Christmas is coming. My sons are so excited, and so am I. I love Christmas – the decorations, the carols, the family time, the traditions, the food…everything that makes this festive time of the year so magical. I love giving and receiving presents, but I want my children to grow up knowing that Christmas isn’t just about presents and Santa.
I’m not doing a big PR Christmas giveaway and I’m not going to tell you what the must-have toys are going to be this year. I can’t think of a list of things I’d like to find under my Christmas tree, because I have everything I want and need already.
I’ve been wracking my brains to come up with a tradition to start with my kids that they will always remember. I’ve read lots of lovely ideas online and I’m going to pinch plenty of them because I want our family Christmases to be filled with quirky things that create our own unique family Christmas. But I’ve decided to start a very special tradition this year that I hope will encourage my kids to grow into thoughtful, caring adults. I’m going to put a gift in their stocking… that is for someone else.
In my quest for the perfect charity stocking filler, I’ve trawled the net for the best charity presents I think my children might like to find on Christmas morning:
Charity gift guide for less than £10
A letter from Santa
For a fiver, you can donate to the NSPCC and receive a handwritten, personalised letter from Father Christmas. What child wouldn’t love this?
A share in a farm
My boys love farms, so this gift to buy them a share in a farm yard sounds fab. Contribute £5 towards the Oxfam Making a Living Project which enables communities to develop ways to feed themselves and earn an income.
A seed starter kit
Families need the tools to be able to grow their own food. A seed starter kit from Farm Africa for £5 can start a family off with seeds and training to allow them to grow staples that can survive hard climates.
Send a chicken
Chickens apparently provide up to 200 eggs per year, providing protein and income for families. Send a chicken with the fantastically named SendaCow charity for just £7.
Buy a traditional gift
You can shop for traditional gifts on the Unicef website, while still helping their efforts to protect vulnerable children around the world. I love this festive jigsaw for £6.95.
Send a child to school
With an investment of just £9 you could buy a child’s uniform, books and stationery for a whole year to allow them to go to school with Present Aid.
Help a child create
After a disaster, children can suffer emotionally and physically. For £5 you can give the gift of an art set through Save the Children that allows children coping in difficult circumstances to draw and paint as a way to bring back some normality and also express some of their emotions.
Fantastic gifts for all budgets
As you can see, there are some awesome gifts suitably priced for stocking fillers, but likewise if you budget is higher then you could buy a cow, sponsor a child or do so much more. And if you really don’t have the budget to send a charity gift this year, do something free instead – acts of kindness don’t need to cost money! Visit an elderly neighbour for a chat, help somebody up the stairs with their suitcase at the train station, or tweet out the link to your favourite charity and tell people why they should donate to them. Remember, you have the power to turn someone’s day – or even their entire life – around.
*This is not a sponsored post. I didn’t receive anything other than goodwill in return for writing this piece. All opinions are my own.
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In our town we have a food bank that also provides presents for children at Christmas. Each year as children we chose a present each to contribute. The maximum spend was about the equivalent of 10 pounds and we paid half from our pocket money. I’ve continued the tradition with my kids this year (3 yrs).
That’s such a lovely tradition to pass down to your children. Thanks for sharing it. xx
This is such a lovely idea. It has the makings of a Christmas ritual. We usually just buy whatever the kids in our extended family want but “things” aren’t as memorable as making special moments. I heard of one gamer parent who set up his systems so the whole family could play together. I was thinking of doing something similar but with an learning game like http://www.schoolofdragons.com/ . I’m going to pitch this idea to the fam though. There’s no reason they won’t love it as much as I do. If I fail, I’m going to make them read this post! xx
I love this. Especially the art set. Thank you for sharing. I hope that it’s ok I have linked to this post through mine.