EASTER CHICK APPEAL
Join in our annual appeal, in which thousands of knitted Easter chicks filled with a creme egg are sold to raise funds for Francis House.
About the Easter Chick Knit Appeal
Every year, thousands of little woolly chicks and bunnies flock into Francis House, knitted by crafty supporters from across the world.
The chicks are filled with a donated chocolate egg each and sold in schools, stores and businesses all across Greater Manchester to raise funds for the hospice.
Have a question about the appeal? Email rachel.nasiri@francishouse.org.uk or call 0161 443 2200
Want to get involved?
Knit or crochet for us
Put your needles to work and knit up as many little chicks as you can manage. Chicks can be as colourful as you please: the quirkier, the better! We also have a crochet pattern you can follow. Feel free to get creative and customise your chicks with knitted hats, scarves and accessories. However, simple traditional chicks are very welcome too!
If you fancy something a little different, why not try out the pattern for an Easter bunny?
You can post your finished chicks to: ‘Fundraising Office, Francis House Children’s Hospice, 390 Parrswood Road, Didsbury, Manchester, M20 5NA’, marking your parcel ‘Easter Chicks’*. Please make sure we receive your finished chicks by March 6th 2023.
As an alternative, we are always delighted when supporters go the extra mile by filling their own knitted chicks and selling them to friends, family, colleagues, etc., sending in the funds raised once all have flown the nest.
*We are often asked by knitters whether they need to include the Creme Eggs in their parcel of chicks. The answer is no – it’s absolutely fine to send the chicks empty. However, if you do wish to include eggs or make a donation towards their cost, it’s always hugely appreciated! We appeal to supermarkets, businesses and local individuals to donate or collect eggs for us, but every year it gets more and more difficult to obtain the quantity we need.
SCROLL DOWN TO FIND THE PATTERNS
Donate or collect creme eggs for us
Every chick we receive needs pairing with a chocolate egg (Cadbury’s Crème Egg sized).
Help us source the thousands we need by setting up a collection in your workplace, school or at home, by purchasing a box or two on our behalf (you can do this easily via our Amazon Wishlist), or by making a donation towards the cost of the eggs.
Please deliver your Creme Eggs to us by March 10th 2023.
Sell
We are always looking for more venues to take an order of chicks to sell. Schools, nurseries, offices or shops can be great selling points. We will supply you with as many chicks (or bunnies) as you wish, along with collection tubs and posters.
Buy
Head over to our online shop to purchase your very own chirpy chicks or bonny bunnies! You might even be lucky enough to pick up small quantities of unique designs! Available from end of March 2022. Prices start from £1 and all include a Cadbury’s Creme Egg.
Buy Now
Volunteer
- Picking up eggs We will be contacting lots of supermarkets around Greater Manchester and Cheshire asking for Creme Eggs, but we will need help collecting all the donations. We look for ‘Egg Taxi’ volunteers to cover their local area – picking up eggs from local stores as and when they are offered – and then dropping them off at the hospice whenever is convenient.
- Egg stuffing Filling 50,000+ chicks with a Creme Egg each can be very time-consuming for our small fundraising team. We need volunteers to fill chicks with eggs and count out orders in the run up to Easter. We can arrange ‘stuffing sessions’ for corporate groups to come in make use of their staff volunteer hours. Individuals who are able to collect chicks and eggs from the hospice can stuff from home. We sometimes arrange drop-in stuffing sessions in the lead up to Easter. Come along, meet new people and ‘get stuffing’ together! If you would like to help, please let us know and we will get in touch when it’s time to stuff.
- Chick hospital Some chicks arrive a little crumpled from their journey in the post or are too big to firmly hold an egg. Our ‘Chick Hospital’ needs volunteers to administer stitches, fix broken beaks or perform googly eye transplants. Chick fixers can carry out a shift either on site in our fundraising office in Didsbury, or at home in your spare time. We can provide all the bits and bobs you’ll need. Chick hospital nurses are needed all year round! Please get in touch.
- Chick deliveries We’d also welcome help with dropping off orders to many venues across Greater Manchester. Would you be willing to spare some time to deliver chicks around a certain area? If you’d be willing to help, just let us know the area you can cover, and we’ll get in touch if/when we need you!
Download the patterns
We have both knitting and crochet patterns available for chicks and bunnies. Download yours below!
Feel free to get started early for 2023!
- Knitted Easter Chick Pattern Download our Knitted Easter Chicks Pattern
- Crochet Easter Chick Pattern Download our Crochet Easter Chicks Pattern
- Knitted Easter Bunny Pattern Download our Knitted Easter Bunny Pattern
- Crochet Easter Bunny Pattern Download our Crochet Easter Bunny Pattern
In 2022, we received:
Knitted Chicks: 26,234
Creme Eggs: 26,383
Thank you for your donations