This September, swap the school uniform for something a little… BIGGER.

One day. One enormous outfit. One very important reason.

Every grown up knows the importance of the right fit. From shoe fittings to school uniforms, food portions – getting things right for a child matters.

But here’s something most people don’t know.

Children with cancer are still being treated with drugs designed for adult bodies, some of them developed in the 1980s. A child going through cancer treatment isn’t just facing something frightening. They’re facing it with medicines that were never built for them. And the consequences can follow them for the rest of their lives – stunted growth, heart damage, infertility – affecting more than half of all childhood cancer survivors.

Only 2% of cancer research budgets go to child-specific treatments.

Big Clothes Day is one day where children, families and schools say “that’s not good enough”.

This September young people across the UK will swap their school uniform, or their usual clothes, for something brilliantly, deliberately oversized. The bigger the better. The more it swamps them, the louder the message.

Because children with cancer are being given treatments that don’t fit. And together, we can help change that.

Get your family involved.

BIG Clothes Day isn’t just for schools. Families can take part too at home, in the community, wherever feels right.

Challenge your family to find the most oversized outfit in the house. Set up a simple fundraising page and share it with family and friends. 

A few ideas to get started:

• Family BIG Clothes Day photo. Post it to social with #BigClothesDay and tag @childrenwithcanceruk
• Sponsored outfit challenge: How many people can your child get to sponsor them?
• BIG Clothes bake sale: Wear something enormous while you bake, sell at the school gate
• Neighbourhood challenge: Get the whole street involved

However you take part, your family’s involvement tells children with cancer that you are standing with them and funding the science to make their treatment better.

Why this matters to every parent, guardian and teacher.

As a parent or carer, you already know that children aren’t small adults. Everything from their food to their furniture to their education is calibrated around where they are and not where a grown-up is.

Cancer treatment is the one place that logic hasn’t been applied.

Ten children are diagnosed with cancer every day in the UK. Two terminally. Of the children who survive, more than half will live with serious, lasting health consequences from treatments that were designed for adult bodies. Stunted growth. Early menopause. Heart damage. Organ damage. Not because their cancer won, but because the treatment that saved their lives was never built for them.

Children with Cancer UK has been funding research to change this for over 35 years. We’ve helped improve childhood cancer survival rates from 67% to 85.2%. But survival is only the beginning. We want every child who gets through treatment to go on and truly live without carrying the weight of side effects from drugs that were never right for them.

BIG Clothes Day raises the money that funds that research.

Every pound you raise, sponsored outfit, family photo shared with a donation link all goes towards finding treatments that are kinder, less toxic and designed for children.