Tag Archives: children

APIA Global Community Day in Seattle – September 2023

Nearly 100 people, including host parents, host siblings and au pairs from around the globe joined their Seattle area Au Pair In America community to celebrate!

The au pairs brought down the house with a culture fair that had posters, food, dancing, language and all the smiles.  We had representative from Zimbabwe, Peru, Panama, France, Colombia, Brazil, China, South Africa, and Germany showing their colors and sharing themselves.  We enjoyed treats specially made from Colombia and Brazil and kids got to “travel the world” with their passports collecting country stickers. Host parents shared their stories about their friendships with au pairs and best practices informally with one another.  We had a nice (but small this year) water balloon toss game (so many families with babies and nap times made this a bit smaller this year).  The bigger kids colored, did word searches, a bingo diversity scavenger hunt, and got tattoos for kids of all ages.  After the event, they headed down to meet our new lady troll in West Seattle.  And the weather couldn’t have been better.  All in all, it was a lovely day for the world.

As American as Baseball – August 2023

As American as baseball…the remarkable APIA family of au pairs from all WA clusters gathered to watch the Mariners beat Kansas City in a sunshine filled stadium. We got to know one another a bit more in seventh inning stretch and won some big league chew. A gorgeous day of global, peace-seeking, adventure-driven community at the ball park.

Seattle Touring in our own Town – May 2023

A small but mighty group went touring in our own town.  We tried a new tour company and hit the streets to hear about what we didn’t yet know.  They told us great stories of Seattle octopus, revealed the real “first Starbucks” location, talked through the Seattle fire and the newly built city and told tales of a man named Ivar and his eccentric ways (leading him to start the first fish and chips chain in the city.).

Strong Women Cheering on Strong Women – January 2023

Au pairs from all around WA came together to cheer on our local UW Women’s Basketball team.  We lost in overtime, but won in friendships and connections!  So many countries, it’s too hard to count.  Excited for in person and for a brand new year.

Vashon Island and Her Peace Keepers – December 2022

This strong group of independent women from Poland, Germany, Argentina and Brazil make up APIA on Vashon Island these days and bring the party wherever they go – even if it is just from this room to the next.  Vashon Island is lucky to have this international childcare option and these folks are lucky enough to call the island home for a year.

Botanical Lights – December 2022


Au pairs gathered up in Bellevue to witness the lights of the Bellevue botanical garden.  We ended with some flute music, a secret Santa gift exchange and a discussion about wellness and tradition.  Nice to be together and look back on the beauty of 2022.

A Global Friends-Giving – Nov 2022

Au pairs from around the world came together to try pie!  (and some to first test out using a whip cream dispenser with the help of new friends.). They shared the year’s gratitudes, their advice for one another on winter shopping spots, advice for classes they enjoyed and thoughts on cluster meetings for 2023. And our pie vote revealed pecan to be the clear #1 winner followed by blueberry at #2.

Cultural Fair and Family Day AT LAST – October 2022

APIA host families from around the Greater Seattle area and their au pairs participated in our annual cultural fair and family day (after a two year hiatus).  So lovely to have the community together again to do word searches, tattoos, face painting, cultural bingos, water balloon tosses and a cultural fair put on by delegates from six countries.  The kids had a blast learning about Poland, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Germany.  Thanks to all who came and to this little one from Vashon Island who fell asleep on the host for an hour.  A real gift to be together.

Celebrating Exchange Day with Private Pool Parties – July 2022

Check out the pictures from our community gathering of over 60 au pairs in our multi-cluster event.  It was a special night with a pool just for us!  Celebrating J-Day, the community brought shoes to donate – over 100 pairs!  Click here to see more about Exchange Day:  https://www.alliance-exchange.org/events/celebrate-exchange-day/.

We played just a few ice breakers before deciding to simply have a dance party with the top US summer hits in the pool with no agenda.  And some high diving for fearless women was had!