I’ve always tried to encourage my children to serve others, so when my daughter came up with the idea of having a service party and inviting a bunch of friends over to make blankets for those in need, I was thrilled to support her.
My daughter, Audrey, has made a couple blankets out of fleece by cutting fringe on the ends and tying them. She even made the blanket for her little brother’s Star Wars nursery. 
Planning the Service Party
When she came up with the idea of making blankets to donate, we started researching charities that accept and distribute blankets. We found Project Linus which provides comfort and a sense of security to children who are seriously ill or traumatized through blankets. It’s a wonderful charity. It also gave us a Peanuts theme for our party.
We purchased several yards of fabric because each blanket takes 1 1/2 yards of fleece. Audrey had fun choosing which patterns and colors her friends would like. We were lucky she came up with this idea shortly before Black Friday because a good sale helped a lot with the cost.
Audrey invited about 10 friends to the party with an invitation that had a small piece of fleece attached to it. You can download a pdf of the invitation here. We asked everyone to bring their own scissors, and gave them the option of bringing their own fleece. We handed out the invitations a week before the party.
Since it’s winter, we planned cookies and milk for the refreshments along with some tangerines and apples, so there was something healthy to eat. I used silver, white, and wintery blue to set the refreshments table.
We made the cookie dough and formed it into balls the night before, then froze them. Shortly before the guests arrived, I popped the cookies into the oven to bake. That way it smelled delicious and festive as soon as they came in.
We cleared out all of the furniture in our living room to make floor space for cutting and tying blankets. It was still tight, but there was just enough room for everyone.
How to Make Fleece Blankets
Start with a yard and a half of fleece.
Cut fringe around the edges by making 4-inch cuts about an inch apart. At the corners, cut strips the same way. You’ll end up cutting off the strips on the corners, but that’s okay.
Tie a knot in each strip of fringe. Try to push the knot down into the blanket, away from the end.
You can make really soft, thick fleece blankets by using two pieces of fleece, one on top of the other. Then when you tie the knot, you tie a strip from both fabrics together. It looks really good, but we figured that with young, inexperienced blanket-makers, we would keep it simple and only use one piece of fleece for each blanket.
The blankets turned out very cute.
The service party went really well. Everyone had a great time and left feeling good about helping others. Almost every child asked about when and how the blankets would be given to those in need. It was wonderful to see the love and concern they had for those they were serving.