The Christmas Market

attenders

Attenders at MFMC contribute not only financially, more than 80 attenders volunteer throughout the year and during the Market to love our neighbors

supporters

Through a generous grant, the Midland Area Community Foundation has enabled the Christmas Market to expand and to now include many more children in our beautiful  community

Guest Coffee

We are thankful for the support of Live Oak Coffee as they help us love our guest by serving coffee roasted right here in Midland.  This support allows us to love our neighbors who are invited to be part of the Christmas Market, to sit with their personal shopping assistant and share a cup of coffee and some treats.  These times of conversations and connecting are part of the gift of the Market

🎄 WHAT HAPPENS AT THE CHRISTMAS MARKET?
It’s more than a place to get Christmas gifts.
Our Christmas Market was created to give families an opportunity to experience the joy of Christmas shopping while being treated with love, compassion, dignity, and respect.
Here’s what that experience looks like:

🎟️ IT’S AN INVITATION-ONLY EVENT.
The Christmas Market is intentionally an invitation-only event for families connected with our Compassion Ministry and a few community partners. While we’d love to open it up for the general community, the truth is we are not currently able to be that large of an event. So we maintain an invitation-only event for now so that we can extend the reach of the resources entrusted to us.

❤️ THE EXPERIENCE STARTS BEFORE THEY ARRIVE.
Before families come to shop, we connect with them to learn a little about their children—including their first names and ages and whether a child may benefit from shopping in our sensory-friendly gift section.
That information helps us prepare for their visit before they ever walk through the door.

🤝 THEY HAVE A SHOPPING ASSISTANT.
When a family arrives, they’re personally welcomed by a Shopping Assistant who is prepared for them. Their Shopping Assistant knows their children’s names and ages and walks alongside the family throughout the Market, helping them navigate the experience and find gifts that are a good fit for each child.
It’s a small personal touch that helps make a big experience feel personal.

🛍️ PARENTS GET TO SHOP.
Instead of simply receiving a bag of donated gifts, parents get to choose the gifts their children will receive. They can look at the available gifts and think about what each individual child would actually enjoy.

🎁 GIFTS FOR KIDS FROM BIRTH THROUGH 18.
We shop for children from birth through 18 years old, giving parents the opportunity to choose something special for every child in their household—including their teenagers.
The gifts are brand new and available for just:
$2 • $5 • $10
Each child may receive two gifts.
We ask families to choose only one $10 item per child so that we can make sure those special items are available to as many families as possible.
Any money received in this year’s Market from the sale of the gift goes back into the event for the following year. This is not used as a fundraiser for our church.

✨ KIDS HAVE THEIR OWN CHRISTMAS EXPERIENCE, TOO.
While parents shop for their children, the kids have their own special Christmas experience.
Children have the opportunity to choose a free gift for Mom and/or Dad, which is wrapped and ready to give at Christmas. After choosing their gifts, they can enjoy games, crafts, and activities while they wait for their parents to finish shopping.
Keeping the children in their own special area also helps us keep their parents' gift selections a surprise for Christmas morning.
It’s more than keeping kids occupied while their parents shop. It gives them the joy of choosing, giving, creating, and celebrating Christmas, too.

🎀 GIFTS ARE WRAPPED.
Families don’t simply leave with merchandise.
Their children’s gifts are wrapped and ready to be placed under the Christmas tree, just like the gifts children choose for their parents are wrapped, too.

❤️ DIGNITY IS AT THE CENTER OF IT ALL.
There are many wonderful programs that provide Christmas gifts to families, and those programs are valuable and appreciated.
Our approach is simply a little different.
We want parents to have the opportunity to choose.
We want families to feel respected.
We want children to experience excitement and the joy of giving.
And we want every family to know:
You matter. You are valued. You are loved.

🎄 AND THIS IS WHERE OUR COMMUNITY COMES IN.
Every gift purchased, every discount offered, every volunteer who serves, and every business that chooses to participate helps make this experience possible.
The Christmas Market is a community effort—and we would love for you to be part of it.

One of the things that makes our Christmas Market special is that we try to involve the local business community.
We don’t simply want to ask our community to support the Market. We want to invite our community to be part of it.

We purchase brand-new gifts that would be similar to what the children’s peers are receiving, so that parents can choose gifts their children will genuinely enjoy.
When a local retailer is able to offer us a special discount, our Christmas Market dollars go further.
🎁 More gifts.
🛍️ More choices.
❤️ More families served.

Our Christmas Market is volunteer-run, with more than 80 volunteers coming together in recent years to help make the Market possible.
From welcoming families and wrapping gifts to leading children’s activities and helping behind the scenes, volunteers work together to create an experience that is welcoming, joyful, and dignified. And we want our local businesses to be part of that community effort, too.

You may never know which child receives the gift your business helped provide. You may never know which parent was relieved to be able to choose something special for their child. But your participation can become a small part of a family’s Christmas story.

It’s about what happens when a community comes together and says:
“You matter to us.”
That’s what we hope families experience when they walk through the doors of our Christmas Market.
And that’s why local businesses matter.