Ditch the Secret Santa tat and help Age UK
With Christmas approaching, you’ll no doubt be thinking about Secret Santa. Perhaps looking forward to that awkward moment as your boss opens the copy of the Kama Sutra that seemed so funny when you bought it last week…
If this sounds a little too close to home, you’ll be pleased to hear that there’s an alternative to the traditional Secret Santa ritual – it’s called #SecretSantaSacrifice. We came up with concept after musing on this idea; rather than waste cash on Secret Santa crap, what if we put that money to good use and did something meaningful for vulnerable people instead?
Initially launched last Christmas in partnership with Age UK, #SecretSantaSacrifice was such a resounding success that Age UK approached us and asked if we’d run it again for 2015.
This year, Age UK launched their ‘No one should have no one’ campaign – and we’re supporting this too. One million older people go a month without talking to anyone – and loneliness is felt even more keenly at Christmas, when half a million older people will spend the day alone. Age UK wants to help provide support, companionship and advice to older people and their loved ones.
This is where #SecretSantaSacrifice comes in. We’ve made a virtual shop of the classic Secret Santa crap, and rather than buying a real-life gift, we’re asking you to donate the purchase price and send a virtual present instead. Your Secret Santee won’t go empty handed – you can tweet, Facebook or email a friend or colleague with their ‘gift’, and you can download a gift certificate for yourself, too.
We’ve seen a great response so far on Twitter, and of course, we’re donating as our agency Secret Santa this year. The more funds we can raise, the more older people Age UK can help. So go on – ditch comedy mug and do something good with your fiver this Christmas.