A flurry of Christmas jumper fun is happening up and down the UK in support of Save the Children’s Christmas Jumper Day on Friday 14th December – are you joining in?
Save the Children’s seventh annual Christmas Jumper Day is taking place on Friday 14th December. Flashing, festive knits will be sweeping the nation once again with schools, offices, homes, pigs, celebrities and football teams ditching their day-to-day dress and donning their daftest, most wonderful woollies for the annual fundraiser.
With more people registered to take part than ever before, Save the Children is predicting that over 5 million people across the UK will take part and the charity are hoping to smash last year’s fundraising by raising over £4.5 million to help millions of children around the world. Since it’s launch in 2012 the event has raised over £17million which has helped the most vulnerable children around the world.
People still have time to sign up to at christmasjumperday.org in some of the toughest parts of the world, and give children living in poverty here in the UK the chance to fulfil their potential. Whether that’s giving a child living in a refugee camp clothes to keep them warm through winter, helping to buy nutritious food for their entire family, or setting up a safe space to give them the chance to be children again.
Below is a snapshot of what the UK’s been doing to support the big day. To get involved simply register at christmasjumperday.org, wear a woolly on December 14th and donate £2 to Save the Children.
CELEBRITY SUPPORT
A whole host of celebrities have popped on a festive pullover to support the return of Save the Children’s Christmas Jumper Day including Holly Willoughby, Ferne Cotton, Shirley Ballas, Katie Piper, Kimberley Wyatt, Gary Kemp, Aston Merrygold, Binky Felstead, Georgia Toffolo, Myleene Klass, Fleur East, Joel Dommett, Vicky Pattison, Nicola Adams and Love Island’s Jack Fincham, Dani dyer, Dr Alex George, Josh Denzel Eyal Booker, Chris Hughes and Kem Cetinay.
Sixteen celebrities also took on the Save the Children Christmas Jumper Challenge to see how many jumpers they could put on in 30 seconds!
THREE LITTLE PHILANTHRO-PIGS
Three miniature pigs from Kew Little Pigs have modelled their favourite festive knitwear to help make the world better with a sweater. Accessorised with bauble tinsel and miniature Santa hats, the pigs posed up a storm to promote the festive fundraiser. In celebration of the year of the pig in 2019, Kew Little Pigs have announced that 20% of each hour-long visit will be donated to Save the Children, from Christmas Jumper Day onwards.
SEALIFE’S PENGUINS AND CHESSINGTON’S GIRAFFES GET READY FOR CHRISTMAS JUMPER DAY
It’s not just schools, homes and offices nationwide preparing for the festive fundraiser, as some of the tallest and smallest animals are also getting in on the act with bespoke festive knits. At Chessington World of Adventures Resort a team of sewers has stitched a long-necked knitted wonder fit for a giraffe, while at SEA LIFE London the smallest of jumpers has been made for its’ Gentoo penguin colony.
TOM GRENNAN’S CHRISTMAS JUMPER JAM
Tom Grennan hosted an intimate Christmas Jumper Jam in celebration of the charity’s annual Christmas Jumper Day fundraiser at Benk & Bo in Aldgate, East London on Tuesday 11th December.
The gig was a bookable Airbnb Concert hosted on the Airbnb platform as a Social Impact Experience meaning that Airbnb waived its service fee and 100% of the proceeds from the ticket sales went directly to Save the Children to give children here in the UK and across the world hope for a better future. Tom helped make the world better with a sweater by acoustically performing a select few tracks from his ‘Lighting Matches’ album, all whilst wearing his favourite winter woolly. He was supported by Elli Ingram and Grace Ackerman.
AMAZON JUMPERS
This year they’ve teamed up with Amazon Fashion UK to launch the Christmas Jumper Store. Live until the 31st December, for every eligible Christmas Jumper purchased from the Christmas Jumper Store online, Amazon will donate 20% of the net purchase price to Save the Children.
VISA’S CONTACTLESS CHRISTMAS JUMPER
Visa and Save the Children have teamed up to launch the first contactless Christmas jumper to raise awareness and funds for Save the Children’s Christmas Jumper Day. Developed by Visa’s in-house innovation team, more than 30 Christmas jumpers with contactless donation technology have been created and will be used to encourage donations for Save the Children’s annual fundraiser through a variety of festive activities, including celebrity support from Mary Portas, Josh Denzel and Aston Merrygold.
