Sponsored Kids Letters--St Patrick's Day!

I wrote to all of my sponsored kids this past weekend, and I wanted to do something different from snow, since I've probably written many snow-themed letters over the years... so I settled on... St. Patrick's Day!

I am not Irish, and I really never have celebrated this holiday in a very big way, but I decided there were some cool reasons to write about it: (1) I think it's nifty that America is made up of so many different nationalities, and that we can even celebrate a particular one all together. (2) I talked about needing to wear green so you don't get pinched--and the fact that I wear green almost all the time anyway, since it's my favorite color, so I'm usually OK even if I forget about the holiday. (3) I mentioned that we also wish each other "the luck of the Irish," and that I already consider myself very lucky to have them (the sponsored kids) as part of my extended family!

Complete with some shamrock-decorated paper, and personalized notes to each child, and it was a nice little letter!

For my American kids, I was thinking Valentine's Day. I found an absolutely adorable Valentine-making kit, which I supplemented with doilies and stickers. The toy store I got the kits from offers free gift wrapping all the time--they offered to wrap the kits with heart paper--which they did, and they PILED on the curly ribbon! I'm so excited to think of these kids with so little getting such a gorgeous package, and having the "stuff" to make fun Valentines for friends and family. I told them in a note to be sure and make special Valentines for their moms....

It's really much more fun writing letters now that I know I'm writing once per month. I can enjoy the process rather than feeling guilty because it's been so long since the last letter! The principal at my school has given me the go-ahead to form a second-Saturday letter-writing group for sponsors in our school community. I'm thinking we could all get together and pool resources like scrapbooking supplies and ideas. Hope I get some people interested in coming to it!