WARSAW — It’s never too early to have a joyful season or participate in the annual drawing of Christmas Bucks. Kosciusko County merchants will be giving away $2,000 in Christmas Bucks this year. The Papers Inc. and participating merchants sponsor the promotion to give back to the community during the holiday season.

The Party Shop, located at 3418 Lake City Highway, Warsaw, is the longest sponsor of Christmas Bucks at 39 years, when the Hallmark shop first opened in 1978. Family owned and run, participating in the promotion came naturally to Dorothy and Norm Snyder.

“We’re big on events.” Dorothy explained. “We feel that we’re a destination store because of our ornament museum but Christmas Bucks gets us a tremendous flow of foot traffic as people come in to sign up, then it has a twofold purpose because if they win at your store, they come back to spend money in the store.”

The Party Shop came to be when Norm needed a work environment change years ago and Dorothy always wanted to own a Hallmark store. After searching through the surrounding area of Columbia City, they wandered into Warsaw one sunny Saturday.

“We had no idea what was ahead of us,” commented Norm. “We came in and looked around, then I walked up to the lady behind the counter and said, “You have a beautiful Hallmark store here.” Her exact words were, “Thank you, would you like to buy it?” That’s how we ended up in Warsaw. It’s been quite a run.”

“He turned in his resignation and we haven’t looked back,” added Dorothy.

The Party Shop is a healthy family friendly environment that thrives by providing quality customer service, constantly hosting in-store events and having a one-of-a-kind ornament museum that even Hallmark doesn’t have. The museum has over 4,000 Hallmark ornaments and is the only complete collection on public display. This attracts people from all around who are collectors, enthusiasts or are just plain curious about the shop.

On the beat with trending popular products, even young children can find their favorite ornament in the store. It offers a bit of everything from home decor to clothing attire all while providing personalized care to ensure everyone who enters is comfortable.

While Dorothy, Norm and their family work every day of the year, they love what they do. They have a lot of fun working, especially together. The long hours and constant work only feed their passion for what they’re doing.

Christmas Bucks will run for four weeks, from Wednesday, Oct. 25, to Wednesday, Nov. 15, providing ample amount of time participants can take advantage of. Entry forms can be cut out of this edition of ‘the PAPER,’ be filled out and deposited at businesses listed below. There will be multiple entry forms in the Nov. 1, 8, and 15 editions as well.

The first place prize will be $800 and second place will be $500. Third, fourth and fifth place prizes will be $150 each. Sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th place prizes will be $50 each.

Winners of Christmas Bucks can redeem them at any business partaking in the contest. It isn’t necessary to make a purchase or be present to win. The drawing will be held at the Milford office of The Papers on Monday, Nov. 20.

A second drawing will consist of only advertisers to determine which store owner or manager will be the winner of a $1,000 cash prize.

Merchants participating in this year’s Christmas Bucks are: Zale Drugs, Warsaw; L&M Foods, Nappanee; The Brick Oven, Milford; Reinholt’s Town Square Furniture, Warsaw; Napa Auto Parts, Warsaw, Syracuse, North Webster; Chubbie’s Pub-N-Grub, Syracuse; Monteith Tire, Warsaw; Freedom Express, Warsaw, North Webster, Leesburg, Etna Green’ The Party Shop, Warsaw; The Spectacle Shoppe Inc., Warsaw; H&L Motors and Decorative Beginnings, Warsaw; Whetten Pizza, Milford; Big R, Warsaw; The Cave on the Square, Warsaw; B Macs on Buffalo, Warsaw; Dental Solutions, Warsaw; Wyndham Garden, Warsaw; Creighton’s Crazy Egg Cafe and Coffee Bar, Warsaw; JB’s Furniture, Warsaw; Himalayan Salt and Scents, Warsaw; Arby’s, Warsaw; Brouwer’s Furniture, Warsaw; Woodland Variety Store, Bremen; Pizza Hut, Detroit Street and Lake Village, Warsaw; A-1 Maytag of North Webster, North Webster, Cigarettes Plus, Warsaw, Miller’s Rite Choice Foods, Nappanee, Penguin Point, Warsaw, Elkhart, Syracuse, Goshen; Papa John’s Pizza, Warsaw; Sweeper Remedy, Syracuse; Burnworth Zollars Automotive Group, Nappanee; Peterson’s Fish, Syracuse; Pizza King, Warsaw, Syracuse, North Webster, Silver Lake, Columbia City; Sears, Warsaw.