Help families in Bristol this winter with essentials
for babies and mums.
Child poverty in the UK is at a record high. In Bristol, 1 in 5 children live in income deprived families, increasing to half in some wards. Poverty significantly harms children's health, wellbeing, and life chances and parents are often forced into impossible choices between buying the basics or paying the bills. Many of the families we support face additional challenges such as; homelessness; domestic abuse; seeking refuge/asylum; mental health issues; are mums under 21.
The families we support do not have essential equipment or toiletries for their babies and children, and over the winter we usually see a rise in referrals to our service.
In 10 years, with your support and working with local referral partners we have supported over 11,600 families with essentials, redistributed over half a million items, and given out over 8,000 toiletry kits for mums and babies. We estimate we have helped 18,000+ children since 2015, including siblings of children referred.
Hygiene poverty in the UK means 1.1 million children are lacking basic hygiene products. As well as redistributing preloved items, we give out over 1,200 toiletry packs for mums and babies each year. A pack costs £20 on average and can include: baby wipes, nappy cream and sacks, soap, shampoo, toothbrush and paste, flannels, cotton wool, lip balm, hand cream, nipple cream, maternity and breast pads.
With your support, we can: provide essentials for children up to 5 years; help keep children safe and well; ease the burden on families already struggling; and relieve some of the anxiety that comes with having a newborn.
How you can help
The Big Give #Christmas Challenge
Thank you so much to everyone who donated to our third Big Give #ChristmasChallenge, between 2 – 9 December. Thanks to your generosity we raised £10,080 in donations to unlock a further £10,000 in match funding, raising a fantastic £20,080 in total!
With Gift Aid added and minus fees, the grand total raised is £21,236 – incredible!
We would like to say a special thank you to our Big Give pledger – Mrs Iris Noreen Setchell Charitable Trust and our Big Give Champion – Julia Rausing Trust for providing £5,000 each as match-funding to double your donations.
We would also like to say a heartfelt thank you to The Big Give team for enabling Baby Bank Network Bristol to take part in our third Christmas Challenge.
There is still time to support families in Bristol this winter, please read below to find out more.
Donate toiletries – get your school, workplace or community group involved!
The more good quality toiletries donated over the Christmas period, the less we need to buy during the year, meaning funds can be spent on other running costs.
There are two ways to donate toiletries this winter:
- Donate toiletries (or buy a voucher) from our For Common Good wishlist – items will be delivered in bulk to our warehouse when we need them with no delivery costs.
- Donate toiletries at our donation points around Bristol – please check individual venues for opening times over the Christmas period.
- Donate items from our Amazon wishlist and get them delivered directly to our warehouse (we will be closed between 20th December – 4th January).
- Organise a toiletries drive to collect donations at your school, workplace or with a community group.
- Donate pre-made toiletry packs for a mum or baby.
Please read our Donating Toiletries Information Pack to find out what toiletries we need, what each pre-made pack should contain, and items we cannot accept.
Please see our downloadable resources below, and book a delivery slot to bring your donations to our warehouse.
Our warehouse and office will close for Christmas on Friday 19th December and re-open on Monday 5th January 2026.
If your business, school, nursery, workplace or community group would like to support our appeal, please e-mail fundraising@babybanknetwork.com – we would love to hear from you!
Resources to download, share and print
Please download, share and print any of the resources below:
- Donating Toiletries Information Pack
- Gifts in Kind calculator– if you would like to work out the estimated value of your toiletry donations
- A4 appeal poster
- A3 appeal poster
- A5 appeal leaflet (double sided)
- Editable poster for toiletry donation points
- Newsletter insert
- Newsletter insert for schools
If you would like to collect printed posters or leaflets from our warehouse, or have any queries please get in touch at fundraising@babybanknetwork.com
Other ways to support
- Become a regular donor and help us continue our vital work year-round.
- Donate proceeds from your Christmas fundraising event, party, concert or raffle. To donate by cheque or bank transfer please get in touch at fundraising@babybanknetwork.com
- Connect with Baby Bank Network on Social Media and help us spread the word! Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
- Volunteer your time on a regular basis.
- Find out about how your school, business or employer can support Baby Bank Network year-round by visiting our fundraising page or e-mailing partnerships@babybanknetwork.com
If you have any questions please get in touch with us at fundraising@babybanknetwork.com
With special thanks to our volunteer designer Liubov Edwards for creating our Christmas Appeal graphics again this year!