Be Santa Claus this Christmas

Spread the joy of giving and celebrate gratitude by being a part of this initiative, Vaishali Bhambri reports.

One thing that everyone waits for during Christmas time is a gift from Santa Claus. But what if you can become Santa yourself? Well, with an initiative called Santa Workshop in the city, you can play Father Christmas and practice gratitude by gifting.

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Started last year by DeePositive Foundation, the initiative promotes the feeling of giving. “We don’t do charity. We just want people to practice gratitude. What better than giving gifts on Christmas,” says Deepanjali Rao, founder of the foundation. The aim of the movement is to make 1,20,000 gifts during Christmas.

It works in three stages. People are invited to give presents that can be just anything, but unused. Once the collection drive is over, volunteers are needed to gift wrap them. “Last year, we collected earmuffs, biscuits, pens, keychains and lots of other stuff,” says Rao. Then, the volunteers are expected to take these presents to the streets of the city and gift them to auto rickshawalas, policemen, staff of petrol stations, the Metro staff, passersbys, people in slums and orphanages, coolies and just about anyone who they come across on Christmas.

The gifts are wrapped in a community gift wrapping workshop, which has both children and adults, each learning how to give. “It’s a lot of fun! Wrapping thousands of gifts that will make someone smile is a special feeling altogether,” says Rao.

But why wrap these gifts? “What is a gift which is not wrapped? We want to see the joy of people unwrapping a gift. We just want to thank people who are never thanked,” says Rao.

So how about celebrating Christmas with a difference this year?