BEANO
This year’s Christmas issue of the Beano comic encourages fans to don a festive jumper knit for a great cause, as character Dennis swaps his infamous jumper which he has rarely been seen without since his 1951 debut. Dennis’ Christmas jumper, is available to pre-order from the online Beano shop and features Gnasher’s face with a Rudolph red nose and Dennis’ trademark red and black stripes. The kid’s jumper retails at £21.99, whilst the adult version is £31.99, with 10% of proceeds from both to be donated to Save the Children’s Christmas Jumper Day.
WHSMITH
WHSmith has teamed up with Tom Fletcher to launch the first ever Christmasaurus cuddly toy, based on his bestselling book The Christmasaurus and designed in partnership with the leading author. This festive friend will be sold exclusively by WHSmith for £14.99 with a £3 donation to Save the Children. A limited edition of The Christmasaurus book will also be sold for £6.99 with a 50p donation to the charity’s vital work.
TOM FLETCHER IN RWANDA
Tom Fletcher was keen to understand more about how the money raised through sales of the Christmasaurus cuddly toy and book will support Save the Children’s vital work. Tom visited Save the Children’s education programmes in Rwanda which use innovative approaches to support children’s literacy development and reading, as well as teaching children about their rights.
LUKE EVANS TRIP TO LEBANON
In November 2018, actor and Save the Children’s ambassador Luke Evans visited Save the Children’s programme for refugee children in Lebanon, to see examples of how the money raised for Save the Children’s Christmas Jumper Day is spent. Luke visited classrooms where Save the Children helps children aged 3 to 6 from the refugee community. Many of these children no nothing other than the refugee camp and many have suffered from traumas of war.
Luke shed tears as he talked about his experience meeting 6 year old Mustafa and his sister 7 year old Ayesha. He and his sister fled Syria when they were 1 and 2 years old, along with their father who is blind and partially deaf and their Uncle and his 13 children.
ZAVVI
Zavvi is celebrating Christmas Jumper Day by teaming up with the charity to raise vital funds! Between now and the 31st December, every time you purchase a selected Christmas jumper from Zavvi, they’ll donate 20% of the purchase price to Save the Children. With licensed & original Christmas jumper designs, Zavvi’s quirky & fun range stands out as a great way to celebrate your favourite franchises in festive style while contributing to a fantastic cause. With prices from £19.99 and a huge range to choose from, even the Scrooges amongst us have no excuse not to join in the fun this Christmas Jumper Day on 14th December 2018!
PEPPA PIG
Peppa Pig loves Christmas, everyone loves Christmas… This year Entertainment One’s (eOne) Peppa Pig will be teaming up with Save the Children to support the biggest Christmas Jumper Day yet! There will be a range of Peppa Pig Christmas goodies to spoil your little piggies – including a Peppa Pig Christmas Puzzle and a range of Christmas jumpers. Exclusively for Christmas Jumper Day, the Peppa Pig Christmas Puzzle is available to buy from John Lewis, Toymaster and Amazon for £9.99, with £1 donated to Save the Children’s Christmas Jumper Day. The Penwizard Personalised Peppa Pig Christmas Book is the perfect way to celebrate Christmas and your child this festive season. The large softback is £17.49 and the large hardback is £22.49 with 30% donated to Save the Children’s Christmas Jumper Day.
ARSENAL
Arsenal has released a festive film to support Save the Children’s Christmas Jumper Day. The light-hearted film sees Sweater Cech draped in an enormous Christmas jumper and Matteo Guendouzi header a bauble. Danny Woolbeck and Tabea Kemme join forces to do keepie-uppies in a double-headed festive knit, whilst Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Lia Walti and Leah Williamson also embrace the festivities.
For more information and to sign up, visit – christmasjumperday.org
For Facebook visit – facebook.com/christmasjumperday
For Twitter visit – @savechildrenuk #christmasjumperday
For more information visit www.savethechildren.org.uk
