Lidl launches national Christmas "Toy Bank" in response to charities' call for help and pledges 1m meals

Lidl’s new toy donation drive launches in over 940 stores nationwide from Thursday 3rd November.

This exciting initiative comes in partnership with Neighbourly, as research has discovered that 8 in 10 local causes would find donations of toys and games very helpful this Christmas.

Charities, community groups, and food banks can register their interest now to receive support from Lidl.

Lidl will also donate 1 million meals and make £250k available for charities, community groups, and food banks all over Britain. 

Lidl has announced the launch of a new, nationwide toy donation drive coming to your town this Christmas.

It follows new research, in partnership with Neighbourly, that found that for 8 in 10 charities and community groups currently partnered with Lidl, toys and games were one of their most needed items to help serve their local communities over the festive period. Second only to food donations.

From Thursday 3rd November, Lidl will launch toy banks across its stores all over the country. Customers will then be able to drop off new and unopened toys and games, to be gifted to children needing support in their local area.

Donations can be anything. From a small stocking filler to something bigger. Sought-after items will include toys, games, books, puzzles, and arts and crafts, for a range of ages.

Toys will then be collected by local charities who are participating in Lidl’s ‘Feed it Back’ scheme, coordinated by Neighbourly, alongside the food they pick up weekly. 

They will then be donated via local charities and community groups like food banks and community centres.

Also, the supermarket has committed £250k for charities during the festive period. This includes a £125k donation for the toy bank initiative. And has also pledged to donate more meals than ever over the festive period. 

As part of  Lidl's long-standing work within local communities, Lidl GB will also donate a selection of festive food items as part of its regular food donations. These will go to local charities and community groups, which, together with their food surplus programme, will equate to over 1 million meals.

Existing charity partnerships will be prioritised for these festive collections but, where there’s availability, additional organisations are being invited to apply to be paired with a local Lidl store to collect toys and fresh and chilled food products. This will include fruit, vegetables, fresh meat, fish, and bread, ahead of stores closing on Christmas Eve.

Says Ryan McDonnell, who is the CEO at Lidl GB: “It's always been our firm belief that each and every one of our stores must have a positive impact on its community. 

"This year, we wanted to find a meaningful way to help our communities. So we listened to the 1,500 local charities, food banks and community groups we partner with and heard clearly what they needed: food, toys, and access to funds.

“As a business we are proud to be able to address all three of these needs. We're launching toy banks in all our stores, pledging 1m meals and we will be making £250k available for charities through a Neighbourly donation and our community fund.

“Our hope is that by rolling out the toy donation points we're making it easier, for those customers who can, to donate directly to local good causes by giving them a small way to make a real difference and help those that need it the most.”

Steve Butterworth, CEO of Neighbourly, added: "Our latest community survey has highlighted the financial strain that many families are facing this winter. With local charities seeing a drop in both food and financial donations, any support that Lidl customers can give is going to be critical. 

"For many families, Christmas gifts will be something they will struggle to afford this year, so a scheme like this which alleviates some of the worry for parents will make a huge difference.”

Lidl toy banks will be accepting donations from Thursday 3rd November until Friday 16th December, when all the toys will be collected for distribution.

Charities, community groups and food banks can register interest now to receive surplus food and toy donations this Christmas at www.neighbourly.com/service/good-causes.

Or visit Lidl at www.lidl.co.uk for details of your nearest branch, etc.

A greener Christmas with Nestlé

Nestlé Confectionery has announced industry-leading packaging innovations for two of its best-loved brands: Quality Street and KitKat. In a category first, Quality Street will move to recyclable paper packaging for its twist-wrapped sweets. 

By replacing the double layer of foil and cellulose with a paper wrap, Quality Street will remove over two billion pieces of packaging material from the brand's supply chain.

At the same time, KitKat will introduce wrappers made with 80% recycled plastic. These wrappers can be recycled at more than 5,000 supermarkets across the UK and placed in household recycling in the Republic of Ireland. The rollout will begin this month on the brand's flagship two-finger products, before being extended across the entire range by 2024.

Purchased by over 6 in 10 households in the UK, KitKat will use the highest proportion of recycled food-grade plastic of any major UK & Ireland confectionery brand. The launch is part of Nestlé's ongoing commitment towards reducing its environmental impact and supporting a circular economy.  

This commitment is further demonstrated by the new Quality Street wrappers, which were developed by packaging experts at Nestlé's research and development centre in York. One innovation is the development of a special vegetable-based coating for the paper, which does not hinder the recycling process.

