About

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Holly House for Kids brings holiday magic to over 2,000 low-income children in Snohomish County every year. From the beginning, our goal has been simple: to provide comfort, joy, and hope to the children and families in our community during the holidays.

All year long, Holly House collects and organizes new pajamas, books, socks, underwear, scarves, hats, toys, stocking stuffers, and other gifts. In December, these become a complimentary "store" where parents shop — completely free — for their children.

On the day of the event, each parent is paired with a personal shopper who guides them through gift stations, helping them choose presents for every child in their family. It's a four-day event that takes year-round planning and hundreds of volunteers to pull off.

Holly House started in 2006, when our founder — then working at a local food bank — saw that the families she served couldn't provide their children with new gifts, warm clothes, and necessities during the holidays. For many, financial insecurity and the threat of homelessness were very real. Most were living paycheck to paycheck, going without essentials. In winter, their children were often cold — going to school without socks or underwear, going to bed without warm pajamas or blankets.

In its first year, Holly House reached 430 children. Today, we serve more than 2,000 children, from infants to age 17.

We serve local children in the Edmonds School District, home to a large immigrant community speaking up to 38 different languages. In some of our schools, as many as 85% of children live at or below the federal poverty level.

Holly House is for adult shoppers only; the gifts come as a complete surprise to the children. That's intentional. It lets each parent decide how to share the moment — whether Santa brought the gifts, a last-minute miracle came through, or their community gave through Holly House.
Giving parents that choice offers more than joy and warmth. It offers dignity. Year after year, we hear the same thing: without Holly House, their children wouldn't have a Christmas.

• Neighbors embrace the joy of holiday giving at Holly House — Snohomish Talk, 2023
• Remembering our founder: "a whirlwind of a person" — The Herald