• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, December 11, 2014

Rather than sending out a holiday card of organizing a played out Secret Santa event, social media agency We Are Social has launched #SecretSantaSacrifice, an effort to raise money to help prevent old people from dying from the cold weather around Christmas time. No, seriously. 

Each winter, one older person dies every seven minutes because of the cold weather. #SecretSantaSacrifice will ask the thousands of people spending £5 ($ 7.86) on an awkward novelty Secret Santa gift to help put a stop to this by donating that money to Age UK instead.

To take part in the campaign, people can visit this site and select a ‘gift’ from a line of virtual "junk" such as a turkey hat or a novelty pants. Then after entering their chosen donation amount and completing the transaction through Just Giving, they can share their virtual gift with the intended recipient on Twitter, Facebook or by email.

The money raised for Age UK will go towards vital local and national winter projects helping older people stay warm and well in the winter. The agency hopes the campaign will encourage other agencies and businesses to think about how they can better spend their Secret Santa money this year.