Nine of the 11 Quality Street sweets will move to paper-based packaging. The Orange Crunch and the Green Triangle will remain in their simple foil wrappers as, traditionally, they have not had cellulose wrappers. The transition to paper, which is now underway, will take several months to complete. This means that for Christmas 2022, consumers will find a mix of both the old and new wrappers in their Quality Street cartons, pouches, tubs, and tins. The delicious mix of sweets inside is unchanged.

QS-paper-feed

Richard Watson, who is the Business Executive Officer, at Nestlé Confectionery said: "These major packaging innovations have been pioneered by our teams here in the UK. The new KitKat packaging is enabled by a significant upgrade to Nestlé's York Factory, while the category-leading Quality Street paper twist-wraps have been designed at our Confectionery Product Technology Centre in York, and implemented in Halifax, the home of Quality Street for 87 years.

"Nestlé Confectionery is taking a leadership position on packaging sustainability as we work towards cutting our use of virgin plastic by one third and making all our packaging recyclable or reusable within the next three years. 

"The changes we have announced have been informed by detailed lifecycle assessments that have enabled us to identify solutions with a lower environmental impact than our current packaging."

The new KitKat packs will feature the Recycle At Store On-Pack Recycling Label (OPRL) - a UK labelling scheme established by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) to help consumers correctly reuse and recycle more material. The wrappers will also provide information about the Recycling Locator Tool - a platform launched by the national WRAP recycling campaign Recycle Now, which guides consumers to their nearest recycling point. Supermarkets including Tesco, Sainsbury's, Co-op, Aldi, and Waitrose now offer soft plastic recycling facilities in stores, while most consumers in the Republic of Ireland can put soft plastics into household recycling.   

Helen Bird, Head of Business Collaboration, WRAP said: "Plastic waste is a key concern for most citizens, and for many this is centred on whether it is easy to recycle. Recyclability is complex since it requires the culmination of good design, collection, recycling infrastructure, and importantly, market demand for recycled material into new products and packaging - manufacture is after all, the whole point of recycling. Plastic wrappers are not yet collected by local authorities, but this is set to change in the coming years. 

"In the meantime, leading supermarkets are providing 5,000 collection points for all types of plastic bags and wrappers. We welcome these new initiatives from Nestlé, founding members of The UK Plastics Pact, to improve the recyclability of Quality Street and using advanced recycling technology to include recycled plastic into its KitKat packaging - something we need to significantly ramp up in the UK, and across the world. We look forward to further roll out."

Nestlé UK & Ireland has been working to improve the sustainability of its confectionery operations and supply chain for well over a decade. The business has sourced 100% certified sustainable cocoa for all its chocolate and biscuits since the end of 2015 and is aiming to halve the carbon footprint of its local fresh milk supply by 2026. This involves helping farmers to adopt sustainable farming practices that will protect and restore natural resources such as soil, water, and biodiversity around their farms over the years to come, while producing the best quality milk for Nestlé products. 

Quality Street is the second Nestlé confectionery brand to introduce paper, following Smarties, which rolled out recyclable paper packaging for all its confectionery products globally in 2021.  

So this Christmas will be less wasteful? Sounds good to us!

Early Bird! Aldi's frozen turkeys are in store, now

For those of us who are looking to spread the cost of Christmas, Aldi’s full range of delicious, British Frozen Turkeys are in store from now on.

Christmas shoppers can get ahead of the game and begin their festive prep with Aldi’s Large Whole British Turkey (£19.99, 5.4kg-7.2kg), or Small Whole British Turkey (£13.49, 2.8kg-4kg). 

Both offer a tender British meat feast, and once cooked have a delicious crispy skin and succulent juicy flavours. Also, Aldi’s succulent Frozen Medium British Turkey (£15.99, 4-5.4kg) and Frozen Medium British Turkey Crowns (£15.49, 2-2.3kg) have also just landed in Aldi stores all over the country.

Aldi has also recently released its Frozen Food Meal Plan to help shoppers deal with the rising cost of living, promoting cost effective, yet nutritious meal swaps for families. 

Choosing a frozen turkey this Christmas means shoppers can still enjoy a delicious bird for their festive feast, while spreading the cost across the months running up to the Big Day.  

Aldi’s Large Frozen Whole British Turkeys and Small Frozen Whole British Turkeys are in store from 10th October. Aldi’s Medium Frozen British Turkeys and Turkey Crowns are available in store now.  

https://www.aldi.co.uk.

Christmas at Kew returns for 10th year

The UK’s original festive light trail returns to dazzle London's Kew Gardens, bringing magical new installations for the tenth anniversary this Christmas. 

