Conn. mom starts business to bring Christmas to her kids
DERBY — A mother of two young children who is months behind on rent and struggling to pay bills after being laid-off during the state shutdown has come up with a creative idea to make money and spare parents a sleepless Christmas Eve wrapping gifts for under the tree.
Michelle Doheny will wrap your gifts at her house, and even keep them there until the last minute so the kids won’t find them. She recently added another service: she will shop with your list and wait in the lines.
“I still owe our September’s rent, so I’m looking for any way I can find to pay my bills. ... I’m trying to get by and pay rent and give my kids a Christmas,” Doheny said.
“I’m just looking to help others while I help myself,” she said.
She was laid of from her restaurant job during the pandemic and her fiance, Troy Meeker, was laid off from a truck driving job and collected little unemployment because he hadn’t been there long. The couple has two young children, Camden Carter Meeker, 3, and Autumn Marie Meeker, 5 months.
Doheny, who has a stepson, 14, said she’s usually up until 4 a.m. wrapping on Christmas Eve and then exhausted for the early morning wakeup of excited children.
“It’s always last minute because there’s so much to do,” she said.
The two have new job prospects, but nothing solid or immediate, she said. So she put a Facebook post about the service on the popular “West Haven — the Way it is”
Facebook page, as they lived in West Haven in the recent past where Meeker grew up. They also posted on a Valley-oriented Facebook page — and Doheny is getting bites from potential customers.
Danielle Sileo has three young children from pre-K to age 8, and said she plans to hire Doheny because she’s usually up until 1 a.m. wrapping, then has to “put the smile on” on Christmas morning.
“This is a lifesaver — it would take a lot of weight off of me,” Sileo said. “I just think it’s a wonderful idea.”
She also doesn’t want her kids to find any gifts around the house. Sileo, a single mother, said she was touched when her oldest child told the youngest children, “I can tell you Santa’s real,” because mommy couldn’t afford to support us all year and also buy presents.
Sileo also remembers her older stepsister at 14 telling Sileo to be the “lookout” while she
searched a room for gifts, and telling Sileo, “There’s no Santa, it’s mom and dad.”
Doheny said she will charge about $3 per gift — including the wrapping paper - and they’ll be nicely wrapped, with bows. She will pick up the gifts or the customer can drop them off. She said she will keep them as long as needed. Doheny said the personal shopper price would vary and that it’s something she can do easily with the kids in tow.
Doheny said her landlord has been understanding, but she wants to start chipping away at the balance. They’ve used everything they have, she said, and will have a smaller Christmas tree than usual.
“It’s definitely going to be a Christmas to remember,” Doheny said. “I’m hoping it’s going to be good for kids, but there are a lot of people struggling.”
To contact Doheny, email mommylife43076@gmai l.com.