Give to Food Banks

Figures from The Trussell Trust [3] show that December is the busiest month for food banks, and December figures are rapidly increasing every year. You can do your bit by donating food to your local food bank — find yours here [4] — or at collection points in supermarkets. Nonperishable items you can donate include:

• Tinned food (such as meat, veg, fruit, tomatoes, pasta sauce)
• Pasta, rice, beans, pulses, and lentils
• Cereal
• Soup
• Tea, coffee, UHT milk, and fruit juice
• Biscuits
• Toiletries
• Hygiene products

You can also donate long-life food to one of FareShare's 100 permanent collection points [5] in Tesco stores.

Serve Community Meals

You can actually get involved in serving food at a community meal centre like FoodCycle [6] or help to collect the surplus food from companies that will then be cooked and served.

FoodCycle has 39 projects across the UK, or you could search for an independent organisation near you.

Spend Time With the Elderly

Christmas can be a particularly lonely time of year for the elderly, and the smallest of gestures can make a huge difference to a neighbour or someone in your local community who lives alone. Age UK [7] has ideas for "small acts of kindness" once you've introduced yourself and built up rapport and trust:

• Invite them for a cup of tea and mince pies
• Offer to walk their dog or pick up their shopping
• Accompany them to a local festive event
• Sweep the leaves/shovel the snow from their path
• Take them to a medical appointment
• Regularly phone them
• Simply strike up a conversation and have a chat

Provide Warmth to Animals at Sanctuaries

Many unwanted animals will be spending Christmas in a shelter or sanctuary, so help them be more comfortable by donating bedding like blankets and towels. Most ask you to avoid pillows and duvets, as they are challenging to keep clean. Some will welcome animal food and newspapers too. Check first what they need — you can find your local RSPCA centre here [8].

You can also donate toys, treats, baskets, crates, and many other items to Battersea Dogs and Cats Home [9] or even follow its patterns [10] to make knitted blankets and toy mice.

Volunteer at Homeless Shelters

You can volunteer with Crisis at Christmas [11] to provide immediate help for homeless people. Different centres require different roles, which vary from providing well-being services like haircuts and massages to bringing your creative and artistic skills. The centres are located in:

• Birmingham
• Coventry
• Edinburgh
• London
• Newcastle
• Oxford
• South Wales

You can also donate a few hours of your time to help at London train stations and Covent Garden as a bucket collection volunteer.

If there isn't a centre near you, check online for Christmas volunteering opportunities at soup kitchens and homeless shelters in your local area.

Give a Gift that Helps the Developing World

Instead of giving stuff this Christmas, you can give your nearest and dearest the warm feeling of knowing that their present is actually a lifeline for someone in need — we're talking virtual/inspired/charity/unwrapped gifts.

These can be anything from a Bog in a Bag through WaterAid for £10 and Safe Water for a Family of Four through Oxfam for £10 to a Large First Aid Kit for a Health Worker through Unicef for £25 or a Place in School For a Child through Save the Children for £158.

Here's a selection of charities that offer these kinds of gifts:

• Oxfam Unwrapped [12]
• Save the Children Virtual Gifts [13]
• Unicef Inspired Gifts [14]
• Refuge Christmas Gift List [15]
• WaterAid Charity Gifts [16]
• Good Gifts [17]
• WWF Adopt an Animal [18]

Donate to Charities

Finally, if you're short of time, you can still make a difference by donating money to your chosen charities. You can also donate in someone else's name, which you can do instead of getting them a gift or as an alternative way of thanking them for what they give you.

If you're looking into new charities to support, make sure they have a registered charity number on their website to be sure your money is going somewhere legitimate.