Baby2Baby Hosts Holiday Bash With Jessica Alba, Rachel Zoe and More

It was about as boisterous and heartwarming a holiday scene as the Montage Beverly Hills sees: dozens of young children and their parents facing poverty and hardship indulged in an array of yuletide-themed activities, including making ornaments out of candy, creating their own glittery takes on “snow slime” customizing backpacks and visiting a toy shop lined with highly coveted playthings from Hasbro. Meanwhile, bag after bag filled with diapers, underwear, hygiene products, presents and other essentials lined the ballroom, waiting to be collected by families needing a boost for the holidays.

“As a parent we all want to create memories for our children, good memories, and this is one of those events where we can help parents make really sweet memories for their kids,” Jessica Alba, one of Baby2Baby’s board members and most visible public faces, told The Hollywood Reporter. Alba, her husband Cash Warren and their children attended the organization’s annual Baby2Baby Holiday Party presented by FRAME.

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Jenna Dewan, Michelle Monaghan, Rachel Zoe, Rebecca Gayheart, Jennifer Meyer and Lisa Ling also gathered with their families to meet, eat and play with the recipients of Baby2Baby’s efforts at the party sponsored by the London- and L.A.-based fashion brand. 

“Not every family has extra money lying around to be able to buy presents for their kids around the holidays, and to be able to give kids and help families give their children a Christmas they wouldn’t otherwise be able to have is super meaningful,” said Alba, who recalled some of the holiday struggles her own family faced. “I remember growing up my mom put stuff on layaway for a year to pay off our Christmas, and my dad was in the military — we shopped at the commissary. That was my life growing up and my mom did the best she could, even though we didn’t have a lot. And so growing up in that type of household, I know how important it is to be able to get those good times, and make those positive memories.”

“For us, we just want to stay out of the way and allow them to have a great memory with their kids, go have a Santa photo,” added Alba. “And then we provide a mix of fun presents for their kids, and then also essentials. Not every family has warm blankets or shoes for their children, and not every family has a safe place to sleep, and so they have an ask list of stuff that they just don’t have.”

“I don’t know how it couldn’t hit anyone in the heart,” Monaghan told THR of the event. “I was just picking out some toys for these three brothers and sisters. They have a little baby sister and they got to choose two presents for her.”

“All the work that Baby2Baby does, you actually see right in front of you,” said longtime board member Zoe. “You get to actually meet some of the families, spend time with them, and see their feeling, smiling faces, and them dancing, and picking out toys, and having a normal kid experience. I think that is really the main goal of Baby2Baby — to give every child that feeling, because they should have a happy holiday, like every other kid.”

“It’s just the most special, magical day for us and for the Baby2Baby families — putting everyone together, it’s just magical,” said the group’s co-president Kelly Sawyer Patricof. “Baby2Baby’s definitely a 365-day-a-year organization and for families in poverty who are struggling with diapers and clothing and basic essentials, that is a struggle every day. But the holidays are the holidays and as much as they need the most basic essentials, they want to give their children a Christmas. They want to give them toys and they will do whatever they can to make that happen for their children.”