From Wednesday 16 November 2022 to Sunday 8 January 2023 (advance booking only, tickets are selling fast, so book as soon as you can!)

2022 marks ten years of Christmas at Kew, the first light trail of its kind in the entire UK.

New installations include suspended illuminations and optical illusions, featuring over a million twinkling lights along a 2.7km trail.

Highlights include the iconic Palm House projections, Starry Night featuring thousands of twinkling lights, and ‘Illusion Hole’ by UxU Studio.

Visitors can indulge in toasty treats with delicious seasonal street food, mulled wine and hot chocolate, or a Christmas dinner at The Botanical Brasserie.

This November, see Kew Gardens in a whole new light as the UNESCO World Heritage landscape glitters with millions of festive lights with the return of Christmas at Kew.

Since the inaugural Christmas trail in 2013, this unique, world-famous event has paved the way for festive displays across the country each winter, cementing light trails as a firm festive favourite in the run up to Christmas. 

Marking ten years since the original festive trail at Kew Gardens, this year’s display features a host of seasonal favourites alongside mesmerizing new light installations. 

Planning begins more than a year in advance, to ensure this celebration of nature by night brings Kew’s incredible natural landscape to life for visitors of all ages.

New installations for 2022

Taking inspiration from Kew’s horticultural collection and the changing seasons, creative studio NOVAK return to Kew with an immersive animation projected onto Holly Walk. Elsewhere, visitors can wander through thousands of twinkling lights in ArtAV’s magical Starry Night, featured at Kew Gardens for the first time. 

Fun and magical, 16 floating UV feathers by Pyrite Creative appear as if from nowhere amongst the trees, while elsewhere in the canopies, LuminARTi’s Willow Hives elegantly illuminate the surrounding natural forms, highlighting the spectacular scenery at Kew.

Light Art Collection returns with ‘Illusion Hole’ by UxU Studio, a geometrically arranged pattern situated on the Lake in which visitors will experience the fluidity and malleability of moving light. Visitors are presented with a thrilling optical illusion as water formed by light appears to flow into an unknown abyss as they enjoy the trail around the gardens.

Festive favourites

Wander beneath colourful canopies and bushes draped in sparkle, futuristic neon trees and branches illuminated with stars as you enter a botanical world filled with seasonal cheer. Many of Kew’s 12,000 trees and other botanical treasures from Kew’s living collection will be accentuated along the new route, allowing visitors to experience nature from a new perspective whilst reinforcing the essential role that plants play in all of our lives.

Creative studio Pitaya return to Christmas at Kew, lighting up the woodland with their ethereal installation ‘Floraison’, luminous poppies appear to have blown away in the breeze, clinging to branches high above visitors’ heads. Elsewhere, the ever-popular Fire Garden returns for 2022, and Kew’s famous Christmas Cathedral will once again create a dazzling world filled with thousands of fairy lights, offering the perfect Instagram opportunity. Visitors will be entranced as a series of breath-taking projections dance across the surface of Kew’s iconic Palm House and adjacent lake, set to a memorable soundtrack of much-loved Christmas classics.

To add an extra touch of magic to the Christmas at Kew experience, visitors can book a delicious traditional Christmas dinner at The Botanical Brasserie to enjoy with loved ones. Tasty treats from a selection of independent street food vendors are also available along the route, including spiced cider, waffles, mulled wine, or hot chocolate to keep you comfortably warm.

Says Sandra Botterell, Director of Marketing and Commercial Enterprise at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew: “Christmas at Kew is always magical, but this year it is even more special as we celebrate ten years of this wonderful light trail. 

"We can’t wait to welcome our visitors back to the Gardens to experience the return of our much-loved light installations, alongside exciting new additions, all of which take inspiration from Kew’s incredible collections. As the first festive light trail of its kind, Christmas at Kew really is a seasonal spectacular unlike any other.”

Wakehurst, Kew’s wild botanic garden in Sussex, sees the return of its own enchanting winter lantern trail for 2022. Glow Wild promises a brand-new route, with 11 bespoke installations and over 1000 paper lanterns handmade by local volunteers all celebrating the incredible colour spectrum of the natural world.

Visit https://www.kew.org/kew-gardens/whats-on/christmas.

Love is in the air with the ultimate Christmas gift ideas

Yes, Love is truly in the air with the ultimate Christmas gift ideas for couples from experience day company WonderDays. 

From romantic short breaks to foodie experiences for two and spa days to making your own wedding rings, there is no shortage of gifts for couples to inspire you this Christmas.

In their latest Christmas gift guide, WonderDays has focused on those times when it really does take two.

