Charity HSN ornaments raise money and memories

NEW YORK — Celebrity designers drew on childhood holiday memories and new family traditions to create Christmas tree ornaments with a heart.

The ornaments will be sold through HSN, which previously had raised $3 million through various projects for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, based in Memphis, Tenn. CEO Mindy Grossman says that the shopping channel's customers are hungry to do more good. "Our customers want to be inspired," she says.

This new project donates 100 percent of the profits (a minimum of 30 percent of the sales price) to the hospital, and it taps into HSN's network of designers, experts and personalities, including Sarah Jessica Parker, Iman, Martha Stewart, Padma Lakshmi, Molly Sims and Marlo Thomas, St. Jude national outreach director.

There are 75 ornaments in all.

"I love the one that looks like Naeem Khan's dance-hall chandelier. You know it'll look so gorgeous on the tree," says Thomas. "And Diane Gilman's zebras and leopards? I've never seen that before, and I will get a couple for my tree."

Designers share their inspirations and stories:

—Thomas' set features two golden ornaments, one with kids and a snowman, and the other with a teddy bear.

Thomas recalls that her father, the late Danny Thomas, a previous champion of St. Jude, would put up one of the biggest holiday displays in all of Beverly Hills. It included a giant star from the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas.

Thomas and husband Phil Donahue carry on that bigger-is-better holiday decorating tradition. "We always have a huge tree, maybe 11 feet, that's in the stairwell of our home in Connecticut, but you can't see the tree because it has so many ornaments on it."

She says some of her favorite ornaments are those she buys as souvenirs from happy vacations, including Indonesia and Italy, but with St. Jude such an important part of her life for so long, the ornaments designed by patients there will surely be the most special this year.

"I'm very excited about this. It's a way to celebrate, give back and give thanks for the healthy kids in your life," she says.

—Model, TV host and entrepreneur Iman's ornament is a lookalike diva in a Santa suit beside a fully decorated tree.

Illustrator Alvaro, who makes Iman's youngest daughter a personalized ornament every year, did the artwork.