Variety – the Children's Charity's Kiwi Kid Sponsorship programme connects a disadvantaged Kiwi kid with a kind individual who donates $45 or more a month to provide the child with basic essentials like bedding, a school uniform and shoes — as well as access to important life opportunities such as school camp and swimming lessons.

The 2017 Gift to Child direct mail Christmas Appeal offered sponsors the opportunity to make their sponsored child's Christmas extra special, by donating vouchers for a surprise present for the child and food for a shared Christmas meal.

Doing something special for their children at Christmas is not always possible for the disadvantaged families Variety helps – even for those families who have a child or children supported by a Variety Kiwi Kid Sponsor.

The 2017 Gift to Child Christmas Appeal offered those sponsors the opportunity make their sponsored child’s Christmas extra special with a surprise gift and food vouchers for the family.
The appeal was mailed on 7 November to 2,052 Variety sponsors. Between them they were sponsoring over 3,200 disadvantaged Kiwi kids.
The campaign, which ran to 31 December, exceeded Variety’s most optimistic expectations, achieving a 55% response rate and raising $152,305 in Christmas gifts to sponsored children – $87,305 more than the budget target. In total, 1,533 children (target 765) received gift vouchers averaging $99 per child (target $85).

Over 10% of the 1,229 sponsors who gave to their sponsored child or children also added an extra donation to the wider 2017 Christmas Appeal to help give other (non-sponsored) children Variety helps access to life-changing support in 2018