Hop It Forward

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of World Market.

For several years now, my husband and I have discussed different ways we would be able to teach our children about helping others. In November we took them to the Central Florida Children's Home to meet the 15 foster kids that live there and show them the office remodel project we helped complete for Share The Joy (you can read about that here). They asked tons of questions about why the kids were there and why we were helping. It was a great teaching experience. We regularly go through their clothes and toys and donate ones they've outgrown to kids who might not have any. They frequently ask, "can I get a garbage bag and fill it up to donate?" Their motivation might be making room for new toys for themselves, but I think we're making progress. :) And, when they're old enough, we'd love to take them to serve a Thanksgiving dinner at a local shelter and teach them that not everyone can just grab a snack out of the fridge whenever they're tummy grumbles. We're trying our best be make them aware of people and organizations in need, and that no matter how small they think they are, they are capable of helping and should.

This week I was thrilled to have the opportunity, thanks to Hop It Forward from World Market, to help another group in need; Nemours Children's Hospital. 

Nemour's mission is

"To provide leadership, institutions, and services to restore and improve the health of children through care and programs not readily available, with one high standard of quality and distinction, regardless of the recipient's financial status."

Such a great hospital doing such great things for sick kids. My idea was simple. Shop at World Market for adorable Easter baskets, books, toys, and a little candy and deliver them to kids who won't get to be home for Easter. And that's exactly how I explained it to my kids. "Not everyone is well enough to be home for the Easter Bunny like you guys, so we're going to make some baskets and bring them to the kids at the hospital." They were all about it!

First we shopped til we dropped. I'm not going to lie. World Market isn't the easiest place to shop with a 6-year-old and 4-year-old, but I prepped them before entering the store and gave them each a mission. "You're going to find 4 girl baskets and toys and you're going to find 4 boy baskets and toys". (I also bribed them with cookies and gave them a few mom stares... hey, whatever works).

They each picked out these adorable felt baskets from the Easter section. I love the duck one!

Then they we chose a different Golden Book to go in each one. Did you know World Market sells Golden Books? I remember my dad reading The Poky Little Puppy to me and my siblings so many times when we were little that he would try to skip pages to make it shorter. But since we had the story memorized we'd make him start over. haha!

We rounded out the baskets with a few small toys, fans, and candy. Then we came home and began assembling.

I'd love to say that they were 100% thrilled with giving everything away to the Nemours kids, but they are 4 and 6. Let's be honest, they wanted some of the chocolate for themselves. It took some reminding that the Easter Bunny was coming to our house in a couple weeks and they would get some of their own candy and toys. 

They eventually got into it. Toy airplane: check!

And in just a few minutes the baskets were ready.

On Friday morning I dropped them off to a very happy hospital coordinator who let me know they would be giving these out to the kids at the Easter party they had planned. A party that was taking place thanks to donations like mine. While I wasn't allowed to take any pictures of the kids (totally understandable) we did load the baskets up in one of their many lobby wagons and I got a shot of that in their outdoor garden.

If just one kid spending Easter here is a little happier thanks to our baskets, our mission was successful. :) Happy Easter kiddos!

So now comes the time when I challenge you to spread some random acts of "hoppiness". What can you do? Head over to World Market's Hop It Forward Sweepstakes here. Each day they'll share their favorite Random Acts of Hoppiness with you and you can enter for a chance to win a $2,000 World Market gift card and a year’s supply of Divine Chocolates.