Words by Smiley Team
A charity tackling inequality in the UK, Inspire, is selling an advent calendar with a difference. Instead of offering chocolates each day, it encourages children to be kinder. Throughout December the calendar suggests acts of kindness to help others in the run-up to Christmas.
Made from wood, the kindness calendar can be reused each year making it more eco-friendly than disposable versions. The profits from each sale will go towards disadvantaged families.
“We dreamt of doing something more sustainable to raise money for charity for years, and then - while on parental leave for our second child, Sasha - the idea for ‘Inspire’ was born when making advent calendars for each other,” explain its creators, couple Caroline and Ben Hyde.
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Their ‘kindness calendar’ is built from separate wooden pieces so you can enjoy putting it together at home. It comes in the form of a tree and a bag of magnetic decorations that can be added each day.
At a cost of £35, the tree helps the charity fundraise, with 100% of the profits going to charity. Their charity partners include Best Beginnings which supports parents’ mental and physical health for their child’s wellbeing.
“Inspire is in its first year of fundraising, and we're so excited to be selling our wooden kindness advent trees for children and parents or carers to enjoy together, spreading kindness while raising money for charity,” they say.
The two parents saw the positive impact of their calendar firsthand within their own family when their son experienced the joy of helping others.
“We can still picture the excitement on our 4-year-old son's face after he received a thank you card from our older neighbours, who he'd shared his home-baked cookies with in the depths of lockdown winter last year,” they recount, adding, “This one act of kindness forged a relationship we hadn't had, with weekly deliveries and notes with pictures on.”
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“We can't wait to see how this happiness is spread in December among other families and neighbours through the Inspire Kindness Advent Calendar,” they say.
The charity has plans to build the Inspire family of products including extensions to the advent tree as well as additional products to inspire kindness throughout the year.
Purchase the advent calendar, spread kindness and support others here.
Find more information at inspire.charity.
