This year, Santa Stork will be a much smaller project and will only be available for children in significant hardship who would otherwise not get any gifts at Christmas. Rather than individual family referrals or spreadsheets, gifts can be chosen by referral partners at our Gifting Days on a first come, first served basis.
Why this change?
Like many charities, we face an increasingly challenging funding climate, and rising costs. We are taking care to ensure our resources work hard for families in Surrey and Croydon, and that we prioritise providing everyday essentials families need year-round.
This means we aren’t resourced to run a big Christmas project, and we won’t be able to help everyone this year.
What will be on offer?
Gifts available at the Gifting Days will be those that have been kindly donated to us by the community. Most of these brand new gifts are suitable for ages 3-8, with some, but fewer, available for babies and 9 years+. We’ll help as much as we can, but it may be that we are unable to fulfil requests for these ages. To ensure we can support as many children as possible, there will be a limit of one gift per child.
We will also have a selection of preloved Christmas jumpers, pjs, books and teddies to choose from.
How will the gifts be distributed?
In October, we will contact current referral partners (those who have referred this year) and invite them to book onto one of our Gifting Days, which will be held in November and December. Slots will be available on a first come, first served basis, and once booked, will mean you can come along on that day and choose some gifts for the children you’re supporting. We won’t be able to deliver any gifts.
Unlike previous years the gifts will not be picked for you, but we will have our lovely volunteers on site to help you choose and pack one gift per child.
Your gifts will only be able at the Gifting Day that you book onto. We won’t be able to deliver any gifts or arrange for you to collect gifts from our warehouse with other regular referrals.
Before referring to Santa Stork, we ask you to please think carefully about who needs this support most, and to check whether there are other gifting schemes that could support the family. Our capacity is really limited this year, and we want to make sure our resources go to those who don’t have another option.
Your nearest baby bank: https://stripeystork.org.uk/babybanks/
Surrey
Smile Sleigh https://www.smilesleigh.org.uk/
Surrey Choices https://www.surreychoices.com/blogs/magic-box-project/
The Besom https://www.thebesomnetwork.org/find-your-local-besom
The Greenaway Foundation: https://greenawayfoundation.org/
Smiles2Smiles: https://www.facebook.com/Smiles2Smiles (Elmbridge)
Oasis Charity https://www.oasischarity.co.uk/ (Elmbridge)
Croydon
Croydon Christmas Appeal https://croydoncommitment.org.uk/croydon-christmas-appeal/
Toys for Joy https://www.purleyfoodhub.net/help-bring-some-christmas-cheer-to-local-families-in-need/
Sutton Women’s Centre https://www.suttonwomenscentre.co.uk/
UK Wide
Family Action https://family-action.org.uk/give-support/donate-2026ta-christmas-toy-appeal/
Kids Out https://kidsout.org.uk/the-giving-tree/
Salvation Army centres: https://www.salvationarmy.org.uk/christmas-present-appeal
Please note these FAQs refers only to the Santa Stork Christmas gifting project that Stripey Stork offer. Our core service, available year-round, is not affected by any changes or restrictions mentioned.
Santa Stork is only for children in significant hardship who would otherwise not get any gifts at Christmas. We can’t provide top-up or extra gifts, or supply gifts for families who are not in hardship. As with all elements of Stripey Stork’s service, gifts must be collected by a professional supporting the family – families cannot self-refer or collect from us.
Before referring, we ask you to please think carefully about who needs this support most, and to check whether there are other gifting schemes that could support the family. Our capacity is really limited this year, and we want to make sure our resources go to those who don’t have another option.
Remember, even if you are not able to refer a family for Santa Stork, our core service is still available and may be able to help relieve some financial pressure through providing essentials.
In recent years, there have been many other gifting schemes emerge in Surrey, Croydon and Sussex. We’ve listed some of the ones we know about above. It is also worth checking with your local community groups, charities, Rotary Clubs, Salvation Army, foodbanks and online communities to see what’s in your area. If you know of any others, please let us know so we can include them here.
Requests open in October. This year, we are not taking spreadsheets or referrals by family or child for Christmas. We will invite current referral partners (those who have referred in 2026) to book a Gifting Day slot and come to choose some gifts from what we have available on that day. Gifting Days are booked on a first come, first served basis, subject to available stock.
A variety of brand new gifts, for various ages, that have been donated to us. The majority of these are suited to children aged 3-8, but we will have some stock for younger and older ages. Please bear this in mind when requesting.
We won’t have stocking fillers and chocolate as standard, but there may be some small gifts and books available.
Please note that the majority of the gifts we have in stock are suitable for junior ages – eg 3 – 8 years, with some, but fewer, for babies and 9yrs +. We cannot guarantee having appropriate gifts available for every child when you visit.
You book a slot, telling us how many families / children you hope to choose gifts for. On that day, you arrive at the gifting location (this is in Reigate, but is not our usual location – full details will be provided when you book). Gifts we have available will be on display, sorted by age, and our volunteers will be happy to help you find and pack one gift per child.
We will only be able to give out Santa Stork gifts on the Gifting Days, via the process explained above.
Unfortunately, we won’t be able to select gifts and add them to deliveries this year.
This year, we can’t take specific requests. You will be able to choose from the stock we have available when you visit us.
Please note that the majority of the gifts we have in stock are suitable for junior ages – eg 3-7 years, with some, but fewer, for babies and 9yrs +.
We cannot guarantee having appropriate gifts available for every child when you visit.
Requests open in October. To manage demand, we will invite current referral partners first (those who have referred to us this year). If there is additional capacity, we will open this up to a wider group.
If you have referred to Stripey Stork in 2026 and have not received anything by October 20th, please check your junk mail, or get in touch via santa@stripeystork.org.uk.
If you have referred to us, but not recently, or have not referred to us yet, we may not be able to help with Christmas gifts this year.
Gifting days will be held in November. Depending on the take-up and stock remaining, we may be able to add more dates in December. Once a date is full, we unfortunately cannot add any more slots.
If you can’t make it personally, you are welcome to nominate a colleague to come on your behalf, but please note that a Gifting Day slot must be booked for each visit. Gifts must be collected and passed on by a professional – please don’t send the family themselves to collect.
Within reason, you can collect some extra gifts within your slot, but please be mindful that we have a limited stock available. To be fair to all partners needing to collect gifts, if you are looking to add on more than 20 extra gifts, please book an additional slot, or consider looking into other schemes.
If you are running a Christmas event for families identified as being in hardship, please speak to us about this via santa@stripeystork.org.uk. Our project is designed for children who would otherwise not get a gift at Christmas, so we can’t provide top-up gifts, or gifts for events for families not in hardship, as this doesn’t make best use of our limited resources.
Please contact santa@stripeystork.org.uk and we’ll do our best to help.
