As a reward for inviting your friends to take our Peaceful Holidays pledge, you could win...
Grand Prize: A one-week trip to DC to take action in Congress and live at the Pink House on the Hill
Second Prize: Gift package from Ret. Colonel Ann Wright: autographed copy of Ann Wright’s new book, Dissent: Voices of Conscience, an autographed CODEPINK t-shirt, and a collection of CODEPINK buttons and stickers to inspire and accent your activist work
Third Prize: Women in Film Supporting Peace Gift Package: CODEPINK t-shirt autographed by Mia Kirschner, star of The L-Word, Lead Us Out of Iraq poster signed by Jane Fonda, and a copy of CODEPINK’s Women Say No to War DVD
Bring peace into your holiday celebrations with our creative and engaging peace actions! Once a week during the month of December, choose one action from our list of "10 Ways to Have a Peaceful Holiday Season." Check the actions you will commit to doing when you sign up for this month’s pledge! When we come to together as a community whether it be by having a holiday house party, caroling in your neighborhood, highlighting the dangers of giving war toys to our children, conversing with others about the dangers of a war with Iran, we can inspire others to do the same. After you sign the pledge on this page, you’ll receive an email with your personalized webpage sign-up form. Forward this link to your friends and invite them to sign on. The person who gets the most pledges at the end of the month wins a free trip to DC to be in action with CODEPINK!
We have suggested 10 creative and fun actions you can take to achieve not only a more peaceful holiday season but a more peaceful world.
10 Ways to Have a Peaceful Holiday Season in 2007
1. Host a Holiday Peace Party:
As CODEPINK celebrates 5 years of creative resistance this winter season, gather your friends together to re-energize, inspire, and share in savory conversation and warm food and drinks! Plan a potluck or peace party, facilitate a conversation about anti-war activism, make sustainable gifts for the holidays or invite people to bring items from home for a swap. Invite people to give the gift of peace by making a donation to CODEPINK’s Iraqi Refugees Fund.
Spreading holiday cheer and peace is easy: invite 5 friends, and ask them to each bring a friend and a dish to share. Share inspiring stories over a potluck meal. Get creative and make peace gifts.
Click here to download our house party guide.
Craft ideas for your holiday house party:
Bake cookies in the shape of peace signs. Click here for a great peace cookie recipe.
Make holiday tree decorations in the shape of peace signs
Make a bloody hand print wreath, inspired by Desiree Fairooz's brave bloody hands action with Condoleeza Rice, to remind others of the blood on our country's hands (see how to below)
2. Gift peacefully and responsibly
Shop at the CODEPINK Online Store! We have a great selection of gift baskets, t-shirts, yoga pants, peace panties, water bottles, books, and more--something pink for everyone on your list! Click here to visit our store.
Buy sustainably-made and green gifts from the Global Exchange online store. Support local community economies around the world. Global Exchange is CODEPINK’s sister organization in San Francisco. Click here to visit the Global Exchange store.
Get environmentally friendly gift ideas by reading Project New Dream’s Gift Guide
Or, buy nothing!
Give the gift of your time, your activism, and your values to your loved ones this year and resist the shopping craze! For inspiration to stop shopping, click here.
3. Say no to war toys and war games
Every holiday season manufacturers prey on our children with pro-war propaganda disguised as innocent toys. Don't let your child be a victim of G.I. Joe! As you're out buying holiday gifts, make a point this year to show little ones that war is not game. Set an example for the children in your life and use the opportunity to teach them non-violence.
Operation Stick it to Them: Go to your local toy store and plaster their war toys and games with "Don't Buy War Toys" stickers.
Janet Codispoti, owner of Village Toy Shop in Hilo, Hawaii and coordinator of CODEPINK Hilo-Puna, has some advice on buying and encouraging peace toys: "Co-operative games are a wonderful way to practice peacemaking and communication skills by learning to play together as friends rather than competing against each other as enemies. Our future peacemakers need to be creative experimenters, willing to try new things. A good toy encourages open-ended play, invites exploration, and repeatedly engages a child's interest. Toys should be hands-on tools not watch-me players. A child should be able to power a plaything with his or her own ideas and imagination."
4. Speak up for peace at your local mall
Organize a trip to the mall with like-minded friends to hand out anti-war flyers with the "Don't Buy Bush's War" message. When you hand out the flyers, be polite and try to engage people, if they are willing. You can also ask parents not to buy war toys and war games. Urge them to teach their children that war is not a game. Tell them to have a peaceful holiday.
Wear a CODEPINK t-shirt or a pink slip and be visible!
