BENTONVILLE — What do you get the Kidd who has everything ? Especially if he’s just turning 2 ?

A giving bent is the perfect present.

Carson Kidd, son of Allison and Jason Kidd, and Alana Pearl Rosen, daughter of Betsy and Marc Rosen, celebrated their second birthdays together Saturday with a gathering at Pump It Up in Bentonville. The two Bentonville tots are playmates at Mom’s Day Out at First Baptist Church, also in Bentonville.

Instead of gifts, young guests were asked to bring a new pair of shoes to be donated to Helping Hands Inc., a thrift store whose proceeds benefit Benton County residents in need. The idea came from Betsy Rosen, whose sister, Gerri Persin, did the same thing with her daughter’s birthday party in Chicago. Rosen was eager to try it at home with the Kidds’ help.

“Our kids are so blessed, and the last thing that either one of them needs is another toy,” she says. “They’re at the age that they won’t know about missing presents, so this was a good year to do it.”

The Rosens, members of Etz Chaim synagogue, and the Kidds, members of First United Methodist Church in Bentonville, are involved with Helping Hands Inc. through their churches. Collecting shoes seemed the obvious choice, Rosen says.

“Shoes are something that a lot of people don’t buy new for their kids when they’re really needy. I think other things come first,” she says.