Bronwen Jones, who is the company's head of social marketing, said Christmas gifts for couples can be all the more memorable when it’s something they can experience together.

"Making amazing memories and experiencing something together is, for us, one of the bests gifts you can give at Christmas," she pointed out.

"For the team here, our favourite times and most memorable Christmas moments are those we spent time with each other.

"Christmas is all about spending time with those whom you love most and for us, gifting an experience day the two of you can enjoy together further down the line is the perfect couple's present."

For more festive inspiration for two, read the WonderDays full Christmas Gift Guide For Couples on their website.

WonderDays launched earlier this year to offer a more flexible and easier way to purchase and enjoy gift experience days across the UK.

https://www.wonderdays.co.uk/experience-gift-ideas.

The Wise Men Who Found Christmas reveals the True Story of the Christmas Magi

Based on new, fresh research, this new book by New York Times bestselling author Raymond Arroyo is positioned to become atop seller at Amazon and Barnes & Noble this Christmas.

"The Wise Men Who Found Christmas" by New York Times bestselling author and award-winning broadcast journalist Raymond Arroyo is an exciting visual adventure which truly captures the joy of the Christmas season and sharing the long-hidden story of the mysterious Magi, who risked everything to discover the truth. 

Based on new historical evidence, "The Wise Men Who Found Christmas" is an all-new telling of three adventurous seekers who followed a star, and found themselves in the middle of the greatest story ever told. 

Actor Jim Caviezel (Person of Interest, The Passion of the Christ) said: "This beautiful and moving book shines like the Christmas star. Raymond Arroyo reveals the true and inspiring adventure of the Magi, who bravely followed the light given them and found a treasure beyond imagining. This is a journey you and your family would be wise to take, too!"

One of the most highly-anticipated seasonal offerings, "The Wise Men Who Found Christmas" is an exquisite picture book available now. It is a prequel to Arroyo's bestselling, "The Spider Who Saved Christmas."

"The story of the Three Wise Men is one of the most beloved and meaningful parts of the nativity story. Now, in this beautiful book, Raymond Arroyo is sharing the true Magi story with everyone. It will surely inspire all readers to adopt the lessons and traditions of Three Kings Day and keep the Christmas spirit alive for all 12 days of Christmas," said Rachel Campos Duffy, New York Times Bestselling Author, Fox & Friends Weekend Co-host.

Stunningly illustrated by Diane Le Feyer, this enchanting family keepsake is part of Arroyo's larger "Legend Series" of self-contained, episodic stories.

https://www.amazon.com/Wise-Men-Who-Found-Christmas/dp/1644136201.

Diwali 2022 Charity eCards released

Water poverty alleviation charity, Hope Spring has announced the launch of its annual Diwali eCard range. 

The charity which is based in Hereford, made the announcement on Twitter, today Tuesday the 11th of October. The organisation works with communities in developing countries to access clean drinking water.

The Diwali eCard was refreshed especially for 2022. Their new range includes over a dozen ecards and half a dozen video ecards. In the press release making the announcement, eCard platform manager Mr Abdulwasiu Abdulraheem said “Diwali eCards is one of our greeting cards range I love working on, for a start I love the title of Diwali; festival of light”. 

He went on to say: “This year we added a few more ecards and video eCards to our range to give us an improved range of Diwali eCards”.

Compared with last year, people sending Diwali greeting cards on Hope Spring eCard platform will be able to add detailed personalisation, besides sharing their eCard with friends and family via WhatsApp. Recipients can also reply to this year eCard via email, too.

Sending a diwali ecard on Hope Spring is as easy and quick as choosing an ecard from the range of diwali ecards catalogue, personalising it, making a donation and clicking send, and your ecard will arrive instantly. 

The ecard scheduling on the charity ecard platform also allows senders to schedule ecard ahead of time. While drawing attention to this feature, Mr Abduraheem said “those that have busy schedules can take advantage of our ecard scheduler.

This is quite handy. By scheduling a diwali ecard before diwali day, you sufficiently reduce the probability of forgetting to wish your friends and colleagues to zero.”

You can learn more about Hope Spring eCars, their work in water poverty alleviation by following them on their social media page or visiting their website https://www.hopespring.org.uk.

Although this is not a Christmas-related story, That's Christmas decided that we wanted to share it as helping provide the world's people with clean water is a good idea.

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Buy works of art for Christmas. Catching Moments in History on Canvas

The following That's Christmas post is provided by artist Peter Brown (aka Pete the Street).

There’s a long history of artists documenting important historical events, capturing on canvas important moments in time across the centuries. The resulting paintings hang in galleries around the world, providing us with portals to the past.

