Category Archives: Birthday Parties

[Note: This is a sponsored guest post contributed by Sonia Pinto, Co-Founder of Fig & Wally, an online service for creating invitations and gift wishlists for meaningful giving.]

Have you ever tried to figure out what six nieces and nephews want for the holidays? I have. My three sisters politely thank me for my gifts, but half the time they collect dust. Over the years, I’ve bought hundreds of dollars in toys that could have gone in to college savings, a family day in a chocolate factory, science camp, or toys that helped them pick careers.

When my sisters finally told me about my epic toy fails, we decided to help other families change the way they gift. Enter Fig & Wally, a gift registry for toys, family experiences, classes, vacations, charities, and college savings.

The name Fig & Wally came from our favorite ice cream, Fig and Walnut. We’d get one or two new toys per year, but every week we’d take a family trip to get Fig and Walnut cones — a tradition among our fondest memories. We couldn’t imagine not including experiences as a potential gift in our registry tool when an ice cream shop was the center of our childhood fun.

How do you create a Fig & Wally registry? Start with creating a digital invite on our site to an event, like your kid’s birthday, or a special gifting occasion, like Christmas. The invite will allow you to include your child’s wishlist that you also can create in a few minutes. Think about all your options from toys they love to a family cooking class, skating passes, a visit to donate to the local animal shelter, or tickets to Disney on Ice.

Don’t worry about duplicating gifts because your friends and family won’t buy gifts directly, they’ll click to send you the amount for the gift to your PayPal account. Then, you can decide which items from the list to purchase.

I’m so grateful my sisters posted their wishlists this year. One year, we all bought the same gift for my niece: a mini piano. There were three in her living room! We had to lug two back to the store and exchange them.

This year, their kids’ wishlists are decked with two favorite toys each (after all, how many toys do they need?), a sprinkling of activities, and the rest goes to a local charity of their choice (one they can visit and connect with) or their college savings plan. Grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles, and cousins have all contributed. My sisters are hard at work writing thank you notes for each contribution to tell each family member where their money went.

So you don’t have fond memories of carrying mini pianos back and forth this holiday season, try Fig & Wally this year. Let us do the heavy lifting as you sit back and enjoy the sight of your little one’s eyes light up as they receive their perfect presents.

Join us on social!
Instagram: @figandwally
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/figandwally
Have questions or need help creating an invite or wishlist:
Email us at reachus@figandwally.com or call us at 917-310-0841

Giveaway(s): Fig & Wally is hosting a giveaway on their website this holiday season, with a chance to win fun, kid-friendly experiences to share our belief that the best gifts make lasting memories. Prizes include gift certificates to the Kennedy Center and Adventure Theater! They are also giving away skating passes to the home of the Capitals! (A special thanks to the Capitals Iceplex for sponsoring the skating passes giveaway.) Submit your entry here!

KFDC readers only also have a chance to enter a bonus giveaway of a $50 gift certificate for Adventure Theatre. All you have to do is leave a comment below letting us how you would use Fig & Wally (FYI: email addresses will be shared with them). This giveaway will run through Tuesday, November 12, 2019, then a winner will be picked at random and notified shortly thereafter. Good luck!

This post is sponsored by the Fig & Wally, however, I only promote businesses, services, and programs that I genuinely believe in and think will appeal to KFDC readers.