After our lemonade stand was a big success last summer, my big brother Aariv and I wondered what we could do to help people again this winter. Since it was too cold outside to sell lemonade, we came up with the idea of selling holiday cards so we could use the money we earned to spread cheer during the holiday season.

We spent many hours on Friday and Saturday making our cards. We used tape, scissors, sticky glue, various punching machines and sparkly colored pens. First, we punched and cut different shapes and sizes of flowers, leaves and butterflies. We then folded the cards and punched the borders. Next, I made different designs by placing the shapes on the cards, while my brother glued them down. Now, we needed to make the cards more colorful and sparkly. So, we used glitter pens and pearl dots to make the cards even more beautiful. We also wrote messages like “Happy New Year” and “Season’s Greetings” so that people could share these with their friends and families. It was about dinner time, so we wrapped up and started to get excited to show these cards to our neighbors.

The next day, Aariv neatly organized the cards in a binder so we could show our collection of cards easily without dropping them or getting them dirty. I got ready by getting my sparkly butterfly purse to keep the money we collect. I also held “The Caring Hearts” slips, which had our contact information in case anyone wanted to customize the cards or wanted to know more about our project. When evening came, we put on our warm jackets and headed out around the neighborhood with our mom.

We walked to many houses, but since some neighbors were not at home, they didn't open their doors. That was okay, because we soon met a lady who was very impressed with our project! She told us we were hard workers and gave us two madeleine cakes to eat while she picked out a card. At the next house, a neighbor liked our designs so much that he bought five cards all at once! My purse started to fill up, and Aariv and I were so happy.

One neighbor told us she already had all the cards she needed for the year, but she still wanted to help. She didn't buy a card, but she gave us a big holiday cookie box to encourage us to keep going! The cookies were yummy and made us feel very special. We kept going door-to-door until it started to get dark. It was fun to talk to everyone, tell them about our initiative and encourage them to join us in our journey. 

By the time we got home, our binder was completely empty because we sold every single card! We were so happy that our hard work paid off. We decided right then that Cards for a Cause should be our tradition every single year. Next winter, we are going to start making our cards even earlier so we can have a giant stack ready for the whole neighborhood. Now, we are looking for the best ways to use our earnings to bring holiday cheer to families in need.