Where to donate toys for Christmas: 10 charities looking for donations this festive season

Wondering where to donate toys this Christmas? From Salvation Army to Great Ormond Street Hospital, there are loads of places where you can send toys over the festive season. 

Whether you're looking to donate a top Christmas toy from past years past or support an organisation in buying new toys this year, charities are always looking for generous donations. From sensory toys for babies to toys for eight year olds and upwards, there are all kinds of items that will be accepted - and as well as doing a good deed it will help your family have a sustainable Christmas too, instead of throwing unwanted toys away.

Below, we've rounded up the charities that are looking for toy donations this festive season and explained how you can donate.

Where to donate toys for Christmas

1. Salvation Army

Every year, the Salvation Army run a Christmas Present Appeal in churches and centres across the UK. They collect new, unwrapped toys and gifts, wrap them up and donate them to children who may not otherwise get a Christmas present.

The Salvation Army also have a helpful list of presents you can give on their website:

• 0-3 years: dolls, teddy bears, cot mobiles, baby clothes, bath toys, CDs of suitable music and nursery rhymes, puzzles
• 3-5 years: cars, lorries, DVDs and CDs (music and nursery rhymes), colouring sets, pencils, crayons, books, puzzles, dolls and action figures
• 5-9: CDs & family friendly DVDs, books, puzzles, wordsearch, crosswords, educational games & toys and stationery
• 9-12: DVDs, books, t-shirts, hair accessories, gloves, scarves, hats, games and toys
• 13-16: make-up and toiletries (please try to ensure non-allergic ingredients if possible), books, gloves, scarves, hats, t-shirts, hair accessories and gift vouchers

Where: Locations across the UK

How to donate: To find out how to donate to your local appeal, visit the webpage.

2. Giving Tree via Kids Out

Working in collaboration with Women's Aid among other partner charities, Kids Out helps children who have had to leave their homes and stay in a refuge due to domestic abuse.

Whether you are an individual or someone looking to get your business involved with the charity, you can donate a toy to the Giving Tree via the Kids Out website. If you don't have any toys to donate, you can buy a toy for a child in need via the Kids Out website too.

Check out the Giving Tree Shop, where you will find a range of items that the children have said they most want or need – such as a Cinema Ticket, Book Token, Lego Set, or a Disney Princess Doll.

Location: Various locations across the UK

How to donate: Shop online for gifts via the Kids Out website and for more information, check out their homepage.

3. Action for Children

Action for Children offers practical and emotional care and support for vulnerable children living across the UK. As well as stepping in to help children, young people and families day-to-day, the charity works to teach important life skills to children and help them build resilience, alongside actively campaigning in government.

With the Secret Santa option, the charity says, you can make a gift donation for a child who would otherwise go without food, warmth or love this Christmas. The donation choices include a £25 Christmas present, a £5 teddy bear and a £10 trip to visit Santa.

Location: Various locations across the UK

How to donate: Choose a gift for a vulnerable child, pay online and complete your order via the website.

4. Great Ormond Street Hospital

Located in the Bloomsbury area of London, Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) treats approximately 619 children with seriously complex illnesses every day. As well as pioneering medical breakthroughs, they support the families of children going through these life-saving treatments.

While GOSH say that the best gift you can give them is a monetary donation, as they are dependant on charitable support, you can donate toys and games to the hospital as well this Christmas.

• For kids: board and card games, jigsaw puzzles, arts and crafts kits, toy cars and planes, construction toys like LEGO and Playmobil, dolls.
• Babies: mobiles and musical mobiles, jigsaws, toys to stimulate the senses, developmental toys, musical toys like rattles.
• Teenagers: Nail art kits, stationary sets, jewellery making kits, toiletries (like body spray, hair & body wash, bath bombs), games.

The hospital has also said that as well as toys and games, they'll be happy to accept pyjamas, blankets, duvet sets, books, colouring sets and headphones. They can't accept any used to second-hand items, including toys and games, any knitted clothes, large mechanical or motorised toys and any used magazines.

Any gifts that you donate this Christmas will be distributed across the wards and different areas of the hospital, the guidance also says, as and where they are needed.

Please note that due to strict infection control measures in place at the hospital, gifts are not accepted in person at the hospital. They will be accepted in person or via the post at the GOSH Charity offices, and you will need to let the charity know in advance if you plan to delivery them in person.

Location: London

How to donate: You can reach GOSH Charity’s Gift in Kind team by emailing giftsinkind@gosh.org or calling 020 3841 3841. For more information, visit their website.

5. British Heart Foundation

You can donate unwanted, new gifts or second-hand toys at your local British Heart Foundation store. Found on most high streets in the UK, proceeds from the British Heart Foundation's charity shops go towards funding the charity's life-saving work.

