It’s Christmas Jumper Day! Hooray! In recent years, Christmas jumpers have become a shameless staple in our December wardrobe. No more are we trying to hide our grimace with a smile when our mothers give us the most hideous jumper she could possibly find, no, we wear our ugly jumpers with pride. We are no longer ashamed to wear a jumper that lights up, or plays a song, or jingles when you walk, we are a nation of proud ugly Christmas jumper wearers. But Christmas Jumper Day isn’t just about wearing a jumper, it’s also about giving to charity around the time when fundraising tends to slow down.
Five years ago ITV started Christmas Jumper Day as part of their Text Santa fundraising scheme and it still continues today after raising over £21m the past five years. Hundreds of schools and businesses are taking part in the scheme which encourages you to wear a Christmas jumper and donate money at the same time. This evening at 8pm a star-studded gala will be broadcast live on ITV with charity appeals, comedy sketches and more, all in the name of a good cause. The money is being split equally between Macmillan Cancer Support, Make-A-Wish UK and Save the Children. ITV said “from helping those affected by crises, to granting wishes to children fighting life-threatening conditions, to funding nurses so those with cancer get the care they need, Text Santa will give hope to families in the UK and overseas”.
Five years ago ITV started Christmas Jumper Day as part of their Text Santa fundraising scheme and it still continues today after raising over £21m the past five years. Hundreds of schools and businesses are taking part in the scheme which encourages you to wear a Christmas jumper and donate money at the same time.
The UK Government is also making a £5 contribution to Text Santa for each of the first 15,000 donations that are made by the public, and are also matching pound for pound Save the Children’s share of the donations (up to five million pounds). You can donate by texting; to donate £5 text SANTA5 to 70760 or £10 by SANTA10. You can also donate via their website, or by telephone to donate by debit or credit card on 0300 123 6060. We shall leave you with some of the worst (or should that be best?) Christmas jumpers of this year, all of which you can still buy in time for Christmas day.
Advent Calendar Christmas Jumper: Why buy an advent calendar when you can just wear one? This jumper is hideous, but also quite cool.
Flashing Fireplace: The company that made this jumper is called ‘Cheesy Christmas Jumpers’ and they have definitely got it right with this insane jumper. You don’t even that fireplace channel on sky now, because you can just stick the person wearing this jumper in the middle of the room. Just don’t hang stockings on them.
Light up Pompom Jumper: Only acceptable when worn ironically, this light up Christmas Jumper will mean Santa can see you from the sky. It also has pompoms attached to it. Go big or go home is clearly their motto.
#Elfie: Out of all of them, this is by far the worst jumper I have ever seen. Just don’t do it. It’s not worth it. Go buy the pompom one.
Christmas Cardigan: Push the boat out and go for a cardigan this year. This is sort of adorable, but also one of those jumpers you would see in a retro shop in the Laines that’s been there every Christmas since before you can remember.
Send us a picture of your favourite Christmas jumper, and don’t forget to donate!
Holly Martin
