When is the best time to start marketing for Christmas..?

There..! Right there, you couldn’t miss it..! The word Christmas in a post notification.

Is July too early to mention Christmas..?

I’m not talking about this post, the actual post I am talking about started in quite an apologetic manner because they used the C word in July. As it turned out they used the other C word as well and we’ll get to that in moment.

The great thing about the UK summer is you can rely on it to give you a dreary day or twenty, making it perfect for taking pictures of eager, suitably dressed volunteers on the beach without it being obviously mid summer. This is really handy for PR and social media campaigns on the run up to Christmas.

When I say suitably dressed we are referring to outfits such as, Father Christmas, Christmas Puddings, Christmas Crackers, you name it, anything remotely Christmas themed tends to be the order of the day and these willing volunteers are usually on a surfboard or emerging from the sea Daniel Craig style, if that’s even possible in a Christmas pudding outfit.

Everyone loves the beach in Bournemouth, even at Christmas, am I right..?

Anyway, back to this C word notification… As it turns out it included two C words as this was a post by @whitexmasdip who support the local Macmillan ward at Christchurch Hospital by running into the sea at Boscombe pier on Christmas Day morning. They also happen to be one of the charity events we help as part of our community support initiative. It was great to see them getting the ball rolling early, and yes this article is a great excuse for us to plug the event.

Paradoxically, as you can see on the video from last year, the UK weather decided to give us what looks like a blue summer sky on Christmas Day. This was great for the event as it brought out crowds of spectators and over 600 dippers, most of which were wearing their own outfits, some of which were Christmas themed and some that were just plain wrong.

Here’s everything you need to know if you want to spectate or even better, get involved

The White Christmas Dip supports Macmillan Caring Locally which is based at Christchurch Hospital and provides palliative care for cancer patients in the local community. They also provide specialist accommodation at the Grove hotel in Bournemouth so people living with life threatening illness can enjoy a break by the sea with the support they require.

Want to take part..? www.whitechristmasdip.co.uk

Want a reason to take part..? www.macmillanlocal.org

Do you know someone with a life threatening illness that deserves a break by the sea..? www.thegrovebournemouth.co.uk