It's o-FISH-al: The Heart Behind Our Adoption Party

Adoptions are joyous times. In celebration of the adoption of our three kids, we threw an adoption party! The theme was "It's o-FISH-al"....... get it?........... It's official. Anyway, I spent the month leading up to the adoption, gathering ideas and putting together the details of the party. I was overjoyed with how everything turned out, and even more pleased by the friends and family who joined us in celebration! We had food, a station where guests could write prayers for each child (For an example, see here), four tables for guests to eat that also had a game or activity in the center, music, and a whole lot of great conversation.


While this essentially filled the role of a "baby shower" for our family, we had decided ahead of time that we didn't want more things. We have enough stuff and wanted to give back; therefore, in lieu of gifts, we asked our guests to bring a donation, and here's why:

A host of scenarios may occur when a child is removed from his or her home. Too often, older children spend time sleeping in CPS offices due to there not being enough foster homes willing to work with school-age and older youth. Maybe children are removed suddenly from their homes in the middle of the night with no obvious place to go until a foster home can be acquired in the morning. When these types of scenarios occur (along with a host of others), there need to be clothes, hygiene items, shoes, blankets, and other items available to these children. This is what Rainbow Rooms are for. Rainbow Rooms are typically located in CPS offices (To find a Rainbow Room in your region in Texas visit here). These Rainbow Rooms allow workers the opportunity to get the necessary items for children in crisis situations (A list of most-needed items can be found here). We asked our guests to bring as many items from the list as they wanted... and they did not disappoint! These items have been donated to our local Rainbow Room.

I heard about another adoptive family who did something similar and was inspired to do it on our own. It is my hope that you are inspired in even the smallest way by this post, and maybe find some ideas for yourself.