SCOTT TWP, Pa. -- The Hallmark Channel is premiering 40 new Christmas movies this year and they've already started airing. If that's not enough to get you in the holiday spirit, there's a new board game that might do it.
Jacklyn and Cassie Collier are sisters from Mount Carmel. Two years ago, they started their customized board game business called Bundle. Now, they're combining their love for family game night with their love for Hallmark holiday movies.
Nothing gets you in the holiday spirit quite like a Hallmark store. The television channel dedicated to the greeting card company is known for predictable but romantic holiday movies. It's been 10 years since Hallmark premiered its Countdown to Christmas programming. To celebrate, board game developers from Northumberland County stepped in.
"We've heard from a lot of our customers. One of their hobbies is watching the Hallmark Channel. Our values very much align, so the whole mission of Bundle is to bring people closer together to celebrate life. Hallmark Channel very much, too, has that mission," Cassie Collier said.
Jacklyn and Cassie Collier are sisters originally from Mount Carmel. They moved to New York to run their company Bundle, creating customized board games. This past summer, Bundle grew a bit bigger when the women pitched an idea to the CEO of Hallmark -- a board game all about Hallmark Christmas movies.
"To have him be stumped by certain questions or acting it out straight style, it was really sort of surreal to be in a room with the CEO of such a major network and to see that he was having fun doing things that we think are so much fun, but we didn't know how he was going to feel and he loved it," Jacklyn Collier said.
The board game is only in select Hallmark stores, but you can get it at the store near Bloomsburg. It is located inside the Renco Ace Hardware on Columbia Boulevard.
"Our dad went into the store, he got his photo taken, a bunch of our friends have gone in, and it's really so exciting because that was one of our big goals that we want it to be in stores in Pennsylvania, and the fact that the game is there is really surreal," Jacklyn said.
Employees at the store near Bloomsburg say customers are coming in specifically looking for the Hallmark Channel Countdown to Christmas board game.
"We feel so blessed to have the backing of the area. They've been so supportive, and we couldn't be more excited for this to all really come to fruition," Cassie added.
You can buy the game online at Bundle's website, but the Hallmark store near Bloomsburg is the only one in our area carrying it right now. Employees there say they are prepared to keep ordering more because of the Mount Carmel connection.