Thousands of people choose the kindest time of the year to give back to their favourite charities. This is why, here at WWF, we've put together a list of 30 creative, fun, and jolly Christmas ideas that have the power to make your festive season memorable for yourself, for those around you, and for the planet!
Fundraising during the Christmas season is not only a way to give back to our world, but also a reason to come together and do something inspirational and incredibly heart-warming.
From classic gift-wrapping stalls and Christmas dinners to competitive challenges and Santa-inspired events, we are sure that these ideas will leave you energised and wanting for more!
The tree is lit, the drinks are warm, and the Christmas bells are ringing, so answer the call and join the fundraising fun this year!
Turn your Christmas Spirit into donations
Turn your Christmas Spirit into donations
1) Get wrapping 🎁
If you love to make a present look amazing with a fancy gift-wrap, use your skill to fundraise and help our planet! Charge a fee to wrap your friends and family’s gifts, set up a gift-wrapping stall or plan a wrapping party (check out our sustainable wrapping paper!).
2) Arrange a decoration charity market 🎀
Do you have a box of unwanted decorations gathering dust at home? Turn them into donations! Ask friends, family, colleagues or students to donate their unloved baubles, lights and candles and plan a market day to re-sell them for donations!
3) Pour a warm drink... ☕
Mulled wine, apple cider or hot chocolate all sound appealing during the chilly months. Set up a stall to sell your drinks or plan a wine or chocolate-tasting night to warm everyone up.
4)...or bake a yummy treat! 🍰
If you are the Mary Berry of the group, sell your baked creations in exchange for donations! You can keep it sweet by planning a cookie-swap event (a party to exchange your baked goodies) ... or spice it up with a cookie bake-off!
5) Feed Santa’s reindeer 🦌
It is popular culture to help Santa feed his flying reindeer cookies and milk on Christmas Eve… this year you can take it one step further! Create some Reindeer Food Sachets, filled with oat, nuts and seeds and sell them to raise money for WWF. You can even make it an event, organising a Big Winter Wander to find the perfect spot to leave some reindeer superfood behind!
6) The Secret Candy Cane 💌
Encourage people to share a cute -or even secret- message with this creative event. For a donation, let people write an anonymous note to someone on a piece of paper tied to a candy cane. Collect the candy canes and notes and select a day to distribute them all to the recipients. It’s like playing Cupid and Santa at the same time!
7) A Tender Christmas Tree 🎄
Place your Christmas tree where it can be righteously admired and ask your students or colleagues to make a donation to place their own decoration on the tree. It could be something simple, like a Christmas bauble, or something more personal, like a picture, craft, or joke.
8) Line of Lights ✨
Light up your office this Christmas by hanging a line of fairy lights. Put some clothespins along the line and ask people to hang a cash note or a bag of coins to the line, they can choose the amount. When the line is full, collect the donations and turn the lights on!
9) Shoot your best shot 📸
If you’re a talented photographer, offer holiday photoshoot services for donations.
10) Sing for your world 🎤
If you have the voice of an angel or are you part of a chorus and want to spread the Christmas joy, then you could sing carols for donations!
Plan Events
Plan Events
11) Splash out on celebrations 🎉
Christmas is the time of the year when people are craving a good get together. Host a memorable party, in exchange for a donation! It could be a dinner party, a fancy-dress gathering, a classic Christmas Jumper Swap Shop night, a karaoke, or a winter picnic!
12) Plan a games night 🎲
Board games, bingo, video games, quizzes, Nose-On-The-Snowman (or Beak on the Puffin) ... We are sure you can come up with great ideas to keep you away from the frosty weather! And if you want to make it wildlife themed, head to our shop (we have Wildlife Bingo, SOS Save Our Species Card game and even a “Who Did This Poo?” board game) or download our free resources, like our Wildlife Charades Set or our Wildlife Forbidden Words game!
13) Plan a Christmas Prize Draw 🎫
Ask friends, family, and local businesses to donate prizes and plan a Christmas Prize Draw!
14) Organise a Holiday Pet Parade 🐶
Everyone loves to see pictures of cute pets... pets in Christmas attire? Even better. Plan a Holiday Pet Parade, where participants can show off their furry friends in their festive gear. Charge a donation to take part and run to get that cute puppy bow tie you saw at the shop the other day!
