Annual Kids Party Kicks off 2018 Christmas Season
As many as two hundred primary school students from across Belize City, many of them between the ages of five and ten years old, attended the first Christmas party to kick off the 2018 Yuletide. They all gathered at the Fort Street Tourism Village for lunch and bellyfuls of laughter from Ozzie the Clown. The occasion of the annual Christmas party brings together children to experience the joy of the season in the spirit of sharing and caring. It is a joint effort that has been running for the past fifteen years.
Maria Guerra, Cruise Coordinator, B.T.B.
“This is our annual holiday gift project, our Christmas party for the children. This year is our fifteenth. It’s the Belize Tourism Board in collaboration with the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association and the cruise lines. This year it’s the Princess cruises along with the Fort Street Tourism Village. We work together to make this event a success. What we do is that we have two hundred children that we cater for, for schools in Belize City. We have ten schools that we invite, twenty students from each school, ages five to ten years old. To name a few, we have the Muslim Community Primary School; we have Buttonwood Bay, St. Mary’s, Wesley Lower, Trinity. We have Ephesus and an official letter is sent to the school to invite twenty children from their school and the host for this year is the Fort Street Tourism Village. The children and attend and we have Ozzie to entertain them. We have a deejay as well to entertain with music. Each child will receive a gift. The Royal Princess will be bringing in toys for each and every child and the B.T.B. ensures that every child also receives a Christmas dinner with a drink and a Christmas party bag.”
Reporter
“Explain to us why it is important to host a party like this for these kids.”
Maria Guerra
“The Belize Tourism Board, we believe that it’s our honor to give back to the community, especially during this time of the year, Christmas season. Sharing and caring and who can be more important than our children? So we want to ensure that we could target two hundred children annually to have each child receive a gift.”