Resources

Have you signed up to Love Christmas 2024? On this page, you’ll find the Love Christmas timeline, planning guide, materials, branding and more to help you with your activities.  

Love Christmas timeline

Plan

Decide who will receive your Bags of Kindness. If you run a food bank or a community café you might decide to give them to people you already have a connection with. Or perhaps reach out to local charities and other organisations (hospitals, schools etc.) as you consider who would benefit the most from receiving a Bag of Kindness. 

  • Think about what to put in your bags and how you will collect these items. 

  • Share your activities with your congregation to let them know your plans and invite them to donate items and pray. 

  • Try reaching out to local supermarkets who may give you free products or offer you discounts on bulk items.  

  • Get in touch with other local churches to encourage them to join in! Ask if they can help you by providing some volunteers, donating items or letting you use their space.  

  • Encourage volunteers to join your packing event and consider how you can make the packing and delivery events engaging and fun! 

  • Ask for support! Email us at lovechristmas@loveyourneighbour.uk if you would like support in your planning. We can help you brainstorm some ideas or link you up with another church! 

August

Pack and deliver

This the fun part! Pack your Bags of Kindness and distribute them to your chosen beneficiaries!

November

Share your stories and impact

Help us to celebrate the total number of Bags of Kindness you have helped to distribute across the UK! Share your stories and submit your numbers so that we can measure the impact you’ve had in blessing people in our communities this Christmas.

Celebrate

In the New Year, join our celebration call to hear the national impact of Love Christmas, stories, learnings and how you can use Love Christmas to build relationships with other charity partners in your area.

December

January

Materials and communications

In need of Love Christmas cards, social media graphics or a communications calendar? We’ve got that and more. Use the links below to find all you need. We’d love for you to tag us on social media and use the hashtag - @_loveyourneighbour_ #BagsofKindness #LoveChristmasLYN  

FAQs

  • Christmas is a season for kindness and hope, where we celebrate the greatest gift of love. It’s a time to reach out to neighbours and strangers by sharing generosity and the warmth of connection.  

    Join hundreds of churches across the UK in delivering Bags of Kindness to those in your community who are facing hardship this Christmas.  

  • We work with churches as our main point of contact for Love Christmas.  

    If you are a business, school, charity or another organisation, we encourage you to reach out to a local church in your community and see if you can join their Love Christmas activities! There are many ways you can participate either through volunteering, donating items or hosting an event! 

    If you’re an individual volunteer, we’d also encourage you to find a local church that you can participate with!  

  • ORGANISE Love Christmas activities to give Bags of Kindness  

    MULTIPLY volunteers from your congregation and city  

    EXPAND your partnership network by working with other churches, businesses, local authority, schools, prisons, NHS, charity, etc in your community  

    RAISE awareness on social media and the press by sharing your Love Christmas activities  

  • What is a Bag of Kindness?

    A bag of kindness is a gift that can be given to someone who in need this Christmas. With the cost-of-living crisis, Love Christmas aims to bless those who may not otherwise receive a gift at Christmas.   

    Does Love Christmas provide bags to those that sign up?  

    We are exploring providing bags this year.

    Is there anything that I can’t put in a Bag of Kindness? 

    What goes in a bag of kindness will largely depend on the beneficiary group you are giving them to. We would recommend against alcohol, and also to be mindful of cultural preferences when packing your bags. Otherwise, it is largely up to your knowledge of the people you are aiming to bless. For more ideas see our packing list in our 'Love Christmas Planning Guide'. 

  • We encourage you to use Love Christmas as an opportunity to partner with other churches in your area. This can mean a variety of different things:  

    GIVE- You can partner with another church financially by giving to their campaign or them giving to yours  

    TIME- You can also share your time with another church. They could volunteer at your packing day or delivery day.  

    RESOURCE- Donate resources such as the contents of your Bags of Kindness to another church who is taking part or ask for donations from them, and this is another form of partnership.   

  • Love Christmas provides an amazing opportunity to form or strengthen relationships with organisations and charities in your area and can act as a springboard for longer term partnership.  

    Partner organisations might include schools, prisons, charities, businesses, and more, and can mean a variety of different things:  

    GIVE- You can partner with another organisation financially by having them donate to your campaign. For example, a business could make a donation to your Love Christmas activities.   

    TIME- You can also have an organisation volunteer their time. For example, a school could volunteer at your packing day or delivery day.  

    RESOURCE - Organisations can make a donation in kind (physical items). For example, a school could donate children's books to put into your Bags of Kindness 

    RECIPIENTS - The recipients of your Bags of Kindness can qualify as a partnership as well. For example, if you are giving your Bags of Kindness to inmates of a prison, this qualifies as a partnership.  

  • Are you on social media? So are we! We’d love for you to join us in sharing a united message of love in action this Christmas. We’ve created a helpful social media calendar with posting dates, as well as social media graphics. Download the social media calendar below to get involved.

  • We would love to hear your stories and testimonies from how your Love Christmas activities and Bags of Kindness have positively impacted your community. 

    If you have a beneficiary in mind who’d be happy to share the impact receiving a Bag of Kindness had on them, please put us in touch! We’d love to hear stories of hope and connection. To do so, please drop Catherine and email.   

    catherine.johnson@revitalisetrust.org

  • We collect impact so we can measure how, collectively across the UK, churches are working together to bless vulnerable people in our communities over the Christmas period. Together, we can celebrate the total number of Bags of Kindness distributed across the UK, which each individual church has played a part in implementing.  

Alpha

Would you like to include Alpha’s ‘Why Christmas?’ booklet in your Bags of Kindness? Find this and more in Alpha’s print shop.   

Other churches

Looking for other churches partaking in Love Christmas this year? Check out our handy map on our alliance page.