The “Christmas Swim” has fast become a popular British tradition, with people all over the country plunging into freezing cold lakes or the sea during the Christmas season, all in the name of charity. These crazy events attract hundreds of brave participants and onlookers; all dressed in swimwear and fancy dress costumes in minus temperatures to raise money for a good cause!

If you’re thinking about getting involved with a fun Christmas swim, the team at Zoggshave picked out 5 of the most popular events taking place across the UK this year!

Brighton's Christmas Day Swim
Swim Brighton's Swimming Club has one of the longest running Christmas Day swims in the UK. The popular event has taken place every year since 1860, with the exception of 2012 when extremely bad weather caused it to be cancelled to the despair of many!

Sutton Park's Christmas Day Swim
Last year, the Sutton Park Christmas Day Swim made headlines when one of the swimmers brought a banner saying 'Will you keep me warm for the rest of my life', a beautiful and creative marriage proposal! If you're located in West Midlands and fancy doing something unusual on Christmas Day, don a fancy dress costume and get involved.

Exmouth Christmas Day Swim
In Devon, thousands of people brave the freezing temperatures to carry out this local tradition, which began in the late 1960s. The event still has no official organisers but it is thought to be one of the biggest to take place in the UK, with more and more people getting involved every year!

Serpentine Swimming Club’s Christmas Day Swim
The iconic Serpentine Christmas day swim at Hyde Park has been a tradition for club members since 1864. The event takes place at 9am, with club members undergoing a 100m race in freezing cold water with hundreds of on-looks cheering them on.To be sure the race is testing for all participants; the club bans wetsuits, with entrants only wearing swimming costumes in often freezing temperatures on Christmas day morning!

Firth of Forth's New Year’s Day Swim
This New Year's Day swim is challenging for two reasons - firstly, it takes place at 11am on New Year's Day, and secondly the water in the North Sea is incredibly cold! If you can drag yourself to the beach on time, this is an amazing way to start the New Year!

Do you get involved with a local festive swim? Share your photos and videos with the team at Zoggs on Facebook & Twitter!