Northwest Indiana CODEPINK has been organizing mall walks. The group's coordinator, Nina, says, "We wear our Out of Iraq T-shirts, put the kids in strollers and walk around the local mall. This has been very effective in contacting new people. We don't actively leaflet, but have flyers for those who ask about our organization."
5. Go caroling with holiday peace songs
Gather family and friends to go peace caroling in your neighborhood, at your local mall or in your town square.
Download our peaceful holiday songbook
6. Make a Bloody Handprint Wreath:
Remind your house party guests, or family and friends, of the blood that has been spilt in Iraq by creating a bloody handprint wreath.
Items needed:
- Construction paper or poster board in pink or white
- Red paint to make hand print
- Red construction paper if you want to cut out hand print
- Glitter pens to decorate and write “No War” on hand print
- Glue or tape
- String or pink ribbon
How to make a Red Paint Hands Wreath
- On poster board or construction paper, draw a circle in pencil (use a plate or other hard round object) at least 7 inches in diameter.
- Remove all rings and bracelets, and cover one hand with red paint.
- Pressing firmly, make a handprint in the shape of a circle on construction paper or poster board.
- Move the poster board or construction paper slightly to the left, and continue to press your hand around the edge of the penciled-in circle. You will need to reapply paint with every new "hand."
- When you have completed the circle, write "Peace on Earth - Stop the killing in Iraq!" in the center, using a glitter pen or black marker.
- Make a circle with glitter pen or black marker over the penciled-in circle.
- Make two holes at the top of your "wreath", thread string or pink ribbon through holes, and tape or glue to your door or other surface.
For paper handprints, follow the same instructions, except: cut out paper in the shape of hand and paint red. You can also trace and cut out red handprints from red construction paper and create your wreath by gluing the red hands together.
7. Go see Persepolis at a theater near you
Persepolis is based on the autobiographical graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi about growing up in Iran during the cultural revolution. The book was featured in CODEPINK's book club in October. Organize an outing to see the film, which opens with limited release December 25, and wider after the new year. After the screening, you have a great opportunity to stand outside the theater and ask for people who have just viewed the film to sign our Iran petition. To learn more about the Iranian Revolution and rights for Iranian women, click here to download a powerpoint presentation created by CODEPINK youth coordinator Samantha.
Print out our Iran petition and invite people sign it at the theater.
Print out our ½ page Iran info flyer and pass it out to moviegoers.
8. Visit your local Congressperson while they are home for the holidays
Congress is home on recess December 20 ~ January 3. To find out where your representative’s office is, click here. You'll make the most of your time by choosing ahead of time the lead speaker(s), a notetaker, a photographer, and a person to follow up with an email afterward. Be sure to post an account, with photos if possible, to the Local Spotlight on our website. Congress continues to cook up half-baked legislation that allows them to keep funding the war in Iraq while attempting to present an anti-war image. We must remain uncompromising and clear with our message: Only fund the withdrawal of our troops and the rebuilding of Iraq (by Iraqis), prevent a war with Iran, and restore our civil liberties. For resources on the local cost of war and current legislative updates, click here.
9. Donate to Iraqi Refugees and CODEPINK
Give the gift of peace by donating to our fund to help Iraq refugees and fund CODEPINK actions in DC to end the occupation.
Collect donations at your holiday party, while you’re caroling, or while on vacation!
Make a donation online or send checks to:
CODEPINK
2010 Linden Ave.
Venice, CA 90291
10. Educate and inspire your family and friends
While you are home for the holidays or gathering with your loved ones, take a few moments to discuss what is happening in Iraq, Iran and Pakistan, and mention ways that each person at the table might take action to influence U.S. policy in the region. In preparation, you can read our selected articles and talking points, and pass this information along!
You can also tell family and friends how important their voices are and invite them to take this holiday peace pledge.
How this pledge will make a difference:
By taking one action per week this holiday season from our list of “10 Ways to Have a Peaceful Holiday Season” you can influence not only family and friends but hundreds of people who will visit the malls, town squares and other public places you will frequent when you participate in any one of these 10 actions. Maybe the mother at the mall who was considering buying a war-oriented toy will consider buying something else when they see you with a flyer that says “Don’t buy war toys.” Maybe the couple at the movie theatre seeing Persepolis will take action and sign the Iran petition. With these creative actions, you can share your desire for a peaceful and environmentally healthy world with the people in your community.
Pass this message on to your friends—either by email or by bringing a form to local organizing meetings--and get them to pledge to create a more peaceful holiday season by choosing one action per week. We'll let you know how you are doing and how much pressure you have created. The person who inspires the most pledges in the month of December will win an unforgettable week at the CODEPINK house in DC. Remember—every act, no matter how small, makes a difference. When we band together, our voices will be impossible to ignore.
Thank you for pledging to make your holiday season peaceful!
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