One box.
Two hundred families.
Gift Box is a year-round effort that lands in one place: a single December event where children across 1–3 schools in a city in Ecuador unwrap gifts, eat a warm meal alongside their parents, and watch their favorite characters walk through the door.
It looks like one day. It isn't.
Most of what Gift Box does happens long before December. Throughout the year, we build relationships with toy vendors, restaurants, and event planners around Quito — the kind of relationships that turn a fixed budget into enough gifts, food, and logistics support to actually fill a room.
When Christmas arrives, that groundwork becomes one event: we go to a school (sometimes up to three, depending on the year) in a city in Ecuador, and we donate gifts, run activities, and serve a full meal — for the children and their parents.
Why a meal matters too
A gift is for one afternoon. A shared meal is for the whole family. Feeding parents alongside their kids is as central to the event as the gifts themselves — it's why we budget for the table, not just the box.
How a December afternoon gets built
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1
Vendor & partner outreach
Year-round conversations with toy vendors, restaurants, and event planners — building the relationships that make the December budget go further than it would alone.
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2
Sourcing the gifts
Gifts are bought directly from local vendors in el centro de Quito and from Mi Juguetería, keeping the spend inside the local economy that supports the event.
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3
Gathering the volunteers
Friends, family, and people from the area sign on to help run the event — from handing out gifts to serving food to wearing the costumes.
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4
The event itself
One day in December, at one or more schools, gifts go out, a full meal is served to children and parents alike, and the whole thing is dressed up — literally — as a celebration.
The tradition
Gift Box isn't just a donation drive — it's a costume party with a purpose. Every year, volunteers dress up as movie characters, comic characters, or classic Christmas characters, and walk into the event the same way the gifts do: wrapped in a little bit of magic.
Dress-up, always
Movie characters one year, comic book heroes the next, classic Christmas characters in between — the costume is non-negotiable. It's how kids know something special is happening.
A borrowed crew
Volunteers come from everywhere — close friends, family, and people from the surrounding area who hear about the event and show up to help.
Bought local
Gifts come from local vendors in el centro de Quito and from Mi Juguetería — small businesses that become part of the tradition too.
Local vendors, every year
The toy budget stays close to home. Two sources anchor it:
Three years, in pictures
Photos from each year's event will live here — costumes, the gift tables, the meal, and the families who showed up. Slots below are placeholders; send over your photos and they'll drop right in.
Costumes & the gift box
Gifts, balloons & backpacks
Treats, pizza & presents
Send word
Want to volunteer, donate, partner as a vendor, or just ask a question? Reach out directly.
Reach Gift Box directly
About me
I started Gift Box because Christmas in Quito felt like it should mean more than what was under one tree. What began as a small, informal idea has grown into a full year of work: building relationships with vendors, restaurants, and event planners so that one December afternoon can give two hundred families a meal, a gift, and a few hours that feel like a celebration instead of a hardship.
"The gifts are the headline, but the meal and the company are the point."
I handle the parts that don't make it into photos — the calls with vendors in el centro de Quito, the back-and-forth with restaurants about feeding a room full of families, the logistics of coordinating volunteers who range from lifelong friends to people in the neighborhood who just want to help. Every year, the budget runs somewhere between $10,000 and $15,000, and every dollar of it is spent on the families who walk through the door.
If you want to volunteer, donate, or partner with Gift Box as a vendor or restaurant, I'd genuinely love to hear from you — head to the Contact tab and send a message.