We are so excited to share with you the details of our 2023 Christmas Smiles campaign. We have planned lots of Christmas surprises to support military children who have a parent deployed over the holidays.
Louise, our charity, comments: “Christmas Smiles is a campaign we’ve been running for years to support children who have a parent deployed over Christmas. It’s a really hard time of year to be separated from a parent. Our aim is to make these children feel special and supported.
“This year we’re so excited to be putting together our own Christmas boxes this year. This has been possible thanks to the support of the Veterans Foundation and Pinnacle. We think the boxes will make a difference to 1,000s of military children, who are struggling with their parent away.”
New plans
This year we’ll be distributing 2,500 Christmas boxes to military children who will be separated from their parent this Christmas. Each Christmas box will be packed with Little Troopers resources to help support them while their parent is away. The resources will be packaged up with some Christmas treats to bring Christmas Smiles to thousands of forces children.
David Shaw, CEO of the Veterans’ Foundation, said; “We are delighted to support this fabulous initiative which will bring smiles and happiness to military children this Christmas.”
We’ve also organised a list of free festive activities for families, including 400 free cinema tickets. Little Troopers will be able to see The Grinch, at five different ODEON locations on Sunday 17th December. The locations are Bournemouth, Harrogate, Colchester, Oxford and Norwich. The free tickets are now available to book here.
Military families are also being invited to come together online. To get into the Christmas spirit we have a live online Christmas bake-along on the 16th December. You will be guided through the recipe to make some gorgeous stained-glass biscuits. Then on the 22nd we’d love you to put on your sparkles and Christmas jumpers for our online Christmas party. The party will be run by Non-Stop Kids at will start at 2pm.
Here’s some more details on everything we have planned for December.
Christmas Boxes
The charity will work directly with military units across all three services to distribute the Christmas boxes to the families. Welfare personnel, with service men and women deployed over Christmas, are encouraged to get in touch with the charity now. You can use this Welfare link to register your interest in receiving a batch of boxes. Bids will stay open until the 17.00 (UK time) on the 28th November 2023
The charity will also post out a small number of boxes directly to families closer to Christmas. Details about how to apply for these individual boxes will be released via our newsletter in December.
If you live near Bovington Garrison, we’re looking for volunteers to help at our Christmas boxes packing on 7 December. Volunteers can get in touch by emailing [email protected].
16th December, 10am: Christmas Bake
Join lots of other little troopers online and have fun making stained glass biscuits together. Register now and you will be sent a list of yummy ingredients in advance.
Sunday 17th December, 10am: Free cinema screening of The Grinch
We’ve organised free festive cinema screenings of The Grinch at the following ODEON locations: Bournemouth, Harrogate, Colchester, Oxford and Norwich. Families can now book the tickets here. Please only book if you are able to attend.
Friday 22nd December, 2pm: Little Troopers Christmas Party
Celebrate the start of the school holidays by logging in to the Little Troopers Christmas Party run by Non-Stop Kids. This fun 45-minute show will have your children leaping about, rolling around with laughter and getting into the Christmas spirit! You can now book your party place here.
Giveaways
To bring extra Christmas cheer, we will also be running weekly giveaways on our Facebook and Instagram pages throughout December. Keep an eye out for a chance to win!
Christmas extras
If that wasn’t enough, don’t forget we also have lots of Christmas-themed Crafty Little Troopers sheets. Families can download them to help keep little ones busy in the lead up to the big day.
Louise, adds; “I am so excited by all the plans we have for our 2023 Christmas Smiles campaign. We truly hope that we can bring some fun to families who are separated over the festive holiday.”
