A local council saved a nursery’s Christmas nativity after staff accidentally threw away all the kids’ costumes. 

Picture the scene. Tynemouth Nursery had washed and ironed all the adorable costumes for its 38 three- and four-year-olds taking part in the annual nativity play and packed them in black bags.

And yes – you guessed it. The bags full of costumes were accidentally put out with the rubbish and sent to the tip.

The nursery called its local council – North Tyneside – who said they’d search the tip. But faced with thousands (and thousands) of black bags, they offered to make new costumes for the children instead. 

[Read More: Why the nativity play is the most competitive time of year for parents]

Nursery manager Melanie Robertson said the council had “saved Christmas”, seeing as the kids had been practising the carols for more than a month, for their audience of around 100 people. 

“We thought they would just say to us ‘that’s tough, sorry’, but they didn’t,” she told the BBC.

Robertson said a member of the local authority arrived at the nursery just a few days later with a car full of materiale she’d spent the weekend making into costumes for everyone from Mary and Joseph, to the kings, shepherds, and an angel.

“I was just so emotional I couldn’t stop crying,” the nursery manager said.