What Is a Giving Party?

You’ve probably been invited to at least one “sip and shop” party in your life. You know, drink wine, look at candles/jewelry/clothing/cookware/marital aids, and purchase stuff that you may or may not want or need. We love a good candle/outfit/fry pan as much as the next gal, but we thought perhaps we could put an interesting twist on this shopping party concept and do a little good in the world at the same time.

So we gathered up some fun, creative, do-gooder friends and launched Giving Party in November of 2007. The idea is simple. Invite all of your friends to attend a party, serve wine and tasty food, and ask representatives from favorite local, national and international charities to share the good their organizations do. Guests can make a donation to any or all of the organizations (or use the party as a reminder to give to their own favorite charitable organization…the point is just to give and have fun doing it!). The guests then share this “alternative gift” with a loved one, making the donation in their honor. We provide pre-printed Giving Party gift cards to each guest (they’re welcome to take as many as they want) so they can pass the gift of giving on to others.

Our overall goal is to make giving easy. We provide laptops at the party so guests can give online, or they can write a check to the individual charities represented. Giving Party gifts make excellent teacher gifts, grandparent gifts, or “what in the world do I give my mother-in-law who has everything” gifts. Several guests did quite a bit of their holiday shopping at the Giving Party last year—no long lines at the mall, no gift wrap . . . just fun giving!