It’s happening!!
After many months of planning, costing and… tasting. I am good to go on getting my gift box company up and running.
The last hurdle of getting my liquor licence approved was achieved and now I can include some amazing New Zealand wine, beer and cider in my boxes - the perfect complement to all the yummy treats that I have spent the last year curating.
Over the next few months, I will shine a spotlight on some of the components of each gift box and explain how I discovered it and why it made the cut to earn a place in one of the 1st release boxes.
For this blog post though, I want to tell you a bit about me and why I decided to start Gift My Best:
My first trip to New Zealand was when I was an 18 year old backpacker on my OE and I can guarantee you that not one minute of that trip was about eating and drinking the finest that the country had to offer, however it was when I first fell in love with the country. Returning to Scotland with a new goal to move to New Zealand, I made the move at the tender age of 23 and settled in the wonderfully picturesque Queenstown - after the initial party stage that every young new resident goes through, I settled down and started to enjoy some of the finer things on offer in the region. A stones-throw from the winemakers of Central Otago - I began to swap the house wines and beers on offer around town for a nice Central Otago Pinot Noir or a Hazy IPA. A Speights or Kopiko Bay just weren’t cutting it anymore and so my journey had started.
Fast forward 14 years and I’m living my best life in Auckland looking to order some gift boxes for Christmas to friends down south and feeling underwhelmed with what is on offer - I figured I would make up my own gift boxes with a bunch of stuff not available at your typical supermarket. Things I had tried and loved along the way from living in Queenstown, Dunedin, Wellington, Rotorua and finally Auckland. I packaged it all up and sent it away with the obligatory “Do Not Open Until Christmas Day” note on the box. I quickly realised how very few of my friends have the willpower as within a few days, I was being asked where people could buy this product and that product. Basically, they were a hit and someone quipped that I should do this for a living… well, why not!
So here I am, 10 months later and a couple of kilos heavier thanks to going to every food and drink festival and trying everything that ‘looks good’ at every show and artisan market. With all that said and done, I’m so proud and happy to introduce ‘Gift My Best’ and I hope I can help you to send the perfect gift to the perfect people in your life.
- Henry-Stewart, Chief Gifter