You can also boost the donation itself by 25% if you sign up to Gift Aid.

Location: Various locations across the UK.

How to donate: Drop off your second-hand toys at your local charity shop during open hours. Find yours via the BHF website here.

6. The TOY Project

Founded in 2013, the TOY Project aims to balance out the inequalities between the children that have and the children that don't. What started as a part-time endeavour is now a full-time operation that sets out to help children around the country.

As well as facilitating donation drives for projects, the organisation has a pop-up shop in Archway, London, where local children and families can both donate toys and buy them.

If you live in London, this is where you can deliver your toys this Christmas. The TOY Project is currently looking for:

• Games and puzzles
• Wooden toys
• Character figures, such as superheroes
• LEGO, Duplo, Playmobil, Sylvanian Families, even if sets are incomplete or unboxed.
• Construction toys, like Meccano or Knex
• Children's books, both fiction and non-fiction
• Children's dressing up costumes and accessories
• Toy animals and dinosaurs
• Baby toys
• Dolls and toy babies, plus accessories, including Barbie and Bratz
• Toy kitchens and play food
• Children's bicycles, scooters and other ride-on toys
• Vintage and collectable toys

In all cases, toys and other donations must be clean and in good, working order. It's important that jigsaw puzzles and other board games have all their pieces as well.

The store also ask that, if possible, donations can be in bags or boxes that you don't mind leaving with them. It won't always be possible for the store to process the donations as soon as you arrive.

The TOY project also has an Amazon Wishlist, where you can purchase a toy that will be gifted to a child in need this Christmas.

Location: London

How to donate: Call the shop on 0207 503 9590 to arrange a time and date to drop off your donations. For more information, visit their website.

7. The Toy Appeal

The Toy Appeal is a great way to donate if you live in the North West. Founded in 2013 by Dee and Chris Drake, charity provides a sack of toys to children aged between 0 and 17 years living in poverty at Christmas.

Due to the scale of The Toy Appeal (80,000+ toys and gifts per year), they do not currently accept toy donations or toy collections. However, they are asking for help via donations through their JustGiving page, which allows the charity to buy toys in bulk via toy wholesalers at much-reduced rates, meaning they can support more children year after year.

Location: North West England

How to donate: Donate to the project with JustGiving, via their website.

8. Little Village

Little Village is just like a local food bank, but provides clothes, toys and equipment for babies and children up to the age of 5.

They accept donations of pre-loved items, however, they must be in excellent condition as they are passed onto families who need support. For example, puzzles and games must be complete and in working condition. If you're donating a puzzle, tape the box shut and put a note on it to say that it's a complete set. If it's a wooden puzzle, tape the pieces to the baseboard to prevent them from moving around too much.

Toys also have to be in good, working order with no missing pieces. Any sets that come with loose pieces need to be kept together in a bag.

Little Village accepts donations of the following items:

• Clothes and shoes
• Beds and bedding
• Buggies and travel
• Baby equipment
• Feeding and weaning
• Toys and books
• Bathing and changing
• Nappies and toiletries

Location: London, with hubs in Camden, Wandsworth, Southwark and Brent

How to donate: Sign up to a donation session through the website. Those outside of London can send their donations via post.

9. Young Planet

For more direct giving in your community, try Young Planet. It's not a charity, rather a tech-for-good app, where you can list toys for donation (and get items on there yourself).

Working to reduce landfill waste, Young Planet allows you to offer unwanted toys, gifts, games and essential children's items on a virtual noticeboard in your local area. Be it the seemingly never-ending mountain of cheap LEGO that you've had in the garage for years or new and unwanted bath toys the kids don't want to play with, you can offer up anything and everything on the app. The more you give, the more you're likely to receive as well.

Someone in the area will then contact you via the app to come and collect the items.

Location: Across the UK

How to donate: List your unwanted items on the Young Planet app, which is available to download from your app store.

10. Circle of Toys

Circle of Toys, a circular gift-giving initiative, has launched its Christmas appeal to encourage the British public to donate its preloved toys to children and families impacted by the current conflict in Ukraine.

The Circle of Toys project is run by Find Refuge, and is a platform that unites those in need with people who can help across the world by using technology to connect gift-givers with families less fortunate in Ukraine. It currently has more than 14,000 Ukrainian-based gift seekers signed up to its website, with the number continuing to grow in the run-up to the festive holiday.

Gift givers can select from a list of families who have signed up to the website, so givers can match their donation to the likes and interests of the gift seekers.

Location: Across the UK

How to donate: Simply sign up to gift a toy on the Circle of Toys website, and select the request you'd like to fulfil. Once approved, you'll receive the shipping details for the toy.