Nursery brand, Ickle Bubba, has announced a new partnership with the Baby Bank Alliance, an organisation dedicated to supporting and advocating for the UK’s 300+ baby banks and families. Baby banks are a lifeline for families who need help: they receive donations of essential items for babies and children from their communities and pass them on for free, from one family to another.

Launching as part of its ‘Bringing Joy This Christmas’ campaign, the stylish and affordable nursery brand has pledged to donate £15,000 worth of product and £10,000 worth of spare parts to help restore Ickle Bubba products donated by the public, enabling them to be passed onto families in need. It comes as UK deprivation hits a record high with more than 1 in 3 children living in poverty¹ and referrals to baby banks up 54% since 2021², according to research undertaken by the Baby Bank Alliance – a number that’s expected to increase in response to the soaring cost of living³.

In addition, Ickle Bubba are rolling out a new workplace initiative which enables each colleague to use 1 working day to volunteer at a baby bank. Through this, they hope to give back to local communities and to raise awareness regionally of baby banks and the impact they have on families.

Leading on the partnership, Ickle Bubba Senior Partnership and PR Manager, Jenna Shorter, comments:
“We know shopping for baby can be expensive and overwhelming at times but when a family is in crisis, being able to buy even the essentials is not an option. We feel a responsibility as a nursery brand to do our bit in the way of donating product but also to raise awareness of the incredible work the Baby Bank Alliance do. With recent research showing that 71% of families are facing a more financially difficult winter⁴ , we hope to help make a difference by enabling our customers to join our pledge to donate unwanted products, time or money to their local baby bank.”

Adding to this, Executive Lead of the Baby Bank Alliance, Hannah Pentith, comments:
“We are delighted to be partnering with Ickle Bubba to help us in making a difference for babies and children across the UK. Baby banks are a vital lifeline to families in the UK who are really struggling with rising pressures and costs of essentials. This winter is set to be hard for families, with energy prices increasing again and families still struggling through the cost of living, and we’re seeing more demand for baby banks than ever before. The support from Ickle Bubba will enable baby banks to reach even more families and help the Baby Bank Alliance on our mission to ensure that every child has access to the essentials they need to thrive.”

ENDS

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Notes to Editors

¹ New data from the Social Metrics Commission report ‘Measuring poverty 2024’, published October 2024.
² Data from the Baby Bank Alliance, submitted by 148 baby banks in the UK in 2024.
³ Over the three-year period between May 2021 and May 2024, UK consumer prices increased by 20.8% in total
⁴ Date from October 2024 Omnibus survey for the Baby Bank Alliance, October 2024, from a nationally representative sample of 2067 respondents.