Help us reach our goal of delivering fun and accessible festive events for families, supported by our nurses, counsellors and therapists. Together we can make a real difference to families who will find this Christmas a time of worry or grief
Donating toys, presents and magical moments
Thank you so much for thinking of Shooting Star Children’s Hospices, your generosity means so much to us. This year we have launched a Christmas crowdfunder to give every child the chance to meet Santa. We are inviting our wonderful community of supporters to help us raise £10,000 to make magical memories for the children and families that we support. You can find out more about our campaign via the link below. We still also welcome donations of new toys or purchases of gifts from our wish list. You can find out more about all of these options on this page. Thank you.
Ways to support us at Christmas
Shop our Amazon wish list
Our Care team add a selection of gifts handpicked for the children and young people we support on our Amazon wish list. These are constantly updated, alongside items we need to keep our hospices running smoothly.
Buy a voucher for a family
This could be a voucher a supported family can use to buy presents for supported children and siblings themselves, or it might be for an event, or simply the chance to go out for a nice meal as a family. You can find a selection of vouchers on our Amazon wish list.
Dropping off new toys
Shooting Star House
We are very happy to accept unwrapped new toy donations at Shooting Star House in Hampton during these times:
Mondays: 10am–12pm
Tuesdays: 10am–12pm and 2pm–4pm
Thursdays: 2pm–4pm
Please contact our Supporter Care team in advance if you can so we can ensure someone is available to take collection. To give Santa’s elves enough time to work their magic and load up the sleigh, we kindly ask for presents to be dropped off by Tuesday 16 December. We are also very happy to accept donations at our shops and donation station throughout the year.
Frequently asked questions
We can’t accept:
- Soiled, stained, or damaged items
- Ice skates
- Swimming aids/inflatables
- Broken or incomplete plastic toys
- Handknitted clothes/blankets (due to no care label)
- Balloons
- Oversized soft toys
We are very happy to accept these at our charity shops (see below), but we can only accept brand new, unopened items for supported children.
We kindly ask that donations are not wrapped in paper, so that our care team can ensure each gift is appropriate and safe for the child receiving it.
For the latest list of suitable gifts, please check our Amazon Wish List.
Donations of pre-loved toys and other items
We are very happy to receive pre-loved toys and other second hand donations at our shops.