A playdate for a cause?

lincoln64

Hi - I have a 4 year old son and I'm trying to teach him about giving back and I thought the holidays were a perfect time to start a charitable tradition.  I'd eventually like to volunteer somewhere with him, but I feel like this year he may be a bit young to really "get it."  I was thinking instead of having a playdate w/ about 10 of his preschool friends and having them each bring a can good that we can donate to our local food pantry.  My idea was to host the playdate at our local indoor jumpy place and I'd pay for each child's ticket, however all of the parents can bring a can good as their child's "entrance fee".  My son and I could then donate our collection.  What do you guys think?  If you were invited to a playdate like this, would you find it weird or a good idea?

groovygrl

i had posted about this recently also...last year I started having the kids collect the toys & books in good condition that they no longer play w/ and we leave them out on xmas eve in a big bag for santa to take to other kids who dont have many toys... they have also gone with me to goodwill to drop various things off & this year their school and my work were doing a canned good collection so I took them to the grocery store with me and picked out things together, talked about people who may not have as much to eat as we do, and got a bunch of stuff, had them help me separate it out into the bags to donate and then put them in the donation boxes at school. As pp said, i am just trying to model behavior & involve them and hope for the best.

The first time we tried to get the food to donate at the grocery store my dd had a meltdown about it, didn't want to buy food for other people, didn't really understand it etc....it was pretty terrible but after talking about why it is important to help other people, I sort of let it drop & she actually brought it up several days later & told me she'd like to go get some food to donate... so that made me feel better & realize it takes time for them to wrap their heads around these types of concepts.

I like your idea and know sometimes people do that for bday parties in lieu of gifts but I think it would be more effective at an older age.

mommymegan831

Luhdashuh said:

I think this would be confusing. What are you teaching him about giving if he's getting a party in return? 

good point

groovygrl

Also pp there is a website called volunteer match where you can look for opportunities in your area and it says if it is good for kids and what age, some are simple donations but LO could participate. I actually think the play date i,dea is not bad but wouldn't make it a party or something, just a play date and maybe you could do giving activities, canned goods, letters to troops, maybe you can find some ideas online.

meg1974

I can sort of see PP's post about it being confusing, but I didn't see it that way when I first read your idea. My only concern about it would be the money you're spending at the bouncy house place vs. what you are collecting in donations. Canned goods are so cheap, and those bouncy houses are expensive so I don't know if it would make financial sense to do that. 

For DD"s bday party, we asked people to donate to a kids' charity instead of buying a gift. 

I don't think there is anything wrong with having a play date where people bring donations though. Could you do it at your house so the costs are minimal? You could also have a used clothes drive, etc.