This post is brought to you in collaboration with UNICEF
Growing up in Asia opened my eyes to a world that seems so far away from life here in Australia. On our daily drive to school it was not unusual to see people begging in the streets, or to see children selling what ever they could to earn a little money for some food. For many families, schooling and health care are financially out of reach and so their children never get the opportunity to better their life through education and families would suffer immensely without the ability to gain access to proper medical care. We are truly lucky in Australia and want for my children to know that. I never want my children to feel guilty for what we have, but I want them to grow up with compassion and feeling of responsibility for helping others, and to know that they can always make a difference.
One of the ways we choose to teach our kids that they can make a difference is through trusted charity organisations like UNICEF that work all over the world, where people need it most. UNICEF works in the field, right where they are needed, delivering health and medical care, food, education, clean water and emergency aid. They work in over 190 countries to bring governance and policies to help enforce the rights of children to be safe and have access to education, and live lives that are free from abuse.
At our home, we have a special tin that we put coins in over the course of the year. It’s great for kids to see how small change like 5 and 10 cent coins can make a difference. It all adds up and when we break the tin open at the end of the year that money goes towards our chosen charity.
This Christmas we are Giving Good with UNICEF’s Inspired Gifts and I would love for you to consider these life changing gifts for some of your own friends and family. This is how it works;
Choosing a gift is easy, head over to UNICEF to see what is available. You could change a lot of lives with the gift of nutritional health supplements, or polio vaccines, water purification tablets, mosquito nets, pencils and so much more.
UNICEF Inspired Gifts really, truly mean something and make a difference to children who need it most. Your recipient receives a card outlining what you have sent to the field on their behalf and explains how this amazing gift is helping children and their communities.
We try to teach our kids about charity and helping others early on in life. When they’re little they’re so open and loving and giving, and getting them to help choose your Inspired Gift really gets them in on the action and is a great start to instilling compassion and kindness for others. Christmas is such an exciting time, especially for our little ones, so why not get them to help you Give Good this year!
Now I’m really excited about this as I have four UNICEF Inspired Gifts to give away to you, and on your behalf, those gifts will be given to children who need these life saving resources, health supplements and educational tools. Pretty awesome!
I have
– 120 sachets of Therapeutic Food
– 6 Footballs
– 3 Story Books
– 500 Pencils
All you have to do is tell me how you plan to Give Good this Christmas!!! Maybe get the kids involved and ask them for some ideas on how you could #givegood!
We will choose our 4 favourite responses and you will receive a gift card outlining how your gift has helped those children in need.
Image credit: UNICEF/DRCA2011-00205/
We do the same thing every year with our three daughters. It’s such a fantastic way to teach them that Christmas isn’t just about receiving, but about giving too.
We also #givegood by placing items under the KMart Wishing Tree.
This is brilliant, what a meaningful way to do something good!! I think we will need to add this to our Christmas giving!
We #givegood by bringing gifts to the Kmart wishing tree each year and my kids said that this year we should donate a box of fun goodies to our children’s hospital (thanks to inspiration from your wonderful printables!!) so we are going to do that too!
We purchase UNICEF christmas cards for friends & family. We also do a spring clean before Christmas so that all unwanted toys, books & clothes are donated to charity.
Also if you have mini sample toiletries or unwanted personal products (soap, shampoo, deoderant etc) dont chuck them out, give them to your local homeless shelter – they make them into care packages.
My girls and i go through their toys and find ones that we can donate to charity. We did it one year as part of an advent calendar and now my oldest asks to do it every year.
every year instead of traditional Christmas cards we donate to World vision buy purchasing goats, books, seeds you get to print of great little cards for each donation we give those to family and friends instead
A brilliant opportunity to help out. My household are regular contributors of care packages to deployed Australian Defence Force members as a way of thanking them for their sacrifices in addition to our philanthropic contributions to certain other charities throughout the year.
We do up a hmper to give to St Vinnies each year, I am determined to teach my kids to give good!
what a great idea! I am going to use your idea and pay it forward. My husband and I have decided to send the same gifts from each of us in our family to UNICEF. Wishing you a fabulous Christmas xox
This year my son has really got to value how lucky we are here in Australia. We have started doing random acts of kindness in our community. Love this special giveaway x
What a lovely giveaway 🙂 I am planning to buy a toy every time I am Christmas shopping for under the Wishing Tree… I can feel a little better about the rampant consumerism this time of year if I think of a little person getting something I know will be so much more valuable to them than many recipients!
Last year my husband gifted his clients Oxfam Unwrapped and our kids have put something under the Kmart Wishing Tree. This year we will be placing donations under the Christmas Giving Tree at my son’s school that will be collected and distributed by the Salvation Army. This is a really great giveaway!