One of the most popular local holiday traditions is surely the Children’s Secret Store at the Davis Art Center’s annual Holiday Sale.

Here, children leave their parents at the door, enter the Secret Store armed with a list and money, and with the help of volunteers, find and purchase gifts for everyone on their list.

Holiday Sale staffers collect items throughout the year to be sold at the Secret Store, including everything from small candle holders and vases for mom, to gadgets for dad, and assorted toys for friends and siblings. Most items cost just a few dollars.

But recently Diana Coss, co-chair of the Holiday Sale, began mulling over how to make the Children’s Secret Store a little more eco-friendly and locally focused. She mentioned aloud to her 5-year-old daughter, Daphne Berti, that she needed to find more artists.

Daphne had a suggestion.

“She said, ‘Well mommy, I’m an artist. How can I help?’ ” Coss recalled.

Her daughter’s comment turned on a light bulb. Thinking of the beautiful beaded necklace Daphne’s friend, Victoria Savage, had recently made for her, Coss put in a call to Victoria’s mother, Roberta Savage, and suggested a “beading party.”

A short time later, that party took place at the home of Davis Art Center president Jean Korinke, where her own daughter joined several other children in making jewelry to be sold at the Children’s Secret Store.

Savage’s law office sponsored the event, which used recycled beads as well as beads purchased locally at A Better Place to Bead, which offered them at a discount.

“Though I recognize that the necklaces are not 100 percent recycled,” Coss said, “the local assembly is a step in the right direction.

“All of the girls loved the idea of making necklaces,” Coss added. “More than the beading party itself, I think the girls were excited to be actively involved in bettering their community and our environment.”

The whole idea of making the sale more eco-friendly will be highlighted by the introduction this year of a “green table” inside the store. That table, Coss said, “will be all local and mostly eco-friendly gift items that children can purchase.”

In order to get more children involved in the future, discussions are under way about offering an Art Center class where children will make items throughout the year to be sold at the Children’s Secret Store.

“That would be a great direction to go in,” Coss said.

The annual Holiday Sale takes place this year Dec. 2-4 at the Davis Art Center, 1919 F St.

— Reach Anne Ternus-Bellamy at [email protected] or (530) 747-8051.

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