15) Help Santa deal with all those letters 📃
Planning a day to allow children to come together to decorate, write and post their Christmas letters for a donation would be an effective way to help us raise funds and to make it easier for Santa’s delivery team!
16) Get Santa Involved 🎅
Get some decorations together, recruit some elves, and turn a room into a Christmas Grotto. Plan a day when parents can bring their children to visit the grotto and take a picture with Santa! Ask for a donation for the visit, and let the magic begin. If you prefer, you could invite Santa for breakfast or plan a Santa meal.
17) Plan a Read-a-Thon 📚
Set a timeframe in which kids commit to read as many books as they can, while parents commit to donate a set amount for each book read by their child.
18) If you know it... Workshop it! 💡
Do you have a skill that you think other people would like to learn? It could be how to make a Christmas wreath, or a scented candle... whatever it is, get people together and share your skill for a donation!
Get Competitive
Get Competitive
19) Bring it On 🏆
How does the idea of planning your own Winter Olympics sound? You can get creative with it: a Christmas tree contest? Check. A bauble decorating competition? Check. A gingerbread-look-alike match? Check, check, check. You can charge a fee to participate!
20) The ‘Round the World with Santa’ Relay Race 🏅
You can help yourself, your family, your friends, or your colleagues to get active by planning a ‘Round the World with Santa’ Relay Race. Each team will have a wrapped gift to pass from one elf to the other around the relay course. This could be an actual racetrack or a bigger journey around the UK. The gift that gets to the destination first wins! You can make it more competitive by promising the winners all the gifts!
21) Get sponsored to do something unexpected 🌊
It is usually referred as a “Polar Plunge,” but here at WWF we call it “Brave the Chill”: it means getting sponsored to brave the frosty winter water, whether it be in the shower or in the sea. But if an ice bath is not your thing, you can get sponsored to do anything that requires an effort, from a litter pick to a silly challenge!
22) Guess the Angel 👼
Ask your colleagues to send you a picture of them when they were little, put the pictures all together and get them to guess who’s who for a donation. You can have a prize, so that the person who guesses the most pictures correctly wins!
Acts of Kindness
Acts of Kindness
23) Be part of Giving Tuesday 👐
No matter who you are, whether a business, a group, a school or an individual. This year you can make a difference by joining millions of people taking part in Giving Tuesday, an inspiring day to donate, campaign, and raise awareness. Why not plan a themed fundraising day at work or at school?
24) Donate your Christmas 💝
Instead of asking for presents, why don’t you ask for donations? Or you can put a cap on how much people can spend to get you something, to allow the rest to go towards bringing our world back to life.
25) Donate your last hour 💼
Wherever you work, this year you can make a huge difference by deciding to donate your last paid hour before the holiday begins. Such an inspiring way to begin the season of kindness!
26) Babysit or Pet-sit for donations 👶
Are you good with babies or an animal lover? People can be extremely busy during Christmas time, you could give them a hand by offering to babysit, or pet-sit for a donation!
In a rush
In a rush
27) Make space for your new gifts with Thrift+ 👕
Re-sell pre-loved items and give them a chance for a better life, whilst also helping us deliver our mission. Visit Thrift+ and nominate WWF as your chosen charity.
28) Buy gifts with an impact 🐼
Remember you can always support us by browsing for Christmas presents and cards on our online shop!
After Christmas
After Christmas
29) Christmas Tree Disposal Service 🚛
Even if Christmas Day has ended it does not mean that your opportunity to raise funds has too. If you have a van, or a big car, or you are simply a very (very) strong person, you could provide a Christmas tree disposal service for a donation!
30) New Year, New You 🏁
Fancying some crazy challenges to face this upcoming year? Ask family and friends to assign you a New Year Resolution in exchange for a donation... remember though, once you commit, you commit!
Resources
Download your free WWF Christmas fundraising resources!
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© WWF UKChristmas Charades Set
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© WWF UKWildlife Forbidden Words
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© WWF UK shopMore resources
Click for more resources!
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