If you’re looking for a more environmentally friendly and rewarding way to get your 12 days of treats this festive season, take a look at our very own Christmas calendar with a difference - encouraging everyone to be kind, support others and share with your community…
1 - Make a festive bake and give it to a friend, neighbour, colleague or someone who needs cheering up!
2 - Donate pet supplies to a local animal shelter - food, treats, toys, blankets will spread plenty of festive cheer to sweet dogs, cats and other animals looking for forever homes this Christmas.
3 - Take a walk around your local area and pick up any litter left on pavements, roads and hedgerows. The planet will thank you for it, and it will leave our landscapes looking beautiful under the winter skies.
4 - Arrange a small group of willing volunteers - neighbours, villagers, friends or a local group - to spread some festive cheer to those who might need it, whether it’s carolling around your village or delivering Christmas goodies to a local charity.
5 - Write a Christmas card to the residents of your local care home.
6 - Reach out to a friend or loved one you haven’t seen in a while - they might need it!
7 - Donate whatever you can to your local foodbank - as much or as little as you can manage, it will go a long way with the fantastic team providing food parcels to local families this Christmas.
8 - Set up a Christmas book box in your village or outside your home. Take your unwanted books, wrap them up and attach a festive greeting, and leave them in a box for people to take - it might make the most unexpectedly perfect Christmas gift, or simply brighten someone’s day!
9 - Volunteer with a local organisation or charity.
10 - Create a parcel for the Shoebox Appeal, or put together some treat hampers to donate to the foodbank or for children in your village.
11 - If you’re creative, why not make mini Christmas wreaths, felt decorations, chutneys or mini festive bakes and leave them outside the front doors of people in your village or local area?
12 - While your fridge or cupboard may be stocked, ready for Christmas, there will be many elderly people, those who struggle to get out to the shops or people who simply work long shifts who are unable to get themselves prepared. If you’ve got some spare time, why not offer to take someone’s shopping list and grab their Christmas shop for them to help them out a little?