To remind you about charity toy drives?

[PrincessPeache]

Just because it crossed my mind today and the deadlines creep up very quickly!

I know there are controversies around some charities and politics that people don’t always agree with.

But toy drives mean the gifts go straight to the children who might otherwise be waking up on Christmas morning with very little to celebrate.

Our local Salvation Army drive closes on 8th December which is far earlier than I’d have realised so I’m glad I checked.

I won’t give the long sob story about why we do this every year but if it’s something you’re able to spare a small gift towards, please do consider it 🥰

Hello @PrincessPeache - just giving your thread a bump!

Good Idea. Will have to get something to donate.

Thank you for the reminder 😊

Thank you 🥰

I find gifts from the Argos 3 for £20 sale are good for things like this but Black Friday is coming up too so I’m gunna take my DS to choose a few things then!

I was going to give a shout-out to Londoners for the Met Police's annual Christmas Appeal (register, buy toy, drop off at your local nick, consider giving a donation on top for wrapping paper etc). It both distributed toys and gave communities a positive interaction with the police.

But they're doing it differently this year, partnering with a charity

The Childhood Trust: The Met Christmas Tree Appeal 2024

(If I spot that they're doing the old-style toy appeal as well, I'll link it too)

There is a charity local to me that gives out food and toys, they do very well. So I used to donate to one that had an Amazon wish list of items children had requested. The heart breaking thing was that it used to include blankets. So we'd pay for some. You could also choose what part of the country to help.

If anyone can direct me there I've lost their details.

Dunelm do a delivering joy campaign and we collected 2 tags from their tree late October, my kids are older now so I quite enjoyed choosing some toys.
We also do a box of Christmas treats to donate to the food bank.

@IggyAce Thank you for doing this. I used to work in a special school and we had gifts via Dunelm one year. The children were so happy with them and staff amazed by how generous people had been. It was truly lovely. I wished that the gift donors could have seen the delight of the children.

Teenagers often get forgotten. This is one charities suggestions for teenage donations https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/31KLKFLDXPPI6?ref_=list_d_wl_lfu_nav_7

I love this! I’m an Independent Visitor for a 15 year old girl in care and we are so lucky that the charity I volunteer through get donations of gifts from a local campaign. I always take her out on a birthday/shopping trip in December so she gets a little bit spoilt then but the charity gift means so much to her.