Christmas 4 Kids in Care
Every child deserves a Christmas morning.
For children in out-of-home care or emergency accommodation, Christmas can be one of the hardest days of the year. Many have been moved suddenly, separated from family, friends and everything familiar. Christmas 4 Kids in Care makes sure that on Christmas morning, every child knows they haven’t been forgotten.
How it began
In the lead up to Christmas 2016, our Founder Sally Beard received a call from a domestic violence refuge. The mums staying there couldn’t go shopping for fear of being found, and they had nothing to give their children for Christmas. The refuge asked for toys, books and small items of distraction, something to help those children feel like kids again, even for a day. Sally answered the call, and 44 children at the refuge woke up to gifts that Christmas.
A few months later, a foster carer told Sally something she couldn’t forget:
“That would have been so good at my house this year. I had 8 kids from 3 different families and only some of the promised presents arrived.”
It broke Sally’s heart. She took the idea to our Committee, and Christmas 4 Kids in Care was born.
Nearly 40,000 Santa packs and counting
Since that first Christmas, we’ve delivered 39,272 Santa packs to babies, children and youth across Victoria who are living away from home. Each one is a small, powerful message: you matter, and someone was thinking of you.
Our goal for Christmas 2026: 5,225 Santa packs
We can’t do it alone. Every Santa pack is made possible by the generosity of our community, and every donation helps a child in care experience the joy, comfort and dignity of opening a gift on Christmas morning.
What's in a Santa Pack?
Something to Read
These items provide an opportunity for quiet time, either independently or shared with a carer. Reading can help children relax, escape into imaginative worlds, learn new things, develop literacy skills, and create positive bonding moments. Books can also provide comfort and familiarity during times of change or uncertainty. This could include board books, picture books, fabric books, bath books, novels, educational books, comic books, mindfulness journals, puzzle books, or age-appropriate magazines.
Something for Comfort
These items help children feel safe, secure, and cared for. Comfort items can provide emotional reassurance, reduce stress and anxiety, support self-regulation, and create a sense of belonging. They can be especially valuable during transitions, when settling into a new environment, or during difficult times. This could include a soft toy to cuddle, a doll with a blanket, a throw rug, an Oodie, a dressing gown, a fidget toy, sensory items, self-care products, or other comforting keepsakes.
Something to Play With
Play is essential for children’s development, helping them build confidence, creativity, social skills, coordination, and problem-solving abilities. Toys and games encourage fun, exploration, and positive interaction with others while supporting age-appropriate learning and development. This could include board games, card games, sports equipment, musical instruments, stacking toys, rattles, baby toys, imaginative play sets, dolls, action figures, bath toys, sandpit toys, construction toys, or outdoor play equipment.
Something to Do
These items provide engaging activities that encourage creativity, curiosity, learning, and a sense of achievement. Activities can help children develop fine motor skills, concentration, critical thinking, and self-expression while offering enjoyable ways to spend time independently or with others. This could include puzzles, craft kits, science kits, colouring books with crayons, pencils or markers, LEGO®, cooking or baking kits, model-building sets, sticker books, activity books, journals, or creative art supplies.
Every child deserves to experience the magic of Christmas, no matter their circumstances.
Let's make it happen together.
Donate to the program or sponsor a Santa Pack
Your gift will do more than bring smiles - it will send a powerful message of hope, inclusion and belonging to children who often feel overlooked. You'll also be offering crucial support and a sense of dignity to single parents who have escaped domestic violence, helping them create special memories with their children.
Raise funds to support kids in care at Christmas
Host a morning tea, run an event, have a bbq, provide a gift in lieu of company or family kris kringles, have a bake sale, complete a challenge, or any other idea you might have to raise much-needed funds. Get your family, friends, school or colleagues to help you raise funds to help us provide gift packs to children in out-of-home care.
Host a Santa's Giving Tree on your reception desk
Santa's Giving Trees are covered with baubles for your staff, customers, visitors, family or friends to purchase for themselves or others. Funds raised go straight to our Christmas 4 Kids in Care program. Baubles range from $10 - $50 each and can be purchased by scanning the QR code on the back of the baubles.
Run a gift donation drive at school, work or with friends.
Donate the gifts that will be put into lovingly handmade Santa sacks to bring joy to children who need it most, and to help out the carers to be able to concentrate on making Christmas day full of wonderful memories for children in care. Our most needed age group is teenagers - if you're stuck for ideas, a gift card would be perfect!
