{"id":76239,"date":"2025-12-04T20:08:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T20:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/76239\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T20:08:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T20:08:07","slug":"houston-ballets-nutcracker-preview-party-sets-new-donation-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/76239\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston Ballet\u2019s Nutcracker preview party sets new donation record"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Houston holiday season doesn\u2019t officially begin until the Nutcracker Market<\/a> throws open its doors, and this year\u2019s Wells Fargo Preview Party<\/a> felt like stepping into a snow globe set on extra. Like more is more.<\/p>\n

Somewhere between the cheeky stocking stuffers and the Dior-kissed repurposed couture, guests needed an actual map to conquer the sprawling shopping fantasia.<\/p>\n

Held November 12 at NRG Center, the 45th anniversary celebration of the Houston Ballet<\/a> shopping f\u00eate welcomed more than 5,000 eager shoppers, all ready to sprint through aisles lined with more than 280 merchants. Helmed by chairs Susan Binney and Jennifer Kushner, along with preview party chairs Leslie Alston, Kaylon Phillips, and Casey Rowe, the evening shimmered with nostalgia. Guests showed up in themed attire ranging from glittery holiday chic to coordinated squads that looked like flash mobs armed with credit cards and a mission.<\/p>\n

Houston Ballet\u2019s new executive director Sonja Kostich arrived for her very first Nutcracker Market, greeting supporters and soaking in the community\u2019s devotion to a beloved tradition that fuels the Ballet\u2019s mission and scholarship programs. Houston Ballet Academy students glided through the party in costumes from Stanton Welch\u2019s The Nutcracker<\/a>, creating photo ops. Principal dancer Harper Watters and Houston Ballet icon Lauren Anderson also made appearances.<\/p>\n

Festive cocktails, champagne flutes, and a parade of hors d\u2019oeuvre and desserts satisfied while the David Caceres Band<\/a> kept the energy high. By the end of the night, the Preview Party had raised nearly $1.5 million in ticket sales and commissions \u2014 a record for the Market.<\/p>\n

Moreover, more than 104,000 shoppers showed up during the November 13-16 festivities. All in, ticket sales surpassed $24 million and raised more than $6 million to directly support Houston Ballet, its Academy and scholarship program.<\/p>\n

Showing their holiday spirit were Kristy Bradshaw, Ann Bean, Wendy Burks, Anne Chao, Gay Currie, Tom DeBesse, Arcy Mu\u00f1oz Marshall, Sharon Erskine, Ann Graham, Twana Griffith Faykus, Michelle Iversen Jeffery, Jay Jones, Julie Kent, Deborah and Edward Koehler, Chad Libertus, Desrye Morgan, Beth Muecke, Patti Murphy, Jennifer Sommers, S. Shawn Stephens, Allison Thacker, Cynthia Wolff, Deborah Duncan, Ghada Ali, Carolina Oliveira, Catarina R. Gonzales, and Miya Shay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Houston holiday season doesn\u2019t officially begin until the Nutcracker Market throws open its doors, and this year\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76240,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[2571,56,25741,58,57,21299,808],"class_list":{"0":"post-76239","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-fundraisers","9":"tag-houston","10":"tag-houston-ballet","11":"tag-houston-headlines","12":"tag-houston-news","13":"tag-nutcracker-market","14":"tag-shopping"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}