Guests hardly had time to change from their Crystal Charity Ball black-tie attire Saturday night when they turned up in holiday casual for the Children’s Women’s Auxiliary‘s 30th Annual Breakfast With Santa Spectacular bright and early at NorthPark Center on Sunday, December 2.
While the unknowing types may have expected valet parking and a very proper, white-glove brunch for perhaps 50 kiddies and parents to benefit Children’s Health, they were so off the mark. Evidently, they hadn’t realized the creative powers of Breakfast Co-Chairs Jacque Marvin, Kristin Mitchell and Andrea Nayfa and the NorthPark team led by Kristen Gibbins.
Instead, more than 650 kids and grown-up buds like Women’s Auxiliary President Lauren Swann, Marisa Huckin, Aphrodite Paulos, Lisa Leet and Lesley Thompson took over NorthPark’s NorthPark Cafes, CenterPark Garden and NorthCourt, transforming the luxury retail center into a combination of Six Flags Over Texas and the North Pole.
While the 13-year-old reindeer posed for photos and chomped on a bale of hay just feet away from the Snow Globe bounce house in the Center Park Garden, the hallway between the CenterPark Garden and NorthCourt was jammed with folks lined up to place orders at Bread Winners and visiting with Children’s therapy pooches and towering snowmen.
Looking like proud parents, Children’s top kids Christina and Chris Durovich and Brent Christopher were so pleased with the turnout, they were chatting with NorthPark’s 1st Lady Nancy Nasher about a repeat in 2019. While Chris raved about the “spectacularness” of the center, Nancy said, “We’re so excited to have this event at NorthPark. Big fun!”
The trio also admitted that unlike the year before, when the Children’s Parade had been whipped by ice storms, it was nice to find a protective nest at NorthPark. But Chris was quick to add that Children’s had still been a part of the Dallas Holiday Parade that had been held the morning before.
Upstairs, the NorthPark Cafes had been transformed into a sugary delight that Willie Wonka would have envied. For high rollers like Myrna Schlegel, Jessica Nowitzki and the Nasiba Adilova and Thomas Hartland-Mackie clan, including grandmothers Patimat Adilova and Georgina Hartland, there were front-row tables overlooking the NorthCourt ballerinas, the Children’s Chorus of Greater Dallas and performers.
Snapshots: NorthPark Ambassador of Luxury Kim Schlegel Whitman with daughter Millie Stuart Whitman … a glowing Nasiba and Thomas reporting that the family was expanding for a third munchkin… Luca Nelson striking “the pose” with Captain America and Spiderman … Andrea Weber taking photos of Nicolette Weber and JT Weber with Disney’s Belle … Bela Cooley snapping sister Sanija Grillo with her son, Linden Grillo, as they posed for a photo with Santa, who had his favorite elves (Holly Hassman and former Children’s Women’s Auxiliary presidents Joanna Clarke and Monica Egert Smith) helping out … Transformer taking a moment for a conversation with a “Wonder Woman” friend.
For more photos of adorable kids and whimsical characters, check out MySweetCharity Photo Gallery.