaching about healthy food choices/dental health/no sugar (I just got hip to this all natural, zero calorie sweetner called stivia…don’t use a lot and it doesn’t have the hyperactivity/taste addiction that sugar has. Still bake with sugar occassionally, but I’m looking into alternatives for that as well)/no soda (you have to drink water in ounces equal to half of your body weight i.e. you weight 150, you gotta drink 75 oz. of water a day). So why would I support a junk food day, actually a week or two since they get so much of the stuff? But this idea of trick or treating for a cause and you don’t even have to leave the house…that’s awesome!

Maria discusses how she had a feel good mom moment when her youngest daughter showed her her UNICEF box. ” My youngest daughter shows me how much money she collected and in her box was a $10 bill. I asked her where she got it from and she said my 13 year old daughter. When I asked my oldest daughter why she gave $10 from her birthday moment to UNICEF, she said “Mom, it’s for a good cause. You taught how far $10 can go for people in other countries.” Wow! I like the idea of teaching children about the rest of the world and showing children how they can make a difference. I’m sold! Thanks Maria for sharing with me this wonderful opportunity.

So, I’m asking all of you to consider ordering your FREE (no typo, FREE which is a lot cheaper than those costumes) box from UNICEF and turning your trick or treating season into something heartwarming and rewarding for you and your children. Maria noted, “No donation is too small. Challenge your children to empty out their drawers, their penny jars, where ever they find some spare change and don’t forget to the kit comes with lessons about character and philanthropy.” Please consider this new spin on an old idea and share it with your neighbors, your home school groups, your sororities (The website would like you to order at least 10, which is fine with me because I have 4 kids that will participate and I will ask my other girlfriend with 5 kids and we’ll just give one to someone else). What a difference those pennies can make. PLEASE, please email me if you decide to do this and I will share your experience at Dahgurl on November 1st. I would love some pictures to include as well. Thanks for listening and again thanks Maria for giving a reason for the season.

© 2006 DahGurl.