Holiday House Helps Kids Shop

Kindergartners head to the checkout station Monday in the Holiday House at Bellview Elementary in Rogers after shopping for gifts. The temporary gift shop held in the school’s gym is hosted annually by the Parent Teacher Association.
Kindergartners head to the checkout station Monday in the Holiday House at Bellview Elementary in Rogers after shopping for gifts. The temporary gift shop held in the school’s gym is hosted annually by the Parent Teacher Association.

Kids are the ones playing Santa at the Bellview Elementary School Holiday House.

Kindergartner Lexie Brooks bought presents for mom and dad on Monday, but she also got a mouse and ball for the family cat.

“Louie’s just gonna freak out,” Lexie said as a parent volunteer wrapped the gift in candy-striped paper and tied on a tulle bow.

Stocked with stuffed animals and footballs for classmates, gloves for dad and gift bags for mom the Holiday House is a service project of the Bellview Parent Teacher Association. Parents set up and staff the holiday shopping center in the school gymnasium, and students come armed with a list and their shopping money.

At A Glance

What Is It?

The Bellview Holiday House opened Saturday during the school’s Breakfast with Santa event and will be open through Thursday. Parent volunteers staff the shop. The event is a service project of the Bellview Parent Teacher Organization.

Source: Staff Report

Volunteers wrap the gifts before the students head back to the classroom.

Fifth-grader Aaron Gray shopped for 10 people on his list. One of them will get a big, green stuffed alligator, Aaron said.

Shopping at the Holiday House makes it easier to find things than a big box store, said fifth-graders Hannah Coffman and Sophie Alaniz.

“It’s cheaper,” Hannah said.

“I got a million things,” Sophie said.

This year is the biggest so far, Sophie said.

Thirty-five tables lined the gym filled with toys, Christmas decorations and gifts.

“When it first started it was very, very small,” said Jaci Uecker, co-chairwoman of the Bellview Parent Teacher Association Holiday House committee.

“We keep adding tables,” said Jenny Baker, co-chairwoman.

The idea is to make Christmas magical for the children, Uecker said. Bellview has had the program for about nine years. Catalog sales or a third-party holiday sale would be less personal. Running their own sale allows them to be flexible, Uecker said.

It also involves a lot of volunteers. The group set up tables and set out merchandise starting Wednesday for a Saturday morning open. Shopping for next year’s Holiday House starts as soon as Christmas is done. Discounted items are housed in the PTA’s storage unit. Pricing items started in September. Most items average between 25 cents and $5. Proceeds from the event go back into next year’s house.

“We shop year round — just anything that’s on sale,” Uecker said.

For children, Holiday House offers independence, said parent Lori Long. Her children are excited to give her a gift they picked by themselves.

“To me, it’s extremely special when my child hands me that bag,” Long said.

Without Holiday House, mom would probably be the one picking out the gift, said parent Kerri Fleming. Her children accidentally bought each other Silly String last year and laughed about it.

“It’s more secret,” Fleming said of the gift-buying process.

Principal Dan Cox said every child gets to shop and that ensures every child has a Christmas. Children who don’t have enough money to shop are sponsored by the Parent Teacher Organization.

“It gives us a low-cost opportunity for every single child or family,” Cox said.

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