LP kids shop parent-free at Caladium Co-op

Lake Placid parents may not have been done with their holiday shopping yet, but their kids were.

Thanks to Santa's Secret Shop at the Caladium Co-op in downtown Lake Placid, tots were able to experience the joy of choosing and purchasing gifts for moms, dads and loved ones all at kid-friendly prices and without those pesky parents sneaking a peek.

The annual event, which takes place one Saturday each December, was held last Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. While parents waited in the store, kids entered the back room of the Co-op where volunteers were waiting to help them select, purchase, and wrap their gifts.

Prices of items for sale ranged from 50 cents to $5, with the gift-wrapping done for free. According to co-op member Esther Hamill, who has been organizing the event since 2006, some of the top sellers this year were painted glass ornaments and little ceramic pigs and cows.

"Members of the co-op donate handmade gifts for the occasion. We're not allowed to make a profit so the money is used for scholarships." This year, the co-op made $777 during the Santa's Secret Shop event. That's down from the $1,335 they made last year.

"We were a little light," Hamill remarked with some disappointment. "We used to be able to make a flyer that we send to the schools and they would hand them out to the children. This time we had to leave the flyers in the office for the parents to come in and pick them up for the kids. That change really hurt us. And we didn't get the info sooner to (the schools) to get on their internet calendars," she added.

Santa's Secret Shop was originally started by former Co-op President Gail Tuttle in 2001. Current President Jean Gragert has carried on the tradition.

According to Hamill, the co-op works by having local artisans sign up for yearly memberships and work a certain number of hours in the shop on Interlake Boulevard. Their crafts, including flannel quilts, feathery flip flops, wall art, and woodwork, can then be sold in the store, and the co-op takes a 25 percent commission to cover its overhead. There is also free gift-wrapping for the public.