Give more this Year #BrightChristmas

This is my favourite time of the year. I love waking up in a snug warm bed and walking outside to a crisp Autumn morning. I love indulging in a pumpkin spiced latte, toasting crumpets on an open fire and having to wear a jumper. Of course, the cold weather and festive feelings make me start to think about the big celebration just around the corner: Christmas!

I have to admit that every year I want to be able to give something to my friends and family which is more meaningful than another selection of bath goodies or a tin of chocolates and I try my best to come up with ideas for presents which will last more than a few days or weeks. As I have gotten older (and maybe wiser) I have come to realise that Christmas isn’t just about getting material things but spending time together with the ones you love and sharing experiences together.

As I have gotten older so too have my relatives and sadly both of my Grandfathers are now living in care homes, unable to look after themselves any longer. Choosing gifts for them is always tough but now that they are no longer really capable of understanding the concept of Christmas, this year I feel like I should explore alternatives to help people less fortunate than myself via charitable donations on my relatives’ behalfs.

One such charitable Christmas campaign is the Oxfam Unwrapped Charity Gifts program which allows you to choose charity gifts from Oxfam for people in need all around the world to help them and their communities to improve living conditions and their prospects. There are four categories of gifts:

1. Making a Living – helping people to generate sustainable income with gifts such as training for farmers, distributing livestock and teaching valuable business skills.
2. Investing in the Future – giving people the opportunity to succeed with gifts such as training for teachers, ensuring children can go to school and improving healthcare services.
3. Responding in an Emergency – providing much needed urgent assistance with gifts such as providing access to safe water and sanitation facilities, access to food and helping people to reconstruct their communities.
4. Water for all – simply providing communities with access to clean, safe water and sanitation facilities with gifts such as creating and repairing water points, building toilets and teaching health and hygiene practices.

Starting from as little as £5 for life-saving soap and covering all areas of life including basics such as education for girls (£17), a safe toilet (£20), teaching a man to fish (£40) and safe water for 100 people (£100) to setting up a farmyard (£250) and kitting out a classroom (£1,500).

So, rather than buying something meaningless for someone who will probably forget it the next day, why not consider helping to support people less fortunate than yourself this year with one of these life-changing gifts from Oxfam?

I know that I will feel especially merry this Christmas knowing that I not only do I get to spend some quality time with my friends and family but I have also made a difference to someone who really needs it.