While many Mexican families celebrate Christmas in December, the traditional day for children to receive gifts is Three Kings Day. Every year on January 6, families gather to mark the close of the Christmas season; children leave out their shoes in hopeful anticipation, cake is shared, and parades fill the streets.

This year, Back2Back staff partnered with a local shoe retailer, Dportenis, to host a celebration for families in the community. 50 children and 50 adults gathered under the palapa to commemorate the day together.

Dportenis provided toys, food, drinks, and decorations. Their Social Responsibility team organized games and activities for the families, filling the space with laughter and movement. Many of the children and families present are not guaranteed moments like these. Financial strain and daily pressures leave little room for celebrations and extras. 

But on January 6, 2026, joy had space to move. 

Families competed in community-building games, took turns at the piñata, and cheered one another on. Each child carefully selected a toy and received a new pair of shoes; it was a practical gift given with dignity and accepted with delight.

“Watching each child walk to the table of gifts and thoughtfully consider what they would choose was a gift in itself,” a staff member shared. “Their smiles were contagious.”

The celebration ended with slices of Three Kings cake, juice, and hot chocolate shared beneath the shade of the palapa. What could have been an ordinary January afternoon became something more. It was a reminder that childhood is designed to include joy and belonging.  

Partnerships like this one make those moments possible. When local businesses and community members step in, they create space where distress might otherwise crowd it out. They protect something sacred: the simple, steady experience of being a child.

And when childhood is guarded, restoration begins.