Hello and Welcome!
Thank you for taking an interest in our annual St. Thomas the Apostle Christmas Market.
Our Market specializes in one-of-a-kind finds, from cozy handknits to keep you warm to handmade décor to spruce up your home.
We’ve got books for the readers, accessories for the fashionable, and toys for the playful (no matter how old they are) – and then there’s our parish bake sale, with some very tasty homemade treats!
All proceeds go to our parish Building Fund, for the care and preservation of our beautiful parish buildings.
Our Christmas Market runs on volunteers and donations, and we need help!
The STA Christmas Market Committee is in charge of organizing all volunteers, and we’d be delighted if you’d like to join the party. Because we want to raise as much money as we possibly can for the Building Fund, we really are running on volunteers and donations.
If something catches your eye or you have a question, you can get in touch with us at christmasmarket@stthomashydepark.org.
Below are some examples of things you can do (in chronological order, not order of importance – it all helps).
Helping can include (but is not limited to):
Making*: Do you embroider? Make ornaments? Fold origami puppets? Throw pots? Knit booties? We love having beautiful, well made items at our Market, and we’d be so excited to see what you’ve got.
Buying*: If making isn’t really your thing but you’ve got an eye for the lovely and unusual, we are happy to accept donations of new or like-new items. Think especially in terms of stocking stuffers and Secret Santas!
Sponsoring: While many items for sale at the Market are donated, we do have expenses - items like pens, table skirts, and signs – and we also go searching for new and delightful items to sell. If you’d like to put something in the pot, every little bit is appreciated and any leftovers will also go to the Building Fund.
The Market Raffle: Raffle time is coming - let us know if you can help sell tickets! We will be holding a raffle for some rather nice/spectacular/fabulous prizes (to be announced), and starting in October we will have raffle tickets available for sale after the Masses, and then at the Christmas Market itself. The drawing will be at 3 p.m. Market Sunday, and you need not be present to win.
Getting the Word Out: We want everybody to come! The Market is free to enter and open to everyone, and we need help to get the word out. If you’ve got access to a public notice board, a local book club, or an online neighborhood community, we’ve got the flyers or the pdfs for you to post.
Baking: Do you make a tasty cookie? A tempting quickbread? An irresistible sweet roll? We are delighted to accept home-baked goods from parishioners for our bake sale.
Setting Up: We will descend upon the school gym and transform it into a festive Marketplace. If you’re good with shifting tables, pricing, arranging displays, and generally making Market magic, it’d be great to have you there to help.
Working the Market: We’re going to have a lot going on, and we’ll need people to work the tables – answering questions, packing up purchases, refreshing displays – and generally help us make this a fantastic day. It’s a lot of fun, if you’ve got kids who want to help they can definitely come, and you’re welcome even if you can’t stay for the whole day.
Clean Up: Once the show is done, we’ll have to put the magic away for a year. If you’re willing to give us a hand, we will be eternally grateful!
Businesses*: If you would like to make a donation, we’ll be happy to display business cards or small postcards. Credit where credit is due! But we are a market of donations, and will not be accepting vendors.
You can sign up to help here, or feel free to email us at christmasmarket@stthomashydepark.org with any questions.
*Please note, we are a small Market and do not have much space to store goods from year to year. If your donated item doesn’t sell and you would like it back, you must make arrangements to pick it up at the close of the Market. Any items which remain may be donated to charity.