Orange still needs 50 people to give blood between Christmas Eve and New Year's Day to ensure supplies for cancer and trauma patients over the festive season.

Liesa Pansini is the acting donor centre manager at Lifeblood Orange Donor Centre and said "as always", blood and plasma are in demand.

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"Over the Christmas period we're always looking for those additional supplies," she said.

"People move across the country and we don't always have our regular donor pools.

"With the new Covid outbreak we're hoping that won't impact us as well."

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Although the centre remained open throughout the year because it is an essential service, not everything was the same.

Covid meant that the friendly faces of volunteers were not there for months, as well as the iconic milkshake that comes with every donation.

"We're an essential service but we aren't a café, we're not the same as what a food venue would be," Ms Pansini said.

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"A lot of our volunteers are 70-plus, so the recommendations at the time was they don't come in, so we did lose out on having them around which was a real blow to us because they do such a great job.

"They are now allowed back which is fantastic, as well as our milkshakes."

Bronwyn Ryan was one of the volunteers left unable to help out for months.

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"Years ago, a friend of mine asked me to come and donate blood and I thought of every reason under the sun not to," she said.

"In the end I ran out of reasons and it wasn't quite as bad as I thought and then I became a plasma donor as well."

She is happy to be back and has encouraged others to help out as well.

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"I was doing it with a friend but because of the lockdown we had to split," she added.

"That's where we found it a little bit difficult, getting the volunteers in to replace other people.

"In September they were desperate for volunteers because so many of them had reached that retirement age.

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"It's not hard work by any means."

But in the meantime, it's the donation of plasma that is really needed...but make sure you book an appointment first.

"We're making sure we have people booked into appointment, which will help so that people aren't arriving and waiting for an extended period of time," Ms Pansini said.

"Whilst we do like walk-ins normally, it's a time we aren't particularly encouraging that.

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"The only difference we are seeing now is the lack of additional people that can come into the centre. We often see during the school holidays, kids coming in with their parents, but they can no longer do that. It's donors only."

The centre will be open all days over the holiday period except for December 25 and 27, and January 1.