Ethan and Lucas Hanna-Riggs
7th annual Teddy Bear Party is Saturday at the Hall of State
Tammye Nash | Managing Editor
nash@dallasvoice.com
What started out as a Christmas tree decorating party has since become a much-anticipated holiday gala that puts thousands of dollars into the tills of local nonprofits and hundreds of teddy bears into the arms of sick children.
“That first year, I had a party at my house, a Christmas tree decorating party,” explains Jason Hanna, one of the founders of the annual Teddy Bear Party. “I invited some of my friends over, and everyone had a really good time.”
When the holiday season rolled around again, Hanna started planning for his next party, “but this time, I wanted to have a good reason for a party,” he said. So he decided to turn it into a donation party for Toys For Tots.
And the party grew.
Then came November 2011, the month that Hanna’s mother, Kaye Hanna, was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer.
“My mother loved kids dearly, and she loved being able to do things for kids,” Hanna said. “So I decided to change the party. I decided I wanted to turn it into a teddy bear drive in her honor.” He chose to donate the teddy bears to Children’s Health hospital.
So he put out the word, and the RSVPs started rolling in. Before long, the guest list had grown to 150-175 people, “a lot larger crowd than my house could accommodate,” Hanna said. “That was the first year that we moved to an outside venue.”
His mother, Hanna said, was determined to make it to that party, despite the debilitating effects of the chemotherapy treatments she was undergoing. She made it to the party, but it was the last event she was able to attend. Kaye Hanna died just three-and-a-half months after first being diagnosed.
But the party she inspired lives on, in grand style. Each year, the Teddy Bear Party is held on a Saturday night in December, and the next morning, party founders, and anyone else who wants to volunteer, gather to count the donated teddy bears, load them up and caravan over to Children’s Health to deliver them.
“Since 2011, the event has taken on a life of its own,” Jason Hanna said. “We had 225 people in 2011, what we think of as the first official Teddy Bear Party. And every year since then, we’ve averaged 450 to 600 people attending.”
Hanna said he chose to make the event a Teddy Bear Drive to honor his mother and brighten the lives of sick children in part because his mother loved children so, but also because he had always hoped to have children of his own some day. A little more than three years ago, that dream came true when he and his husband, Joe Riggs, became the parents of two boys, Ethan and Lucas, thanks to a surrogate mother.
And Hanna got to see first hand the benefit of Children’s Health’s teddy bear program when Lucas, at age 9 months, had to have an out-patient surgical procedure at that very hospital.
“As he was waking up, they gave him a stuffed puppy. He brought it home and, ironically enough, Ethan is the one who has become attached to it,” Hanna said. “Ethan takes it with him almost everywhere he goes. It’s an absolute requirement when his bedtime comes around every night. He uses that puppy as his pillow when he sleeps.
“It’s interesting that something meant to comfort Lucas has become Ethan’s core comfort item,” he said.
This year’s party marks yet another time of growth and changes. Where in previous years the party has been held at venues in and around the Oak Lawn gayborhood, this year’s event is moving across town, to the Hall of State at Fair Park.
“This will be our first time at this venue, and we are really looking forward to it,” Hanna said. “It was recommended due to the architecture, the history, the artwork as well as the location.
“Moving it out of the Oak Lawn-Cedar Springs pocket makes the party more of a destination event,” he continued. “And we feel like the Hall of State is perfect for the entertainment we are bringing in, for the corporate lounges we are setting up for our sponsors. And it’s a perfect place to display vehicles from Park Place Maserati. They’ve been a sponsor since the first Teddy Bear Party, and this year they are bringing in four Maserati vehicles to have on display at the entrance to the venue.”
(Other sponsors are listed on the Teddy Bear Party website, TeddyBearParty.org.)
There’s another “first” happening this year, too. The Perry Twins DJs will be there to provide music throughout the evening, but for the first time in Teddy Bear Party history, founders are bringing in a special music guest to perform.
“Kristine W will be there performing live,” Hanna said. “She goes onstage at 11 p.m., along with her dancers. And once she performs, the event will transition from the usual cocktail party to more of a dance party vibe.
“In the past, people would come to the party around 8:30 or 9, stay a couple of hours and then wind up at The Strip to go dancing,” Hanna explained. “This year, our goal was to make it a destination for the entire evening, to start with a cocktail party and end with a dance party.”
Then at 11 a.m. Sunday, founders and volunteers return to the venue to load up the stuffed animals and take them to Children’s Health, where a hospital administrator will be on hand to accept the donations and explain the teddy bear program.
To make that even more fun, Hanna said, Kristine W will be helping with the loading and delivery of the teddy bears, too.
Tickets to the event are $50 in advance, available online. At midnight tonight (Friday, Dec. 15), the price goes to $75. Tickets will be available at the door, too.
Because organizers always bring in enough corporate sponsorships to cover all the costs of the party, Hanna said, 100 percent of the proceeds from ticket sales is divided between the Teddy Bear Party’s beneficiary organizations. This year, those beneficiaries are Equality Texas, the Family Equality Council, Stand Up To Cancer, Rainbow Roundup and The Trevor Project. And because The Teddy Bear Party is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, donations — including the ticket purchase — are tax deductible.
“It’s so great to see our list of sponsors growing each year and to see previous sponsors so eager to sign on again,” Hanna said. “But the best thing is knowing that we can come together to do something to help the worthwhile organizations that are our beneficiaries and to help the children in the hospital who need a little extra cheer at the holidays. And I think this is going to be the best year yet.”
