Woman dresses up as The Grinch to ‘give Christmas back’ to children in Leeds for charity

A woman will dress up as The Grinch to entertain children in Leeds this Christmas whilst raising money for charity.
Amy Hart dressed as The GrinchAmy Hart dressed as The Grinch
Amy Hart dressed as The Grinch

“The Grinch that stole Christmas needs to give it back” says Amy Hart who will drive her way round Leeds dressed as The Grinch in December.

The 26-year-old will use her prosthetic make-up skills to dress up and allow children to have socially distanced pictures with or personalised videos sent to them by ‘The Grinch’.

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Amy, a support tutor, originally shared her idea on Facebook and interest in a visit from The Grinch has “gone absolutely crazy” ever since.

Amy Hart dressed as The GrinchAmy Hart dressed as The Grinch
Amy Hart dressed as The Grinch

She said: “It’s great fun, it makes people giggle and it’s quite mischievous.

Schools have cancelled Christmas concerts and other celebrations this year so it’s important to do something to allow children to enjoy Christmas.

“The Grinch that stole Christmas needs to give it back and that’s what I’ll do.”

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Amy has had hundreds of messages asking for The Grinch to make a visit to a number of different homes, including those in Beeston, Horsforth and Dewsbury.

The Grinch impersonator plans to visit people’s streets and stay by her car for pictures or conversations from a distance so that she can get into her car if crowds begin to form.

She has also created a playlist of Christmas music so she can turn up with music playing loudly from her car to get children singing and ‘in the mood’.

Amy said: “A lot of people have asked if they can give me some money for charity for making the effort to come to their home.

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“It’s not about the money but I have sent anyone who has asked a link to a Cancer Research donation page as that’s a charity which is really important to me.

“It would be great if doing this could get some donations but primarily I just want to be everywhere, I want everyone to see The Grinch and I want to just cheer them up.”

Special effects make-up has been one of Amy’s hobbies for the past few years and this inspired her to use her hobby to entertain others.

Amy currently plans to complete her visits on December 18 and 19 but expects that she will need to extend this to visit all those who have expressed interest.

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She has also enquired about going to nurseries and standing outside the windows of children’s wards at Leeds hospitals on Christmas Eve to give those who will spend Christmas in hospital something to smile about.

Amy added: “I’m ready and I’ve got my stuff together and I’d do it now if I could.

“This year is going to be better than ever and my friends might even join in with ‘The Grinch Squad’ t-shirts.”

Amy is from Leeds and lives in Dewsbury but said that the majority of interest for The Grinch visits has been from those in Leeds so she will base her visits there mainly.

More of Amy's special effects work can be found on her Instagram page: @allhallowscreepfx.

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