Christmas is Cancelled!

Our very first Originals project is the story of a small elf who saves Christmas when Santa’s Workshop is closed during lockdown

SM_Dragonfly_Purple_Seal_FirstPlace-sml.png

After a successful Kickstarter campaign to get the book off the ground, we’re making a small difference to children who’ve been hit hard by the fallout of Covid-19. 50% of all profits from sales go to Make-A-Wish UK, to help bring light into the lives of children and their loved ones. (The other 50% goes to funding future ventures like this, creating a virtuous circle of projects that raise funds and support for our communities.)

Please share this far and wide! The more books we sell, the more copies we can give away, and the more we can give back. Ordering from us maximises the return to the charity, however you can also order from any major bookseller.

You can buy from Hive — who we love because they support local bookstores.

It’s also available from Waterstones, Foyles, Amazon and all good book shops.

How it all began

We all know too well the terrible tale of 2020. With entire countries going into lockdown, the changes to our routine have been unnerving and strange.

Yet through all the weirdness and anxiety, a wonderful kindness and sense of community spirit has emerged, and many of us have re-evaluated what's really important in life. Because of this, we were inspired to do something ourselves — beyond our work for clients — that would bring a smile to people's faces and, importantly, offer help to those most in need. 

As if by magic, an idea struck: if everyone is in lockdown, does that include Santa and his elves? And if so, what does that mean for Christmas?!

Early style exploration of Mikka the Elf

Early style exploration of Mikka the Elf

 
Mikka_Staircase.jpg

A tale for our times

With a nasty bug sweeping the globe, Santa’s Workshop is forced to close and all the elves placed into lockdown.

Our hero Mikka — who was about to kick off her career in the workshop as a bow-tying elf — is devastated. How could it be that kids would wake up to no presents this Christmas?

Without access to the super-fast toy-making machines in the workshop, there’s no way the elves can possibly make all the toys they need this Christmas, and they fall into despair.

But what if our small elf with a giant heart could find a way out of this? Could she inspire the other small elves to help? Could Mikka help us believe in the magic of small things, and save Christmas?

 
 

 “This book will make you believe in the magic of small things — a timely reminder, my friends, that sometimes the small things in life are in fact the big things.”

— Father Christmas

 
Mikka_Bows.jpg
 
Mockp_Hardcover.jpg
 

Buy now

You’ll be supporting our chosen charity, Make-A-Wish UK, with donations from the profits we make.

 

Read along with the authors.

Sam and Gavin sit down to tell you how the idea for the book came about, and give you a live reading!

You can view the video directly on Vimeo here.

 

Download free Key Stage 1 & Key Stage 2 activity packs

Following requests from so many lovely teachers and parents, we’ve created FREE downloadable activity packs for children.

The Key Stage 1 edition includes a colouring in version of the story, along with play progression ideas such as printable masks for role play, creative writing tasks, block play and more.

Tasks in the Key Stage 2 edition will test your powers of prediction and comprehension, while also helping to explore the structure, rhythm and rhyme of the story. All tasks will still give you a chance to get creative like Mikka.

We hope you enjoy it — and please share it with all your parent friends and teachers.

 
MockupForWeb_v2.jpg
 
CaterpillarGIF.gif

A labour of love

Children’s stories can take months or even years to develop. When Sam had the idea for the book rather late in 2020 we had to move fast, and we got busy writing and sketching and crafting this tale into something magical — in record time!

We juggled our day jobs and families, worked many weekends and late nights to make this a reality — all because we want to fill the world with better stories that can make a difference. We’d love it if you could help spread the word with a retweet and help us make life a little better for children who need it most.

 
 

“Mikka has always been an exuberant young elf. Despite her ignoring our advice against making toys in lockdown, we’re incredibly grateful that she did. The smiles on children’s faces around the world was worth it.”

— Papa Elf

Papa Elf.png

About the Friendly Giants

 
Sam_Profile.jpg

Sam

Sam is a father of two young kids and basically a giant Elf who constantly comes up with ideas — be they stories, products, brand ideas and more. In his day job he is the Chief Strategy Officer at Friendly Giants, helping brands to find the story that gets people interested, focused and excited. Sam was the originator of the ‘Christmas is Cancelled’ idea who worked alongside Gavin and Nico to develop the tale.

Gavin_Profile.jpg

Gavin

As a boy Gavin was obsessed with Disney, Doctor Seuss, the Muppets, writing, animation and illustration in general. Today he is the Chief Creative Officer at Friendly Giants, helping bring brands to life through design, content and advertising. Gavin and Sam are the founding Friendly Giants and, on this project, Gavin was the rhyming whizz behind the story who brought the words and magic to life.

Nico_Profile.jpg

Nicolò

Nico is a travelling illustrator who calls too many places 'home'. Dedicated to picture-making in one craft or another, he lent himself to graphics, animation and illustration for several clients, always hunting for a good story to bring to life. On this project, Nicolò was the artist elf who turned the ideas and rhymes into beautiful illustrations and wonderful colours. 

 

“A much needed, joyful tale of the magic of Christmas, framed within our current challenging landscape. The underlying wellbeing themes of resilience, coping with change & social connection, combined with the promotion of playful dispositions — such as wonder, curiosity and perseverance — make this a heartwarming story for early years and beyond.”

— Lynsey Burke, Primary School Head Teacher

Q&A with Sam, Nico and Gavin

 

What did you enjoy most when working on 'Christmas is Cancelled!'?

Nico: I really enjoyed the quick back-and-forth amongst the three of us, trying to produce the strongest and most compelling story. It seemed that every idea we threw at each other bounced back improved and amplified.

Sam: Working with wonderful people to translate an idea that was born from a genuine fearful question into a reality that still fills me with childlike hope and joy.

Gavin: I’ve been longing to write a children’s book for a really long time, but ‘never got round to it’ — so the fact we were doing one at all was reward enough. It’s amazing what a looming, unmoving deadline can do to kickstart a project. Because we all believed in the story, we’ve thrown everything at it to keep making it better. It’s been a great process.

What do you hope people will take out from the story?

Nico: I know that many struggled throughout the national lockdowns globally, and I hope our story shows that the goals we set for ourselves can be achieved nonetheless, with different methods, timeframes and... surprising results. 

Gavin: I know I’m part-Muppet and prone to cheesy proclamations, but I really just want to make people happy. For someone to read this story and smile — and think that maybe they could do something to make someone else’s life a little better as a result.

How would you describe your approach to storytelling?

Sam: Find a very human obstacle or insight that hooks you in and won’t let you sleep. Then wrestle with it until you find a way out that opens your eyes wide with wonder.

Gavin: Rewrite, rewrite and rewrite until it’s perfect. Then realise it isn’t perfect at all and start again.

Where does your inspiration come from?

Sam: In the case of ‘Christmas is Cancelled’ I was thinking about Covid-19 and what my kids were going through compared to my own childhood. A frightening flow of questions then popped in to my head. And because I was unable to sleep, I started writing until I found a way to save Christmas (and finally get some sleep again!).’

Gavin: When you allow yourself to be silly and excited and a bit stupid, your ideas are free to collide with other ideas and all the inputs you’ve ever had in your life — and it’s often there, in the nonsense of all that, that you’ll find what you’re after.

If you were an elf who would you be?

Nico: I would be a pastry ch-elf baking matcha sweets all day long. 

Sam: I would be an over excitable elf that was repeatedly told off for playing with the toys more than making them.

Gavin: Right now I would be the lazy elf who sleeps for a hundred years.

 

Follow Mikka’s Journey