Three McDougle Middle School girls may have started a trend when they decided to triple the fun and share a birthday party this year.

Rachel Baker, Kelly Archer and Alex Taylor all turned 13 within a month of each other and decided to have one party Nov. 3 -- mstery masquerade party -- and invite all their friends.

During the planning, they thought about presents.

"It almost didn't occur to me that there'd be presents," Alex said. They realized people who knew all of them couldn't bring three presents, she said, "so we started thinking of making it a fundraiser."

"We wanted to do a local one that people at the party could feel connected to," Kelly added.

They knew Balloons & Tunes was the place to go every Christmas for a list of gifts to buy for an Orange County foster child.

"I have a friend who does it every single year," Kelly said. "I've always known about it."

People who frequent Balloons & Tunes in Carrboro know that co-owners Pat Garavaglia and Sharon Collins make it easy for friends and customers to participate in the Foster Care Wish List program.

Every year the Department of Social Services has children fill out wish lists -- things they want -- including sizes and colors. Sponsors choose a child and buy as much on the list as they can, then return wrapped gifts to DSS knowing that the child will have his or her wishes come true on Christmas.

The first year they did it, it was so easy that they took it a step farther the next year and picked up extra wish lists for friends who wanted to participate. They provided for 200 kids last year.

"It grows and grows and everybody wants to keep doing it," Garavaglia said.

The three new 13-year-olds wanted to do something for local teens.

"When we were thinking of who we could give the donations to, we wanted it to be something that related to us and thought we could give it to the teens," Rachel said.

At the party held at the Southern Orange Human Services Center, a box was set out for attendees to leave donations. The next day the girls learned that the 83 friends who attended had donated $1,560.

"I couldn't believe how generous our friends were," Kelly said. "I was so impressed. It was amazing how willing everybody was to donate."

"We've taken the money those girls raised for us, and we've used it to sponsor most of the teens in the program," Garavaglia said. "The teens really need to know that people are out there thinking about them."

She and Collins learned just how much it means to foster teens a few years ago when they were trying to buy a bike. The young salesman kept asking questions about the person who would be riding it. When they told him why they didn't know the child, he told them what a good thing they were doing.

He said he had grown up in foster care in Florida and that some years the foster family would give their biological kids presents but give nothing to the foster kids. It meant a lot when he'd get something from a stranger.

"He said, 'You think it's for only a day, but it means something to us every day,' " Garavaglia said, calling him their foster kid angel.

"People are eager to do for others if you give them an idea and make it easy for them to do something," Collins said. She commended local businesses that jumped in to help -- York Simpson Underwood, Performance Auto, Auto Logic and Village Self Storage, which provides space to store items they collect throughout the year.

"And Tom McFall of T.J.'s Beverage," Garavaglia said. "He collects change all year round and gives it to us."

The girls said their idea has caught on at school with others sharing parties and making donations to local programs.

"To know that those kids are setting an example -- paying it forward -- it mushrooms," Collins said. "Look what happened from Pat and I sponsoring two kids 18 years ago."

To learn more, call 967-3433.