🎁 39th Annual Gift Wrapping Party
Friday, December 11, 2026 | 10:00 AM Until the Job Is Done Reliant Center | Hall E
❤️ This Is Where the Christmas Magic Begins
Before the music starts.
Before Santa arrives.
Before nearly 2,000 children walk through the doors...
there is Gift Wrapping Day.
This is the day our community comes together to turn thousands of toys, donations, boxes, bags and supplies into something extraordinary.
It takes lots of hands, lots of heart and plenty of Christmas spirit - and every year, our volunteers answer the call.
For 39 years, individuals, families, friends, businesses, churches, schools, community groups and organizations large and small have stepped forward to help us get ready.
We simply could not do it without you.
🎄 More Than Wrapping Gifts
Yes, we have thousands of presents to wrap - approximately 10,000 gifts for children participating in our Annual Christmas Program. But Gift Wrapping Day is about so much more.
Throughout the day, volunteers help us:
🎁 Unpack, sort and wrap thousands of gifts
🏫 Organize gifts into individual school circles so everything is ready when children arrive
🛍️ Prepare donated bags and special items for each school
🍎 Sort and organize community donations such as fruit, coloring books, rice, beans, stuffed animals and other surprises
📦 Move boxes, supplies and donations where they need to go
💧 Help distribute water and refreshments to volunteers
🎄 Decorate and prepare the hall for the Christmas celebration
✅ Set up and assist with the Volunteer Check-In area
🪑 Help arrange tables, supplies, signage and program areas
🙌 Pitch in wherever another pair of hands is needed
Some volunteers stay for an hour. Others stay for much of the day.
Every helping hand moves us closer to being ready for the children the next morning.
⭕ Building the School Gift Circles
One of the most important jobs of the day is creating the gift circle for each participating school.
Wrapped presents are carefully sorted and organized so that when the Christmas Program begins the following morning, each school's gifts are ready and waiting.
Around those circles, we also prepare the many additional items generously donated by businesses, organizations and members of our community.
What starts the morning as boxes, pallets, bags and tables of supplies gradually becomes 50 school circles prepared for nearly 2,000 children.
Watching that transformation happen is something special.
🤝 It Takes a Community
Year after year, the size of the job seems enormous.
And year after year, our community shows up.
Some arrive individually.
Some bring their families or friends.
Some come as faith groups, school organizations or volunteer teams.
Others arrive together representing small businesses, major companies, law enforcement agencies, community organizations and longtime partners.
Some have volunteered with Navidad En El Barrio for years.
Others walk through our doors for the very first time.
By the end of the day, everyone is working toward the same goal:
Making Children's Wishes Come True.
This is truly created by the community, driven by the community, serving the community.
🎁 Come When You Can. Help Where You Can.
You don't have to be an expert gift wrapper.
There is something for everyone to do.
If wrapping isn't your specialty, we can use help sorting, organizing, carrying, decorating, preparing school circles, checking in volunteers, distributing supplies and handling the countless other tasks that make a program of this size possible.
Our team will help direct you when you arrive.
Bring your comfortable shoes, your Christmas spirit and your willingness to lend a hand.
We'll put the rest to work. ❤️
🎶 Work Hard. Laugh. Make New Friends. Have Some Fun.
Gift Wrapping Day is busy - but it is also one of our favorite days of the year.
There is music playing, people laughing, friends reconnecting and strangers working side-by-side who often become friends before the day is over.
All around the hall, you can see what happens when hundreds of people decide that their time can make a difference.
And little by little...
the boxes disappear.
the gifts get wrapped.
the school circles take shape.
the decorations go up.
the hall comes alive.
And suddenly, everything is ready.
🎅 And Then Comes Tomorrow...
When the final gifts are wrapped and the last school circle is complete, we know what comes next.
The following morning, children from participating schools will begin arriving for Navidad En El Barrio's 39th Annual Christmas Program.
They'll hear the music.
They'll see the decorations.
They'll experience the celebration.
And they'll eventually discover all those beautifully wrapped presents waiting for them.
They may never know the names of the volunteers who unpacked the boxes, taped the wrapping paper, carried the bags, decorated the hall or stayed late making sure everything was ready.
But they will feel what you helped create. ❤️
🙌 Individuals & Groups Are Welcome
Coming by yourself? Come on!
Bringing family or friends? We'd love to have you.
Want to organize a volunteer team from your:
Business • Company • School • Church • Organization • Club • Community Group
We welcome groups of all sizes and appreciate organizations that return year after year to help make this enormous undertaking a little easier.
🅿️ Before You Head to Reliant Center
Volunteer Parking Pass Required
Please download and print your Volunteer Parking Pass before arriving.
Present your pass to the parking attendant upon entry and display it clearly on your dashboard while parked.
🌐 VOLUNTEER PARKING PASS — CLICK HERE 🌐
✅ When You Arrive
Please come to the Volunteer Check-In area in Hall E.
Our volunteers will:
Welcome you → Check you in → Help you find where you're needed most.
Then it's time to roll up your sleeves and join the fun.
❤️ We Need You
Ten thousand gifts don't wrap themselves.
Fifty school circles don't organize themselves.
A hall prepared to welcome nearly 2,000 children doesn't come together by itself.
It happens because people show up.
People like you.
Whether you give us an hour, an afternoon or stay until the final gift is wrapped, your time matters.
Come help us prepare for one of the most special days of our year.
🎁 Wrap a gift.
🤝 Lend a hand.
❤️ Share your heart.
🎄 Help us make children's wishes come true.
We'll see you at the Gift Wrapping Party!