Sleigh Rounds

We need a house to house collection license from Swale Borough Council. These need to be applied for each year and cover the whole sleigh round period for that year.

We typically start the sleigh rounds one week after Switch On Day in order to give time for volunteers to recover from that.

A sleigh round typically runs from 6pm to about 8:30pm in weekends and earlier on Saturdays.

We publicise each sleigh round on our social media account but we do not announce the exact routes, only the general area. We do not announce the starting point because we do not want large crowds to assemble because small children tend to run out in the road and in front of the sleigh. Also we do not want to disappoint children who arrive expecting to see Santa in the sleigh but instead see the sleigh being set up and Santa possibly arriving in a car first.

We also only announce rounds on the same day as the round and not before.

Equipment

The Santa sleigh, built from a converted trailer.

Hand-held bell(s). Used alongside the music to remind residents that we are in the street.

Collection buckets. Ours are red with a white lid with a slot for the coins. Most sleigh rounds need between 3 and 6 buckets depending on the number of volunteers.

Reflective jackets - ours are red with silver reflective strips, and specifically include the word "VOLUNTEER" because we want it to be clear that we are not paid and are not working for the local council.

Name badges with lanyards. Also printed on the badges should be the collection licence number as issued by the local council. The relevant text on our badges at the time of writing is: "House to house permit 24/501258/HTHCOL issued by Swale Borough Council in accordance with House to House Collections Act 1939. Pass valid only on 18.11.2024 – 23.12.2024"

Towing socket adapter (13-pin to 7-pin). Our sleigh has a 7-pin plug for its lights, which fits most cars. However, some newer cars only have a 13-pin socket so we occasionally need an adapter.

Credit-card reader for those people who want to donate but don't have cash on them.