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Our 2025 Winter Party

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On Saturday 18 January we kicked off 2025 in style with an amazing Winter Party at St Mary’s Marylebone London.

It was an incredible day which saw us welcome nearly 500 of the children and young people we support including their families.

Held over two floors, this very special family event was packed full of different stalls and activities for our VIP guests to enjoy, run by the Spread a Smile team and over 70 brilliant volunteers.  There was something for everyone including gingerbread biscuit decorating, nail art, face painting, glitter tattoos, friendship bracelet making, arts and crafts, LEGO, plant pot decorating and more.

“We had the BEST time at the Winter Party – thank you so much Spread a Smile! Jacob and Kaitlin had so much fun and the staff and all the volunteers were so nice. Marina as always did the most amazing face painting and Jacob couldn’t wait to see Tasha and Nick again. We had a fantastic day and met some new lovely families there and the children loved the goodies they came home with. They were spoilt with things to make and do. Thank you all so much.” Lucy, Mum to Jacob and Kaitlin

We were joined by All About Anna’s Animals who brought along some gorgeous animals to hold and learn more about including a snake, tortoise and tarantula. Guests also enjoyed fun on our bumper cars, making flower crowns with our friends from Freddie’s Flowers, slime with Slime Planet, a Formula 1 driving experience from 4-Events, a Silent Disco thanks to the Silent Disco Company and a cool 360 video booth from Choclato.

Our brilliant team of Spread a Smile entertainers joined us to fill the day with music, singing, dancing, bubbles, magic, poetry and much more. Guests also enjoyed the world premiere of the first ever Spread a Smile pantomime. (Oh yes they did!)  Elsa from Frozen welcomed children to the stage for a dance and a sing-a-long and our Therapy Dogs Thomas and Smartie loved meeting guests.

To keep everyone going, we put on food and treats galore, including Sushi rolls from SushiDog, delicious pizzas from Wandering Pizza Company, sweet treats from Funshine Candy Floss and yummy cupcakes and treats from our friends at Lola’s Cupcake and Mildreds. We also made sure parents and carers were given a special self-care moment with hand massages, aromatherapy plus hairdressing by Elle and Karen Clancy.

We are extremely proud to deliver days such as this for the families we support and it was lovely to see so many of them relaxing and meeting the team and other families. We were also delighted to welcome some of our Trustees to share in the magic of this very special day.

Thank you to our friends from Constellia and Children with Cancer UK for generously supported this event. Also, to our wonderful volunteers for giving up their time to make the day possible and those who donated supplies, food and drink. Shout out to C. Hoare & Co, Hain Daniels, Hasbro, Lola’s Cupcakes, LMAC Group, Mildreds, Peel Hunt, Redstor, Sidekick Management, the LEGO Group and XTX Markets.

Thank you to all of our friends, families and colleagues for joining us and making our Winter Party 2025 one to remember. Watch this space for details of our Summer Party.

To help ensure we can continue to spread smiles to seriously ill children and young people, please donate here. Thank you.

If you would like to find out about attending our family events in the future, please register for our services and sign up to receive our Family Newsletter here.

Restaurant partners making the difference

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Just like many charities across the UK, Spread a Smile is fortunate to receive support from some wonderful restaurant and hospitality partners through events and fundraising – both of which go a long way helping us achieve our aims of being there for families with seriously ill children when they need us most.

We have been working in partnership with the Riding House Café group since January 2022, with their three restaurants generously hosting numerous events and tea parties for children and families supported by Spread a Smile. These events provide wonderful opportunities for families with seriously ill children to do something fun together and have a huge impact on wellbeing and positivity for the whole family.

Mildreds restaurants also host a monthly afternoon tea, providing a chance for our families to relax and enjoy themselves, with Spread a Smile’s entertainers on hand to join in the fun with music, magic, arts & crafts and face painting.

These events enable us to support families in a very important way, providing enjoyable days out during a very difficult time and we are so grateful to our brilliant friends at the Riding House Café group and Mildreds Restaurants for giving up their venues, time and resources to give something back.

And the support doesn’t end there. Many restaurants across the UK are also helping to raise significant amounts for different charities simply by adding a small discretionary donation to a menu item or the total bill. It is a hugely effective fundraising mechanism, providing an easy way for diners to give to charity.

Since 2022, the Riding House Group, has raised an incredible £55,223 for Spread a Smile by adding 25p to customers’ final dining bills (customers can opt out).  This is a huge amount which has helped Spread a Smile support over 1,830 seriously ill children and their families, through entertainment in hospital and virtually.

Similarly, both Mildreds restaurants and Brigit’s Bakery have supported Spread a Smile for World Smile Day, with Mildreds adding £1 to customer bills and raising around £8k in 2023 and Brigit’s Bakery regularly donating a % of all sales from bookings.

Spread a Smile has also been an incredibly grateful recipient of donations from the Flat Iron Fund. Guests at Flat Iron restaurants are invited to make an optional donation of 10 pence to the Flat Iron Fund, for every meal that they enjoy. The donation is matched by Flat Iron and 100% of the proceeds are then distributed to charities. In 2018, after raising £1m for Macmillan Cancer Support, the Flat Iron Fund was set up as an independent registered charity. Since then, the Fund has extended its support to many more charities, including Spread a Smile.

While there isn’t a single figure representing the total amount raised by all UK restaurants annually, this example shows how the approach can effectively generate substantial funds for charitable causes. Plus, the method aligns the restaurant’s financial success with charitable giving, creating a win-win scenario for both the business and the charity.

Lucy Jackson, Chief Executive of Spread a Smile on the impact of this fundraising tactic for the charity, said; “This simple act creates significant impact, allowing us to raise crucial funds that directly contribute to the important work that we undertake. What’s particularly powerful about this initiative is how seamlessly it can complement other corporate social responsibility efforts undertaken by restaurants, creating a meaningful partnership that not only supports a worthy cause but also deepens community engagement, increases awareness of our work and enhances customer goodwill.”

Jane Moore from Riding House Café said: “We are proud to partner with Spread a Smile.  As well as utilising our space to host events, we are fully committed to continue to raising funds and our fundraising efforts, whilst seemingly simple, are hugely impactful and go a long way to supporting the vital work they do.  

“We can help make a real difference in the lives of those in need while fostering a sense of community among our customers and staff. We believe it’s important for the wider restaurant industry to embrace similar practices. Collectively, we have the power to create substantial and lasting change across the charity sector in the UK, demonstrating that small actions can lead to big impact.”

Our aim is to be there for every child and young person that needs us, bringing joy and laughter during one of the darkest times of their lives.  So we welcome any restaurants or hospitality venues that would like to find out more about joining the Spread a Smile family and supporting our work. Please do reach out to our Partnerships Manager Lucy Keith by email at lucykeith@spreadasmile.org or on 020 7482 5191.