Host a Big Play Date and help Great Ormond Street Hospital while keeping the kids entertained this summer.
With the weather finally warming up, you may be planning those long summer days, filled with barbecues, trips to the park and beach days out. However, you’d also be forgiven for worrying about how to keep your brood entertained during the school summer holidays. Thankfully, GOSH have stepped in with some top tips to keep the kids entertained, all the while supporting a good cause.
This July, Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity will challenge children, family and friends of all ages to come together in the name of fun to raise money to support seriously ill children treated at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH).
Play your way for a good cause
GOSH Charity Play Date is a new fundraising initiative in which participants will host a Play Date at home, in a garden, at school, at nursery or a local club on a day of their choosing during the month of July. Guests will be asked to make a small donation to their hosts before joining in with the fun.
Fundraising
Everyone who signs up to host a Play Date will receive a fundraising pack complete with stickers and print-at-home bunting, posters and invitations. Also in the pack will be a DIY collection box and a QR code to direct guests to the host’s bespoke fundraising page. And for those looking for inspiration, game ideas will also be available on the GOSH Charity Play Date website.
Whether you choose to invite one friend or forty you can hold your play date wherever you want – whether at home with colouring sets or park-bashes with piñatas. Having signed up for free, an activity pack sent over by GOSH Charity allows your child to confirm a date.
Each donation will support GOSH’s dedicated Play team – funded by GOSH Charity – made up of Play specialists and Play workers who help children make sense of their treatment and recovery through techniques such as role play, drawing and practising procedures on toys.
Why host your own Big Play Date
Play is a vital part of a patient’s care at GOSH, and helps the child feel in control, calm and informed every step of the way. It also allows children to be children during what can be a difficult and worrying time.
GOSH Charity is a great advocate of play, and in 2021 it teamed up with GOSH to release its State of Play report and later the Power of Play hub, which both shone a light on the importance of play in children’s development. Now it hopes to spread the word – and the fun – even further with GOSH Charity Play Date.
GOSH Charity’s Director of Fundraising, Liz Tait, said: “We at GOSH Charity are delighted to be launching our latest fundraising initiative, GOSH Charity Play Date. As the funders of GOSH’s dedicated Play team, we know the importance of play in building children’s emotional resilience to help them cope with everyday challenges.
“Children are at the heart of everything we do, and we hope through GOSH Charity Play Date young fundraisers across the UK will feel empowered to be part of the action and host a Play Date to raise money for seriously ill children treated at GOSH.”
Here’s how the Big Play Date works:
- Sign up for free and you’ll be sent a Big Play Date activity pack to help your children put their stamp on their play date.
- Choose your preferred date and send out the invites. Whether it’s one friend or forty, at home or in the park, it’s up to you how to host your play date.
- Fundraise in any way you like. You could consider asking guests to make a small donation to the event, use the collection box in your activity pack or set up donations for each activity.
Sign up to host a Play Date at: gosh.org/playdate
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