Christmas Collection
Top Tip – to get a Christmas Collection slot, it’s usually best to apply for these over the summer/ early Autumn to get popular dates during December. Think about the best location(s) to collect & dates to do so.
Don’t just stick to supermarkets & shopping centres – ask other places too. Ensure that if you’re not on private land, you obtain a permit to collect from your local authority or the Metropolitan Police. Ask your Regional Fundraiser for more advice if you need help.
We can provide a template letter for you to use. Ask your Regional Fundraiser about this.
If doing a bag pack, try to have 1 bag-packer per till, ask family and friends to help.
Register your Christmas Collection
Santa’s Grotto
Spread some festive joy & invite the community to the station to meet Santa & friends. Decorate the appliance bay, get the Christmas music on and have the Crew dress up as elves, reindeers and, of course, Santa.
Tips
- Promote the event to local community groups: Cubs/Brownies, Sports Clubs & local schools & nurseries – not to mention local social media pages.
- You can involve the wider community by asking local businesses to donate presents, such as selection boxes, books, and soft toys.
- You can include a post box, so children can post their letters to Santa.
- As an additional fundraiser, you could have a raffle and refreshments.
Festive Fancy Dress / Christmas Jumper Day
Don a Christmas Jumper, or take it a step further with a festive fancy dress day!
Take part at the fire station, school/college or work, ask everyone to dress up as their favourite festive character or emergency services hero.
This is a great photo opportunity too, so please share your photos on social media and tag us!
Register your festive dress day
Santa’s Sleigh Collection
Give your pump a festive makeover and get your crew out into the community, bringing the Christmas cheer.
Tips
- Choose your dates/places carefully, around your local community, a busy high street, or a shopping centre – on or just after pay day is a good date!
- Make sure you’ve got your insurance, risk assessment and any licence you need sorted.
- Plan and promote your route on social media, in the local press or on the radio so the community know when to look for you.
- Or tap into someone else’s festive event as an “added attraction”, you could also join a local community group who are looking for volunteers and have the takings from that night go to Fire Fighters Charity.
- Make a sleigh, or decorate your engine as festive as possible – there’s no such thing as over the top at Christmas!
- Have some Christmas music playing to attract attention.
- Make sure you have plenty of bucket collectors on hand – antlers or Santa hats are a must!
Register your Santa’s Sleigh Collection
Christmas Fire Engine Pull
A great variation on the traditional Santa Sleigh fundraiser!
Tips
- Choose a day when people will be out Christmas Shopping.
- Get the decorations out & decorate your fire engine.
- Have some Christmas music playing to attract attention.
- Find your renideers – Find 9 willing “pullers”, or have a team to swap as you go if it’s a long-distance.
- Adorn the pullers with antlers, ensuring the front “reindeer” also has a red nose!
- Make sure you have plenty of bucket collectors on hand & a card reader & have fun.
Register your Festive Fire Engine Pull
Santa Dash
Organise your own Santa Dash or dress up as Santa for your local park run. A sponsored run is a great way to have fun while keeping active. You can choose your distance, meaning every age can take part, and costumes are an absolute must.
Festive Ladder Climb
Take on a ladder climb over the festive period – add antlers for extra festive feels. The challenge is simple – one team of up to six, a ladder pitched to the second floor and one hour to complete as many climbs as possible.
Register your Festive Ladder climb
Festive Bake Sale
Hold a festive coffee morning or Festive Brew with the Crew to raise some festive spirit. You can include a cake decorating competition and sell the cakes afterwards to help raise even more & get people involved? You could also invite craft stalls and hold a raffle to raise even more.
Light up the Drill Tower
Light up the Drill Tower and invite the community to join in watching the switch-on.
Arrange stalls to help raise even more at your event?
Register your Light up the Drill Tower event
Boxing Day Dip
Take on one of the many Boxing Day Swims, make sure to stay safe by taking part in a local, pre-organised event in the sea, river or lake near you.
Get sponsorship in by setting up a JustGiving page and promoting it on social media & with friends & family.
Register your Boxing Day Dip Fundraiser
Festive Fair or Open Day
The festive period is a great time to bring people together – to organise an event to raise money for Fire Fighters Charity. People are always looking for unique and thoughtful gifts to give to loved ones & this could help bring in lots of people who are feeling generous & looking to spend.
You can organise a festive Open Day, or Christmas Fayre – involving local sellers and community groups – why not talk to your local WI/ Etsy Sellers Group and see if they’d have a stand.
You could even add a visit from Santa or have a coffee morning as part of the event too – to help raise even more.
Register your Festive Fair or Open Day
Carol Singing
If you’re holding a service/ station Carol Service, consider asking for the collection to support the work of Fire Fighters Charity.
If you get space to sing carols in the community, make sure you have plenty of buckets on hand to collect all the generous donations.
Register your Carol Singing Event
Silent Auction
Auctions are a great way to fundraise and can come as part of a bigger event (such as a ball, sports event, etc) or can be done on their own too. An auction is a great way to gather support from local business
Contact your local fundraiser for a letter of authority to support you with your fundraising
Donate in place of Christmas cards
Save yourself a task in the midst of Christmas shopping and festive celebrations, and donate what you would have spent on cards and stamps to charity.
Instead, you could message all your friends and family festive good wishes and let them know all about the work Fire Fighters Charity does. You can even set up a JustGiving page to share with friends and encourage them to donate too.
Raffles and Quizzes
Everyone loves a competition, so why not host your own quiz, raffle or tombola over the festive period, bringing everyone together to raise funds for a good cause?
You could hold a Christmas-themed quiz and invite local businesses to donate raffle prizes to get even more people through the door.