The happy chatter of children fills the temporary holiday shop as Christmas music plays in the background. Young boys and girls accompanied by volunteers in festive aprons take their time selecting from gifts arranged on tables covered in red and green cloth.

Each year, about 1,200 children come through the store during the 12th annual Crisis Nursery Children’s Holiday Shop at Lincoln Square Mall, said Kim Gollings, volunteer coordinator for Crisis Nursery.

The Holiday Shop is a fundraiser for the Crisis Nursery of Champaign, an organization “dedicated to the prevention of child abuse and neglect,” according to their Web site. Last year the fundraiser brought in about $2,600, Grollings said.

Gollings said she sees many of the same families from year to year.

“We’re building great traditions and memories in our community,” she said, “and it’s a fun event.”

The Holiday Shop serves as a place where children can do their holiday shopping without the help of parents. The Holiday Shop is open three weekends a year and will be opened this weekend.

All the items in the temporary store are priced between $1 and $6. Gifts range from stuffed animals, ceramic mugs and blue and white candles shaped like dreidels.

“Just watching these kids, they’re having the time of their lives,” said Dick Halton, a Savoy resident and volunteer.

Jason Dodds, who has been a volunteer for five years, said he still enjoys watching the kids buy their gifts.

“It’s really rewarding,” said Dodds, a Champaign board member. “They get really excited about buying their own stuff.”

Not only do the kids have fun, but the volunteers have a good time as well.

Katie Miller, a senior at Mahomet-Seymour High School, helped the kids with their shopping. “I think it’s really fun for the kids to pick out something for their family and they’re all really cute,” Miller said.

Melissa Donahue, a Savoy resident, waited outside the store while her daughter Caroline and son Andrew shopped.

“They’re really proud of the fact they picked it (a gift) out,” Donahue said of her children.

Donahue said that although it might be cheaper for her kids to shop at the dollar store, they go to the holiday store “because the money goes for a good cause.”

“I explain to them that they’re the kids with the money helping the ones that don’t,” she said.