Macy's Celebration of Caring

Every year, I go to this event at our little Macy's. I say "little" because it must be one of the smallest Macy's stores in existence. We are a small town, although we serve one of the largest counties in Oregon. Pretty much anyone that decides to open a chain store or restaurant here figures out maybe they should have made it a little bigger... Case in point, we still have a K-Mart!

This event takes place the Monday before Thanksgiving. It's put on by the United Way, which I typically don't support because I don't like what happened with them in California when I worked with disabled people who relied on United Way support. If you don't recall, it had to do with the administration of the non-profit organization squirreling away a LOT of money for themselves.

At this event, however, you are able to designate the funds from your tickets to go to your favorite organization and it stays right here in our area. So the three tickets I bought each sent $15 directly to Girl Scouts. A percentage of the shopping proceeds go to the United Way as well - I don't typically do that much shopping, but I always do a little. They offer their "day after Thanksgiving" prices at the event - I can't figure out how they priced anything, but it was always lower than I expected (Diana's $48 jeans were $19.98 after sale & discounts).

Then there are all the local wineries and restaurants and caterers all along the aisles, and you eat while you shop. There are also free chair massages and then a big drawing at the end of the night. I've never had my name drawn, but after 6 years of doing this, I should be up pretty soon, right? Right? They have a lot of nice Macy's items (luggage, pots & pans, perfumes, hotel robes - most things at least $100 in value) and then at the end they draw for a $250 and a $500 shopping spree. It's just a fun night. Not Lee's deal, so I usually hook up with a friend. The last couple of times it's been my friend, Kathe. She had a lot of nice suggestions for Diana's stuff :)

Diana, by the way, has decided to be more of a young lady. She got her hair cut last weekend, and she's wanting to wear more fashionable clothes than the t-shirts & boy's cargo pants she's been wearing. She's never been the frilly lacey kind of girl, and this is a nice change. I will post a photo of her new 'do soon. Very cute!