The best gift you can give Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) is a donation. This extraordinary hospital has always depended on charitable support to give seriously ill children the best chance to fulfil their potential.
We raise money to enable Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) to provide world-class care for its young patients and their families by:
- contributing to the rebuilding and refurbishment of the hospital
- supporting ground-breaking research into the development of new treatments
- funding the most up-to-date equipment
- providing accommodation and other support services for children and their families
If you do wish to donate presents to the children at the hospital, please note that there are additional restrictions in place due to increased infection control to help stop the spread of Covid-19.
Much of our storage space, including the play-rooms, is closed and there is currently a strict one-visitor rule in place at the hospital. Everyone must wear a face mask at all times and adhere to all social distancing guidelines. For more information, please visit GOSH’s website.
For this reason, we are asking for donations to be posted to the charity offices (address at the bottom of the page). To maintain the highest safety standards, all donations that are received will go through a quarantine period of three days. To make sure we allow enough time for this quarantine period to be met, we kindly ask that all donations are received no later than Friday 18th December. Donations of toys and games will be passed to the hospital’s Play team and will be distributed across the wards.
Posting gifts to the charity offices is preferable, but if you would like to drop off presents in person, please contact giftsinkind@gosh.org to organise a collection at the charity offices, where gifts will be able to be left in our 4th floor lift lobby to be collected by a member of staff.
Items that cannot be used by our patients may be used for fundraising or passed to another children's hospital.
As a handy guide, the Play team has compiled a wish list of toys and presents for patients at the hospital.
Take a look at the hospital’s helpful list of suggestions
What our kids love
- Board/card games e.g. Guess Who, Uno, Dobble, Connect 4, Frustration
- Jigsaw puzzles
- Arts and crafts kits e.g. paints, Play-Doh and stickers)
- Toy cars and planes
- Jewellery making kits, nail art and foil art
- Construction toys like Lego and Playmobil
- Stocking fillers like fidget spinners and slinky’s
- Dolls
What our babies love
- Mobiles and musical mobiles
- Jigsaws and peg puzzles
- Kaleidoscopes
- Toys to stimulate the senses
- Developmental toys e.g. stacking cups and blocks
- Musical toys, including rattles
- Jumbo Farm Animals
What our teenagers love
- Nail art kits
- Stationery sets
- Jewellery making kits
- Toiletries including body spray, hair & body wash, bath bombs
Always appreciated (all ages)
- Pyjamas
- Blankets
- Duvet sets
- Books
- Colouring sets
- Headphones (in and over the ear are great!)
What we can't use
- Used toys
- Knitted clothes
- Over-sized soft toys
- Large mechanical or motorised toys
- Used clothing or shoes
- Second-hand books
- Used magazines
Tips
- Don't forget the age group you're donating to is 0-18 years (teenagers are often forgotten).
- Kids love anything to do with Harry Potter, Winnie the Pooh, Walt Disney, Moshi Monsters and In the Night Garden.
- If you donate chocolate, make sure the ingredients are on the packet as we have to be careful with allergies.
- Please do not wrap the gifts. This will enable us to match your gift to an appropriate patient.
- Unfortunately, we are unable to pay for the cost of collecting your gifts or delivering them to the hospital.
Where to send your gifts
Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity
40 Bernard Street
London
WC1N 1LE
Email: giftsinkind@gosh.org
Telephone number: 020 3841 3841