By Sloane Samberson
staff writer
@sloane_avery
The 19th annual Holiday House was held Sunday, Nov. 9 from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Coppell High School. This year there were 109 vendors including the popular vendors of Stella & Dot, Silpada Jewelry, Kristen Jett’s Organic Accessories, Spirit Round-Up by Laura Swaldi and Thirty One Gifts.
Vendors pay a fee to enter into Holiday House which goes to CHS Project Graduation, a nonprofit organization that provides a smoke, drug and alcohol free graduation night celebration for all seniors at CHS.
Spirit Round-Up was located across from the big gym, constantly crowded with high school students and Coppell parents looking to buy Coppell Cowboys spirit wear. This was Spirit Round-Up’s seventh year at Holiday House.
“Our biggest selling product this year for the kids and teens were the Comfort Color T-shirts and spirit jerseys. With the women it was the fitted bedazzled shirts and with the men the dri-fit shirts and basketball shorts,” owner Laura Swaldi said.
Kristen Jett’s Organic Accessories was a huge hit amongst teenage girls and hip moms. The merchandise sold reflects stores like Anthropologie, Natural Life and Lucky Brand Jeans.
“I love Anthropologie but their prices are so expensive,” CHS junior Meg Howard said. “I bought a vest and a sweater from Organic Accessories for a much more reasonable price with similar style and equally great quality.”
The profit made by each vendor is kept personally by their business or donated to a charity or organization of their choice.
Peg’s Mayan Jewels was one of the nonprofit vendors that attended this year. All profits made were donated to charities in Guatemala. The products sold include hand beaded bracelets, necklaces, earrings, keychains and ornaments.
“All items sold here are made by Mayan women in Guatemala,” owner Peg Meyer said. “The primary project that we are funding this year is a preschool center for malnourished children in Guatemala. We will be bringing things like wheelchairs, school supplies and shoes for the children.”
Chef Milton Aschner was back for his second year at Holiday House. Aschner creates gourmet Atlantic sea salts and chili-honey roasted nuts.
“I take pure white salt from the coast of Brazil, smoke it and hand grind it,” Aschner said. “I then put a label on it and seal it up for sales. I have a special commercial smoker, that can smoke 50 pounds of salt at a time. Depending on the weather it can take up to 24 hours to smoke.”
Emma Tarter of Emma’s Cup of Cakes was one hit vendor at Holiday House. Tarter sells single serving cupcake mixes that you “bake” in the microwave. All profit made by Tarter goes towards her college fund.
“I started Emma’s Cup of Cakes eight years ago when I was eight,” Tarter said. “My mom had her own business which inspired me to start my own business. I kept constantly asking her and she finally gave in with only one exception, that I raise my math grade up.”
Tarter determined to succeed, acted on strengthening her math skills immediately.
“At the time I was in second grade and had been failing math pretty badly,” Tarter said. “My mom and I started working on my math skills, focusing on fractions because I needed that skill in order to start my baking business. I ended up passing math and behold, the creation of Emma’s Cup of Cakes.”
This years Holiday House was more geared towards women and young girls. There were not many men at the event unless they were a vendor. Attendance was also lower in comparison to previous years.
Although some vendors felt as if there was a lack of advertisement, Holiday House ended successfully with an approximate profit of $16,000. All profits will go towards the benefit of CHS Project Graduation.