Bath-based artist Peter Brown (a.k.a. Pete the Street) is determined to keep the tradition alive, believing that a painting offers a unique perspective that a quick snap posted on Instagram can’t compete with.

Most recently, Peter documented the ten days following the Queen’s death.

“I was walking the dog in Bath in the early morning of 9th September, the day after the Queen died, and it suddenly occurred to me I should be painting Buckingham Palace, so I headed quickly home and jumped into the van.

“I completed five paintings of the public’s reaction to the proceedings over the following ten days up until the funeral – the crowds outside the palace, along the procession routes and in the royal parks. And then there was David Beckham in the legendary queue along the Thames.”

The spectacle of royal pageantry is appealing to Peter, having previously painted the flotilla at the Queen’s diamond jubilee in 2012, the sea of red poppies at the Tower of London, and more recently, local celebrations for the Platinum Jubilee earlier this year.

But it’s not all pageantry and patisseries, Peter also captures the nitty-gritty of everyday life in his work. Many of his paintings from the past few years tell the story of towns and cities and their people during the COVID pandemic. From the empty streets of Bristol (St Michael’s Hill and The Neptune Statue) and the closed West End theatres in London, painted as the first lockdown started to ease, through to bustling scenes of cafes and restaurants in Bath as people started to venture out for an overpriced coffee once again

His new exhibition ‘Bath, Bristol and Beyond’ includes two paintings of the ‘Multi’, a car park in Bath that is currently being demolished, and past scenes have included the aftermath of the Tottenham riots. Peter also attends Glastonbury Festival every year (pandemic permitting) to capture the energy, atmosphere and colour of the event.

And, of course, Peter captures moments from everyday life. Shopping streets, seaside scenes, commuters, park life, allotment holders, dog walkers and family scenes at home. He paints from life. In all seasons, and in all weathers. Even during snowstorms when he works outside wearing fingerless mittens.

Peter Brown’s new solo exhibition 'Bath, Bristol and Beyond' opens on 22 October 2022 at the Victoria Art Gallery in Bath, continuing until 15 January 2023.

The exhibition features over 100 new oil paintings by Peter and will also be available to view online from 15 October at https://www.victoriagal.org.uk/event/peter-brown-bath-bristol-and-beyond.

Peter will be at the gallery all day for a meet and greet on Saturday 22 October, with an artist talk at 11am.

The paintings, which will make absolutely wonderful Christmas presents, will be for sale.

The 12 Days of Discovery. Coffee Advent Calendar from Chimney Fire Coffee

Containing 12 bags of 70g coffee (either whole bean, or pre-ground) with a booklet, information and map. 

Chimney Fire's Coffee have launched their 12 Days of Discovery Advent Calendar is a specially curated collection of coffees from their 2022 Discovery Coffee range. 

Each coffee has been carefully selected by their roastery team to satisfy different tastes, and introduce a new and interesting coffee from around the world - be that a new origin or region, a new process or varietal, or something seasonal with a unique flavour profile; The unique sleeve illustration was created by Sïan Angharad, celebrating the contribution of each team member to their operation, with a Christmassy twist!

From Malawi to India, every coffee drinker will be sure to find something new and exciting this festive season to suit their tastes.

Available at ChimneyFireCoffee.com from early next month, November 2022. 

Chimney Fire Coffee is a speciality coffee roastery that's nestled comfortably in the Surrey Hills. They produce and supply ethical coffee products and subscriptions for both home consumers, and business customers (including end-to-end service, coffee beans, machinery, barista training, and corporate experiences, too). 

Their coffee range includes eight mainstay coffees, a rolling monthly 'Discovery Coffee' (where each month they introduce a new and interesting coffee from around the world), and most recently their Peru Classic Espresso Nespresso® compatible compostable coffee pods. 

They also offer coffee immersion tours at their roastery and run off-site coffee experiences, collaborate with talented local brands and makers and create new products including cycle jerseys, coffee-chocolate and coffee candles. Their recent launch, with Silent Pool Distillery, is the incredible Espresso Martini. 

They work hard to bring their customers coffee to suit every taste that supports ethical and eco-friendly practices, all the way from farm to cup.

Chimney Fire Coffee is all about sustainability from the ground up with direct and transparent sourcing, 100% compostable packaging and delivering social impact through donations to Re-Cycle, a small charity who refurbish bikes in the UK and send them to rural communities in Africa. They're also an Accredited Living Wage employer and are B Corp Certified, demonstrating standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability.  

To learn more and to place your orders please visit them at https://chimneyfirecoffee.com.

That's Christmas would like to thank Amanda Bootes for helping with this.