- December 13, 2025
The Margarita Society of Volusia County directors at the 2025 Margarita Ball. Photo courtesy of Cindy Evans
Toys raised by the Flagler Margarita Ball. Courtesy of Cindy Evans
Toys raised by the Flagler Margarita Ball. Courtesy of Cindy Evans
The Margarita Society of Flagler County directors at the 2025 Margarita Ball. Photo courtesy of Cindy Evans
The Margarita Ball of Volusia County raised 4,130 toys for local children. Photo courtesy of Cindy Evans
Almost 5,000 toys will be delivered to children in need in Flagler and Volusia Counties after the 2025 Flagler and Volusia Margarita Balls.
The balls, organized by each county’s Margarita Society, is an invite-only event funded and organized by the Societies’ directors. Each director is given a certain number of invitations – one invite is good for two people – and the “price” of admission is $200 worth of toys per invitation, said Cindy Evans, a director on both the Flagler and Volusia County Margarita Society boards.
“Basically, every invitation is for two people, so we expect at least $200 worth of toys from an invitation,” Evans said. “The point is that for every invitation, we want double the toys. But the more the merrier.”
Typically, Evans said, guests end up bringing more than just the two required toys.
The ninth annual Margarita Ball in Flagler County was held at Channel Side on Nov. 7. Limited by its 200-person capacity for the event, the ball still raised over 800 toys for Flagler families. In Volusia, the ball was held on Nov. 22 and brought in 4,130 toys, more than in the previous year.
“A lot of people bring multitudes [of toys],” she said. “Big, big, big bags of toys.”
Local nonprofits received the toy donations to deliver to children and families who need them.
Evans founded the Flagler County Margarita Ball almost 10 years ago but has been a director of the Volusia County Margarita Society for over 30 years, since she married her husband Jeff Evans, a co-founder of the Volusia Margarita Society.
The Flagler ball is limited in scope by the available venues, Evans said. There are 20 directors and each are given a limited number of invitations. At two persons per invitation, for a total of 200 invitees, Evans said, there are few spaces in Flagler County that can accommodate a party of that size.
In Volusia County, the event is much bigger, she said, and held at the Ocean Center. Each of the 25 directors had 40 invitations, for a total potential of 2,000 guests. Comparatively, in 1988, at the Volusia Margarita Ball’s inaugural event, there were just a few hundred attendees.
“But again, it's a controlled thing, because we aren't collecting money,” Evans said. “It's just us paying for the party, putting the party on, asking our attendees to bring toys.”
According to the Margarita Society of Volusia County’s website, their efforts have “furnished over 100,000 gift to needy children throughout Central Florida.”
Below are the recipient nonprofits and organizations for each Margarita Ball:
In Flagler County: A Christmas to Remember; Early Learning Coalition of Flagler County; Flagler Cares; Flagler County Schools; Families in Transition; Flagler County Housing Authority; Loads of Smiles Flagler; I Just Want to Say Women’s Group.
In Volusia County: Beachside Elementary; Central Daytona Beach PAL; Children's Home Society of Florida; Community Partnership for Children; Early Learning Coalition of Flagler and Volusia; FBH Community; FUTURES Foundation/Take Stock in Children; Florida Guardian ad Litem Foundation; Jewish Federation of Volusia & Flagler Counties; Kidds Are First Inc.; Loads of Smiles LLC; McInnis Elementary; Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church; Neighbor To Family, Inc.; Operation Changing Lives; Ormond Beach Police Athletic League; Pace Center for Girls, Inc.; Residing Hope (Aka Florida United Methodist Children’s Home); Salty Family Services; The Childhood Cancer Foundation Inc.; Volusia Sheriff’s Youth Foundation.
