How to donate toys at Christmas
Every year, charities and other organisations run toy appeals to give disadvantaged children a special Christmas.
This can range from gifting each child in the local community a present, taking a class full of children to the pantomime or simply providing a day out.
Find out how you can get involved in a Christmas toy appeal near you below.
The value of donating toys at Christmas
Each Christmas, kind donors donate toys to help make sure every child receives a gift during the festive period.
This can be done via food banks, schools or faith organisations and can go a long way in making sure a child has a memorable experience.
Going the extra mile to benefit children at a time of year when they may not have received any gifts at all is a tradition that has been going on for years.
In ten years, more than 42,000 children have received toys through the Toy Appeal charity, at a time of year when they may not have been gifted anything.
Charity Christmas toy appeals 2023
Several charities organise toy appeals every year, including ones that can be found locally to you.
Toy Appeal
The Toy Appeal has worked for ten years to help children have presents to open on Christmas Day.
In this time it has given toys to more than 42,000 children, worth over £11 million.
More than 3,000 volunteers have worked to make this happen for children.
The Salvation Army
The Salvation Army also works to deliver toys at Christmas, as well as all the other important work it does to help individuals all year round.
It has a Christmas Present Appeal every year. Many Salvation Army churches and centres across the UK will be running a Christmas Present Appeal again in 2023, collecting donated presents until mid-December.
Last year, it was able to dispatch more than 76,000 gifts.
Family Action
The Family Action Christmas Toy Appeal has been running for numerous years and has helped to donate thousands of presents in its time.
In the past five years, it has distributed over 50,000 presents to families in challenging circumstances across the country.
It’s easy to get involved and donate if you’d like to. This is something you can do either as an individual or in a group.
Action for Children
Action for Children is another great organisation you can get involved with if you’d like to donate toys.
It urges people to become a ‘Secret Santa’ for a child and donate presents – and you can choose your own gift.
It has been helping children for 150 years and last year it helped 765,905 families.
Refuge
Refuge runs a donate a parcel appeal every year, where people can donate something to a woman or child fleeing an abuser this Christmas.
Donors can choose whatever parcel they want, with options like an emergency parcel or a child’s one.
Each has a different price and it’s up to the donor what they choose.
KidsOut
KidsOut also offers donors the chance to choose what they would like to donate.
Through its Giving Tree scheme, donors can pick through different presents to donate to a child.
The recipients are children who have escaped domestic violence, being forced to flee their homes quickly and leave all possessions behind
Other places you can donate toys
It’s not just organisations you can donate to though, there’s lots of local causes you can donate to.
This can be found quite easily in food banks near you, supermarkets or churches.
Supermarkets
Many supermarkets have areas you can donate to.
Some have designated areas for food donations, but lots of British supermarkets have an area for toys in the run-up to Christmas too.
Lidl, for example, has a toy bank while Tesco has a donation available to Salvation Army appeals.
Schools
Lots of schools also offer members of the community the chance to donate.
Primary schools and secondary schools can offer this and the best way to find out is to contact the school directly.
You could also speak to parents or see if any parents you know have been contacted about such appeals.
Hospitals
Hospitals can also be places you can support toy appeals.
Some offer drop-offs, where you can donate toys you’d like to be distributed.
Organise a Christmas fundraiser for disadvantaged children
There’s so many ways you can act as a secret Santa and put in steps to make sure a child has a gift this year.
If you would like to organise this yourself you can also start a fundraiser for children at Christmas.
Need ideas? We’ve broken down how easy that can be.