Mitten Tree Day

What the day is

Mitten Tree Day is observed on December 6. A tree, real or drawn on poster board, is hung with donated mittens, hats and scarves, and the contents go afterward to people who need them.

Origin and background

The origin of the observance is not documented, though the practice is a long-standing fixture of American schools, libraries and churches. The name is shared with a well-known children's picture book about an elderly woman who hangs her knitting on a tree for children waiting in the cold.

The idea works because it makes an abstract act concrete. A collection box is invisible, while a tree visibly filling up across a week is a progress bar that even small children can read, and the giving becomes the decoration rather than an interruption to it.

The choice of garment is better founded than it looks. Mittens keep hands warmer than gloves because the fingers share a single enclosed air space and warm one another, while gloves isolate each finger and give every one of them its own surface area to lose heat through. For a child standing at a bus stop, that difference is substantial.

Extremities matter more in cold weather than people assume. The body protects its core by reducing blood flow to the hands and feet, which is why they go numb first and why they are where frostbite starts.

What shelters and schools consistently ask for is new rather than used items, in adult sizes as well as children's, and more socks than anyone tends to donate.

How to take part

• Run a tree at a school, office or place of worship. The visibility is most of what makes it work.
• Buy mittens rather than gloves for young children.
• Ask the receiving organization what they actually need before buying anything at all.
• Include adult sizes. Most mitten trees end up with nothing an adult can wear.
• Add socks. They are the most requested and least donated winter item.