Claudia Schiffer and Nadja Swarovski. Image courtesy of Swarovski.

From London to New York, celebrities have recently been lighting snowflakes to help spread UNICEF’s message of hope, peace and compassion for children during the festive season.

Lucy Liu lit the handcrafted UNICEF USA Snowflake, during a special ceremony held in front of the Louis Vuitton Fifth Avenue store in New York, which was broadcast live the Spectacolor CNN billboard in Times Square.

‘As a native New Yorker I always look forward to seeing the UNICEF Snowflake light up Fifth Avenue,’ Liu remarked. ‘It reminds me that every day, there are 24,000 children worldwide dying from preventable causes. I am especially proud to support UNICEF and their commitment to change that number to zero.’

Over in London, UNICEF UK Ambassador Claudia Schiffer joined Nadja Swarovski at the Mandarin Oriental in Knightsbridge in occasion of the lighting of the Swarovski Crystal Snowflake designed by Ingo Maurer. For the second year running, Swarovski has collaborated with UNICEF, and as Nadja Swarovski remarked, ‘We are…thrilled that we can help such a worthy cause.’

The London light-up was followed by a cocktail reception that included a live auction conducted by Sotheby’s that helped raise funds for UNICEF.