On Dec. 3, take pleasure in the beauty of holiday flora carefully chosen and placed in five classic Upper Arlington homes. Or, party in a floral-bedecked office on Dec. 4 in a historic Downtown Columbus building.

What is the purpose of these holiday festivities? To give 200 youngsters, all of whom have diabetes, the chance to enjoy fun and games in the great outdoors at summer camps. The annual Deck the Halls Tour of Homes and Candlelight Celebration, which is sponsored by the Women’s Board of the Central Ohio Diabetes Association, raises funds specifically for these camps and their participants.

The goal this year is $75,000, says Bobbie Wilson, the board’s educational and social chairman. Since the board’s inception in 1981, it has raised more than $1 million through various events, all to help those with diabetes by helping pay for annual summer camps and academic scholarships. The board awards $6,000 in scholarships annually.

Since the tour began six years ago, numerous Upper Arlington residents have opened their homes for the one-day, two-segment tour. The event showcases professional floral decorating for the holidays while giving guests glimpses of classic homes in historic UA.

The day after the tour, the board stages an upscale Candelight Celebration at The Loft on North Fourth Street downtown, a ticketed event that features a band, Santa Claus, elves and an auction.

UA native Regina Carmody Prange of Natural Design, which provides custom designs for special occasions, has been decorating homes on the tour for years, in part because her husband has diabetes.

A visit to the volunteered home allows Prange to see how she can accent architectural factors, furniture and lifestyle. Sometimes she uses homeowners’ vases and personal items, allowing them to continue to use the added ambience for entertainment after the weekend ends.

Rather than adding large groupings of floral items, Prange identifies places where smaller arrangements can be placed “so that everywhere they turn they see something of the holiday.” She prefers to use live plants so that visitors enjoy a mix of pleasant aromas as well as nature’s beauty.

Another perpetual designer is the Daisy Basket in the heart of UA. Bart Krogman, sales director, says this year’s design will include “a little more unique organic stock,” such as seed of eucalyptus, magnolia or boxwood. Depending upon the home, the design will feature a combination of live and fresh cut plants as well as some ever-lastings (artificial), he adds.

“The focus will be on longer-lasting items for folks who entertain through the end of the month,” Krogman says.

While the florists donate work and materials for the tour, homeowners are given the opportunity to buy whatever decorations they want to keep.

For this year’s tour, gift items will be available in three of the participating homes. They include free sweets, ornaments and gift certificates and a gift basket raffle.

At the Diabetes Association, social services and camp director Darlene Honigferd says the tour helps offset the $1,685 per camper cost for a week-long outing at Camp Hamwi (the camp is named after George Hamwi, a co-founder of the foundation in 1964). Parents were charged $375 per camper last summer, she says, and some, if not all of it, can be covered by “scholarships” based on various factors, including need and family size.

The association rents a Knox County camp from the Seventh Day Adventist Church for Camp Hamwi. Last summer, 155 kids attended, split almost evenly between the two weeks it was held after the church’s camp sessions were over in late July and early August. There are also one- and two-day camps for younger kids held at the YMCA’s Camp Hoover, south of Columbus.

Because these children have diabetes, camp is a chance to learn the disease need not hamper their lives or limit their activities. Camp activities can include anything from horseback riding to swimming to hiking. Enrollees come through word of mouth, referrals from Nationwide Children’s Hospital or from various other organizations.

For more information about the Deck the Halls Tour of Homes, visit www.diabetesohio.org.  

Duane St. Clair is a contributing editor for Upper Arlington Magazine.


WHEN YOU GO …
Deck the Halls Tour of Homes
WHEN: 10 a.m.-3 p.m. and 5-8 p.m. Dec. 3
COST: $18 in advance from Huffman’s Market, Central Ohio Diabetes Association, Women’s Board members; $20 at the door

WHERE:
Homes and florists
The Anderson home 1981 Tremont Rd., Natural Design
The Roe home 2025 Tremont Rd., Chapel Hill
The Melvin home 2015 Cambridge Blvd., Crimson Design
The Godard home 2030 Cambridge Blvd., Rose Bredl Flowers & Garden
The Matrka home 2053 Coventry Rd., Daisy Basket

Candelight Celebration
WHEN: 7:30-11 p.m. Dec. 4
WHERE: The Loft, 580 N. Fourth St. (Former Smith Hardware building)
COST: $100 per person