This past weekend, Paris Jewellers had the opportunity to host an event at Millennium Place in Sherwood Park, Alberta as a part of our sponsorship partnership. You can visit the Paris Jewellers Gymnasium when you spend time at this amazing recreation multi-plex, but this event was a bit different, and made a lasting impact on the Paris Jewellers team!
We knew we wanted to connect with the community in Sherwood Park in a fun and unique way, and came up with the idea for a “KIDS ONLY Pop Up Shop!” The premise behind a pop-up shop is to create a store environment (or restaurant, or salon…lots of pop up’s out there!), where people can shop in a unique space that you have brought to them.
Our twist was that this would be for children only! An opportunity for kids to choose their own presents for their moms (or any special woman in their lives) for Mother’s Day! Parents or caregivers would purchase “bling bucks” for their kids, and then the kids were allowed to come into the store and pick…all by themselves!
The Paris Jewellers team, who all volunteered their time to see this project come to fruition, were thrilled and deeply impacted by these little people – beaming with pride that they were able to pick something very special out, have it wrapped, and then lovingly make a “sparkle card” (lots of bling at the Paris Jewellers card-making station of course!).
Some children brought up their gifts shyly, with sweet smiles, sharing that, “purple is my mom’s favourite colour”, and then some kids thrust their choices into our hands, telling us to “wrap this fast so my mom doesn’t see!”
We asked kids, what did they love most about their mom? And were met with the sweetest answers: “she loves me”, to “she takes care of me and my brother”, “I love everything about her”, and “she is so pretty”. Our hearts were bursting with happiness all day!
When talking with parents, we received amazing feedback! That their kids were very excited to participate, they loved making “sparkle cards”, and that this concept worked really well for all family types. Single moms mentioned that this was the first time they would actually be surprised, and not have to buy their own mother’s day present! Father’s shared that they were grateful to have an opportunity to make this a fun event for their children. We even had amazing co-parenting families who were beautifully inclusive with their kids, choosing for moms and step- moms. Plus it was very important to us that a portion of all proceeds would go towards the “Everybody Gets To Play” initiative through Strathcona County – an amazing program giving recreation opportunities to low income families.
The Paris Jewellers team all wore t-shirts that said “it’s a great day to be happy!”, and that sentiment couldn’t have been more true. Thank you to everyone who participated, we are truly grateful to have shared this experience with you, and can’t wait to do it again!