SEATTLE — For thousands of Seattle area kids, Christmas came a little early this year.
"This is our Winter Wonderland Community Toys Shop,” said Leigh Anne Gullett, a Spokesperson for Amazon. "We work with a lot of local nonprofits throughout the year, we've been a top corporate giver in the Puget Sound region for several years in a row now, and we wanted to find a way to support as many of our community partners as possible in one fell swoop."
Amazon invited 13 Northwest no-profits to take part in a no-charge shopping spree.
"So they come in and they go through this lovely toy shop," said Gullet. "The kids can pick out up to 10 toys to take home with them. Then they go from there they can go face painting, they can build gingerbread houses, they can take family photos, get cocoa, hot cider, cookies."
While the kids play, parents log on to find gifts for under the tree.
"The parents can go with volunteers and sit down at computers and shop for their families," Gullet said. "They get a $50 gift card per child in the house, and they can purchase anything they want on Amazon with a gift card."
Putting on this event is no small task. But it's one Amazon employees loved being a part of.
"It's been as much fun for us as it's been for the community. All of our volunteers you walk by every employee that’s been part of this it's just super-excited about it," said Gullett. "We love things like this because we've been in the Puget Sound region for many years and these are our neighbors, this is our community. As much as we can give back and as much as we can engage in being a part of this community we want to do that."
For parents like Nelly, the toy store is both fun and a big help.
"I'm a single mom so it helps out a lot to me. I'm sure a lot of other single moms or people who lost their jobs, so this is good for everybody. I think they're gonna get more presents in now that so many are so happy about it,” Nelly said.
Tots and toys - Amazon hopes to make its Winter Wonderland Toy Store a new holiday tradition.
"I've already got ideas and hopes about what it looks like next year and how we can grow it and so I think we're constantly learning and trying to evolve it and look at what we can do next year to make it bigger and better," Gullet said.
Sponsored by Amazon.
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