Tots Play's Annual Fundraising Week 2023

Every year in March we celebrate Tots Play's Anniversary week, by giving back to the community and fundraising for charity. Tots Play classes were started way back in 2009, making this year our 14th Anniversary! 14 years of bringing Tots Play to families, from those first parents and children in South Wales, to now extending over the seas in Dubai. back to the north of Scotland to the Isle of Wight, from North Wales across to Essex, and lots more in between.

The focus of our celebrations through the month were special jungle themed classes, in honour of our lovable class mascot, Totsy Monkey! Many of our fundraising activities took place during those sessions, but there were also activities, raffles, markets and more that took place throughout the month.

As a national company we chose, in conjunction with our franchisees and a public vote, a national charity to support, and many of our franchisees also chose to support a cause related to their local community, recognising both the national and local aspects of what we do.

Our chosen charity

This year, our charity with the most votes was Kick's Count. if you haven't heard of this wonderful charity, here is a little bit of info:

Kicks Count aims to reduce the UK's high stillbirth and neonatal death rate by raising awareness of baby movements. While there isn't one cause of stillbirth, a decrease in baby's movements can be a key warning sign that a baby is in distress and 50% of mothers who had a stillbirth noticed slowing down of baby's movements beforehand.

We are so proud to have supported Kicks Count, as supporting Parents all the way through their journey of parenthood is very very important to us here at Tots Play!

What did we do?

As well as promoting the services that Kicks Count have to offer, our focus was on raising funds to support their work, as well as that of the local causes being supported in lots of fun ways across the areas where our classes run. With all of our franchisees raising awareness for Kicks Count, we were not only able to help support with fundraising but also able help them reach lots more expecting Mummies!

Our franchisees chose different ways to get involved, these included raffles, competitions, second hand sales, dressing up, sponsored sensory events, and lots more, mainly centred around our jungle theme! It was amazing to see families, class leaders and children getting involved and showing support! Here are just a few pictures of all the fun we had:

What was our fundraising total?

We were overwhelmed that we managed to raise a HUGE £7374 for Kicks Count. This is all down to the hard work of our amazing franchisees who planned, organised and ran their amazing charity classes, as well as all the wonderful families who support them and us by going to Tots Play classes and being part of our Tots Play Family. We are so grateful for every single donation we received and we know this will make such a difference to Kicks Count, as well as raising awareness of the charity to support them in reaching lots more expecting Parents.

Thank you!

We just wanted to say a huge thank you to all of our Tots Play families, and everyone who supported our fundraising events this year, whether that was donations, going to classes, sharing our social media or even just following our journey! We are so grateful and thankful to be able to donate such a fantastic amount of money to some very well deserving charities. Another MASSIVE thank you to all of our amazing Franchisees, who worked so hard to organise and deliver their wonderful jungle classes, and who have gone above and beyond to raise money and support Kicks Count and their local communities!

Finally, for more information about Kicks Count and their services and support options, please head to their website https://www.kickscount.org.uk/