In the month of December, many parties are given in the Atrium of the World Bank MC building, most of them organized by various Bank departments. But one party is a special one, organized entirely by the volunteers of WBFN and intended to bring Bank families with children together to celebrate this festive time of the year.

The Children’s Holiday Party of December 6, 2008, was extremely successful. The MC Atrium filled up with over eight hundred participants, about half of whom were children. Fifty seven WBFN volunteers helped prepare, set up and manage this joyous event, and it was my pleasure to oversee the whole process.

We started the planning two months in advance, and all the while our concern was to put together activities which were guaranteed to put a smile on little faces. All the activities were planned and organized with that smile in mind. On the day of the Party, 20 of us gathered from morning itself, decorating the Christmas tree and the river with ducks and various other holiday decorations. While we were having lots of fun with the young volunteers, Ana Villacampa’s children, the Dinorock group was setting the stage with large Dinosaurs.

At around 1:30 pm, families began to arrive. By then we were all ready and waiting to welcome them with entertainment and food. The Dinorock puppeteers started their show at 2:30 pm with a wonderful performance by the Dinosaurs, a story about different places and cultures, and of course an explanation of the very large and prominent Bank ID’s that the dinosaurs were wearing. They kept the entire audience, adults as well as children, enthralled for a complete half hour. They continued with a very lively sing-a-long of holiday songs.

Meanwhile, the various activity tables of nail art, face painting, origami, clligraphy, make your own toy, magic, etc. were busy with older children lining up to experience each activity. They were all very popular and drew huge crowds. It was pleasant to watch the 4 and 6 year olds getting their nails and face painted by the 14 and 16 year olds. The best part of the activity tables was that they were managed by the teenagers. We also had a hair gel section which was giving makeovers. We did get to see some very funky hair styles. Tien Comlekoglu gave a very interesting magic performance with his sister.

The raffle tickets also sold well and we had three winners. Proceeds from the raffle and the entry fee for children were used to contribute Christmas gifts for troubled teens through the charity Children’s Law Centre. (details on our website, www.wbfn.org).

The highlight of the afternoon was the visit by Santa Claus. I can still remember the moment when the children first realized that their favorite Santa was among them. The expression of awe was wonderful to see. All the little ones got their pictures taken with Santa and also wrote out wishes for the not so fortunate children of the world for Santa to take a look. The whole afternoon passed by in a blink. It was time for us to pack up and every one was getting ready to leave. The little ones were looking forward to their naptime, exhausted and happy.

I want to take this opportunity to thank the families for their generous donation of new toys, which WBFN subsequently delivered to the charity Toys for Tots, and all the volunteers for their invaluable time and dedication in making this event so successful. If you missed out this time, see you next year.

Swati Srivastava