Birthday Card Program

Today’s guest blogger is Jenn, mother of Henry, Walter, and Katie, who are the volunteers behind the GiGi’s Playhouse New Orleans Birthday Card program. 

How did you hear about GiGi’s Playhouse?  

We heard about GiGi’s playhouse when my friend Lory began volunteering there. She set up an info booth at our church to spread the word, give volunteering opportunities, and she even gave us a wonderful book about the unique ways God makes each of us. I appreciated learning about all the different things GiGi’s Playhouse offers for the Down syndrome population. 

How did you get involved making birthday cards? 

When I visited the GiGi’s booth at my church, I told Lory that I didn’t have the capacity to physically volunteer at GiGi’s, but if she ever thought of anything I could do at home, with the help of my kids, to let me know. She soon contacted me with the idea for my kids and me to make and decorate birthday cards. We were thrilled!  

What is your card-making process? 

We get out our list of the birthdays for the month, our box of assorted cards, stamps, address labels, and markers/stickers/art supplies. My kids love to choose their first card to make for a child that’s their age or gender. They’ll write and decorate the card, I’ll check it, and they’ll seal it up and give it to me to address it. My kids are ages 6 (Henry), 4 (Walter), and 3 (Katie) so they have different ability levels with writing & drawing. My youngest usually scribbles on a couple cards that I’ll write on and add to. It’s just so fun for us! As we do the cards, we chat about the kids and their ages and what they may be like, what they’d like to see a picture of on their card. We pray for them, either after we make the cards, or on another occasion, for God to bless all the precious children and adults with Down syndrome in our city and state, that He would take care of their needs and give them and their families peace and joy.

Anything else you would like to say to our readers? 

We are grateful for the small chance to brighten someone else’s day. We are super blessed by it. We hope we can meet some of the card recipients someday!