Christmas is always a busy time for Spread a Smile because it is often a very difficult time of year for the families we support. So we make it our mission to do all that we can to spread smiles and share the excitement and joy of the season with those who may be struggling.
This year, Spread a Smile has reached more families than ever before through our festive initiatives, thanks to the wonderful support of our supporters, volunteers, donors, corporate partners and many other organisations who have helped make everything possible. Here’s a roundup of what we’ve been up to and how we’ve been spreading smiles this Christmas.
More Smile Hampers than ever before
This year we’ve sent out 1,874 personalised Smile Hampers to seriously ill children and their siblings in time for Christmas. This involved 560 volunteers joining us over 6 weeks, giving up over 115 hours of support in total to hand-pick thousands of gifts for the Smile Hampers.
“I wanted to express my heartfelt gratitude for the amazing festive hampers we received for our three boys.
They absolutely loved them and we could truly feel the dedication and hard work that went into creating them.
As a mother of terminally ill children, the joy and smiles you brought to our family extends beyond the kids.
It has touched us as parents too. Your kindness and generosity have made a lasting impact on our family,
and we deeply appreciate it.” Parent
Supporting our hospital and hospice partners
During December we will have carried out 69 in-person visits to our NHS hospital and hospice partners, helping to spread some festive cheer. This includes;
- Visits by Father Christmas and the Spread a Smile elves to 15 of our NHS Hospital partners, giving the opportunity for children spending time in hospital to meet Santa and receive a gift;
- Visits to Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) on Christmas Day and St Mary’s Hospital on Boxing Day, generously funded by our friends at Downing;
- Support for Christmas Parties at 8 NHS hospital and three hospice partners (Newham Hospital, West Middlesex Hospital, The Royal London Hospital, University College Hospital, Chelsea & Westminster Hospital, The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, Barnet Hospital, St George’s Hospital, Alexander Devine Children’s Hospice, Helen & Douglas House and Rennie Grove Peace Hospice Care).
A special virtual grotto for those unable to meet Santa in person
Our virtual Christmas Grotto gave children who wouldn’t otherwise have a chance to meet Father Christmas in-person to have a personalised online meet up with the big man himself. We expect 200 children to visit our grotto, and we also organised hospital sessions for children on isolated wards at GOSH and also for children at Leicester Hospital, Southampton General Hospital, Wrexham Hospital and John Radcliffe Hospital.
Beautiful festive murals in NHS hospitals
Our Head of Art Marina visited King’s College Hospital, GOSH and St Mary’s Hospital to hand-paint some beautiful Winter and Christmas 
murals across the wards, helping to brighten up the clinical spaces and spread some festive cheer for the families and staff there. They are always so well received with Marina saying, “Going into hospital in the lead up to Christmas is always one of my favourite things to do. It’s lovely to see the children’s faces as they see the artworks coming together. Often, they tell me what they would like to see or want to chat about what I’m doing. It is a great distraction, and it brings out so many smiles – from the children and also parents and staff too. It’s nice to know we’re helping to spread so many smiles in the hospital environment.”
We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported us this festive season, helping to make all of this possible including:
- those who have provided financial support;
- individuals who bought gifts from our Amazon Wish List and companies who donated larger volumes of gifts for our Smile Hampers;
- all of our volunteers who gave up their time to help pick and pack our hampers and DPD for making sure they all arrived safely.
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
We’d love to hear from you if you or your company would like to support us in 2025. Please email us at fundraising@spreadasmile.org to get involved. Thank you.