This has had me giggling all week:

My niece, confident and splendid at the age of four, is undertaking her first project to make the world (which revolves, you understand, in a tight circle around her) a better place: she and the rest of her pre-school class are holding a Hop-a-thon to raise money for charity.

A Hop-a-thon!

Does anyone else think this is perhaps the cutest planetary improvement idea ever? How much more fun would Earth Day be with some hopping involved? I have been cracking up for days at the idea of my beloved niece and her classmates (all fortified with copious amounts of sugar, no doubt) hoping with all their little hearts while their teachers cheer them on by yelling cha-ching! to acknowledge the nickels and dimes and quarters they're earning for their cause.

There have to be more ideas like this...what else could we do to make a-thons more creative and fun? (And let's stick to G-rated options, in case above-mentioned niece is reading :) )