Last week Bovington soldiers joined students and volunteers to pack 2,500 Christmas Smiles boxes. The boxes will be sent to military children who have a parent deployed with the UK Armed Forces this December.

The boxes, which are part of our Christmas Smiles campaign, are packed with resources and activities. They are designed to help children cope with parental separation and include some festive stocking fillers to raise a smile.

Our charity founder, Louise brought together soldiers from Royal Armoured Corps Training Regiment, students from Bovington Academy and people from the local community, to pack the boxes, which took eight hours in total.

Louise, comments: “The box packing this week was a real team effort. Our community, both here in Dorset and across the UK Armed Forces, has pulled together to make something incredible happen.  Their efforts will make a real difference to military children across the country. These boxes are all about helping military children to feel recognised and supported. Christmas is a tough time to have a parent away from home. We want to bring Christmas Smiles to as many children as we can.”

Serving away over Christmas

Last year, 7,000 service personnel were deployed on military operations over Christmas. It is expected that a similar number will be serving overseas this year. As 72% of service personnel have at least one child under 18, it means thousands of military children will be missing their parent on Christmas morning. From school plays to visits to Santa, Christmas can be a difficult time to have a parent away from home. 

Military personnel from across the country, including North Yorkshire, Wiltshire, Lincolnshire and Somerset travelled to Dorset to collect the boxes. They will be distributed to families before Christmas leave.

Little troopers helping little troopers

Students from Bovington Academy joined the box packing event, including siblings, Nancy and Penny whose Dad serves in the British Army and won’t be home this Christmas. Nancy says “I feel like I have a lot of emotions because they are all mixed up. He’s never been away before and it’s hard because he’s always been here.”

Christmas Smiles thank you

We want to say a huge thank you to BAE Systems and VIVO Defence Services for funding our Christmas Smiles boxes.

Evelyn Chilaka, is one of the BAE Systems’ volunteers who helped pack the boxes. She said: “When I was serving, I used to feel so guilty about missing out on festive activities when I was undertaking my military duties over Christmas. These boxes are not just great for the children who receive them but also for those parents who aren’t around. It will bring comfort knowing that their children are being treated at what can be a difficult time of year. It’s been lovely to help pack the boxes knowing they’ll make someone smile.”

Apply for a Christmas Smiles box

We have 600 Christmas Smiles boxes to post out individually to military children who have a parent deployed this Christmas! Open to families from all three services*, you can apply before 6th December, click here.

* Welfare units and community teams have collected 1,900 boxes, please check if your base is on the list before applying. Please only apply for one box per family, so we can support as many families as possible. 

Other Christmas Smile events

We’ve also organised lots of other activities as part of its Christmas Smiles campaign. These include free cinema screenings at ODEON cinemas, a storytelling event with Chelsea Pensioners, elf workshop and an online panto.

To find about all our Christmas Smiles Activities first, make sure you are signed up to our mailing list. To sign up click here.