Christmas Shoeboxes

Each Christmas The Trussell Trust takes thousands of shoeboxes filled with gifts to some of the poorest people in Bulgaria. In 2011 we gave out 5,887 Christmas Shoeboxes and last year we had more requests for Christmas Boxes than ever before... Thanks to your generosity in 2012, we delivered a record-breaking 6,657 shoeboxes to poor and marginalised children and families all over the country!

Here's how your Christmas Boxes transform lives, please tell your friends, family, colleagues too:

Visit the 2012 Christmas Shoebox distribution trip blog

Follow the Christmas Box Appeal on facebook. Could you share our page with your friends?

Who do we give Christmas boxes to?

People of all ages receive boxes, ranging from Roma people living in freezing conditions and struggling to survive, to abandoned and orphaned children living in state care. Last year we hand-delivered thousands of shoeboxes to: orphanages, Roma communities, women’s refuges, prisoner’s children, housebound elderly people, rural schools and refugee centres.

How do Christmas boxes help?

Christmas boxes show people who have been rejected or are living in absolute poverty that they are loved. For many, a Christmas shoebox will be the only gift they receive this year. These small boxes are received with smiles, laughter and even tears of joy. Christmas boxes help us to build trusting relationships with recipients so that we can continue to help with longer term projects in future.

Get involved in our 2013 appeal

This year we want to do even better than 2012 but we cannot do it without you.There are different ways you can get invloved:

Many schools, churches, businesses and community groups in Wiltshire support the appeal so you may be able to give a box through them. If your group is not invloved and you would like them to be get in touch with us and we can arrange a talk or presentation.
At the bottom of this page you can find out How to pack your Chistmas Box. Downloads, including leaflets and posters for the 2013 appeal appear below but feel free to ask us questions about the project.
If you can't get a box to us you can donate money by clicking here and we will fill a box for you.
If you are part of a school, church group, business or other organisation we’d be happy to come visit you and talk about the appeal. If you would like us to send you some Christmas Box Appeal leaflets or if you are part of a group that would like to put together toiletries for refugees, or you have any queries please call Richard Parsons on 01722 580192 or e-mail him at richard.parsons@trusselltrust.org
In November we will need help to sort and pack all the Christmas boxes so if you or your group would like to help with this then please contact us in the autumn.

Download a 2013 Christmas Box leaflet:

Follow these instructions to download our 2013 Christmas Box leaflet (which works well in black & white):

1. Click here to download leaflet (pdf)

2. Open page 1 of the pdf file

3. Select “print current side” on your printer

4. Print out and turn your newly printed page over put it back into your printer as you need to print on the reverse side

5. Select page 2 of the pdf

6. Select “print current side” on your printer and print

7. You now have a complete leaflet - just follow the instructions to complete your Christmas box!

Download a Christmas box poster here

Download extra Christmas box tags here

If you are part of a group putting together some boxes you can download a special Tag & Details form here. This saves us from having to send lots of leaflets for the group.

Drop off your completed boxes

Please take your completed Christmas Boxes to our warehouse at Unit 6B, Ashfield Trading Estate, Ashfield Road, Salisbury SP2 7HL, thank you! You can also drop them off at any of our Trussell Trust shops in Salisbury (High St & Bemerton Heath), Verwood, Ferndown, Winton & Boscombe(click for a map)

If you do not have the capability to print off the leaflets at home then please fill out the form here and we will get in touch.

What if I'm nowhere near Salisbury and I want to donate?

You have two options:

Call Rich Parsons on 01722 580192 to see if we can find a solution or go to our Just Giving page and make a donation and we'll fill a box for you.

How to pack your Christmas Box:

1. Find an old shoebox. Any size will do!

2. Separately wrap the bottom of the box and the lid in suitably festive paper.

3. Download a Tag & Details here. Separate (cut along lines) the age/gender tag from the "YOUR DETAILS" form.

4. Decide who you’d like the box to go to (see downloaded tag). If you would like to do more than one box you can download extra tags.

5. Have fun selecting and buying items for your recipient. See our suggestions below for ideas. Place each item unwrapped in the box (each box must be checked before it leaves the UK). Items such as shampoo should be placed in a clear plastic bag.

6. Tick the appropriate age/gender category and then attach the tag to the lid of your box. Fill out the "YOUR DETAILS" form and attach this to the box lid as well.

7. Attach your £2 donation towards transport costs (optional) to the form or put it in an envelope inside the box; cash or cheques accepted. If you are donating more than one box it is fine for you to write one cheque to cover all the boxes you donate. It costs thousands of pounds to run the Christmas Box Appeal so we ask everyone to consider attaching £2 to each shoebox made. If the costs are covered we will use any extra money leftover to support our other Bulgaria projects. Thanks to the generosity of donors in 2012 the Christmas box appeal also paid for a Winter Camp for the children of Lipnitsa Orphanage/School.

8. If you are a UK tax payer please tick the Gift Aid box, allowing us to claim a further 25p for every £1 donated.

9. Secure the lid of the Christmas box with an elastic band.

10. Deliver your shoeboxes to The Trussell Trust before 29th November. Boxes can be delivered to your participating school, church or organisation, to any of our shops or directly to 6b Ashfield Trading Estate, Salisbury.