The charity Little Troopers has the announced details of its 2023 Christmas Smiles campaign to support military children who have a parent deployed over the holidays.
Thanks to grants received from the Veterans’ Foundation and Pinnacle, Little Troopers will be distributing 2,500 Christmas boxes to military children who will be separated from their parent this Christmas. Each Christmas box will be packed with Little Troopers resources to help support them while their parent is away, as well as Christmas treats to bring Christmas Smiles to thousands of forces children.
Little Troopers has also organised a list of free festive activities for families, including 400 free cinema tickets to see the much-loved Christmas animation, The Grinch, at five different ODEON locations on Sunday 17th December. The locations are Bournemouth, Harrogate, Colchester, Oxford and Norwich. The free tickets are now available to book here.
Military families are also being invited to come together online to get into the Christmas spirit with at a live online Christmas bake-along to make stained glass biscuits on Saturday 16th December at 10am and a Christmas party run by Non-Stop Kids on Friday 22nd December at 2pm.
Louise Fetigan, founder of Little Troopers comments: “Christmas Smiles is a campaign we’ve been running for years to support children who have a parent deployed over Christmas. It’s a really hard time of year to be separated from a parent and our aim is to make these children feel special and supported.
“We’re so excited to be putting together our own Christmas boxes this year thanks to the support of the Veterans Foundation and Pinnacle. We really think the boxes will make a difference to thousands of military children this Christmas who are struggling with their parent away.”
Christmas Boxes
The charity will work directly with military units across all three services to distribute the Christmas boxes to the families. Welfare personnel are encouraged to get in touch with the charity now to register their interest in receiving a batch of boxes if they have personnel deployed. The charity will also post out a small number of boxes directly to families closer to Christmas. Details about how to apply for these individual boxes will be released via the charity’s newsletter in December.
Little Troopers is looking for volunteers located near Bovington to help at a packing day for the Christmas boxes in December (date to be confirmed). Volunteers can get in touch by emailing [email protected]
16th December, 10am: Christmas Bake
Join lots of other little troopers online and have fun making stained glass biscuits together. Register now and you will be sent a list of yummy ingredients in advance.
Sunday 17th December, 10am: Free cinema screening of The Grinch
Little Troopers has organised free cinema screenings of The Grinch at the following ODEON locations: Bournemouth, Harrogate, Colchester, Oxford and Norwich. Families can now book the tickets here. Please only book if you are able to attend.
Friday 22nd December, 2pm: Little Troopers Christmas Party
Celebrate the start of the school holidays by logging in to the Little Troopers Christmas Party! Run by Non-Stop Kids, this fun 45 minute show will have your children leaping about, rolling around with laughter and getting into the Christmas spirit with just three sleeps to go! You can now book your party place here.
Giveaways
To bring extra Christmas cheer, Little Troopers will also be running weekly giveaways on its Facebook and Instagram pages throughout December. Keep an eye out for a chance to win!
Christmas extras
If that wasn’t enough, the charity also has lots of Christmas-themed Crafty Little Troopers sheets that families can download to keep them busy in the lead up to the big day.
For more information visit www.littletroopers.net
