Food Hampers to Australia

[ajandjjmum]

Would be grateful for any advice/experience.

DS is in Sydney, and it seems very unlikely that our plans to join him for Christmas will happen. He is fine with this - it's a pandemic, nothing any of us can do.

I would like to send him a Christmas food hamper to share with his friends - thought something from M & S would be good. I was told to speak to their 'International Office', who didn't know what could be sent.

Has anyone experience of sending a typically British food hamper to Aus, and can offer any suggestions?

I'm in Australia and it's pretty near impossible to get food into the country (via post) as far as I can work out. The customs/regulations etc are very strict on food imports, cosmetics and so on. I've found one company who will send biscuits and chocolate, but M&S and the other big players, won't touch it with a barge pole - for whatever reason.

It would be more simple to order something from an Australian local supplier and get it sent that way - obviously won't be British feeling, but a lot of the Xmas stuff does hark back to UK traditional style.

Try David Jones as a starting point. Won't be cheap though!!

Another one saying order something local. My sister lives in Sydney. You can't just send any old kind of food in, not to mention it will cost you a fortune in shipping (and with COVID may not even get there in time).

Recently saw an ad on facebook for a company called British snacks who seem to do this sort of thing, considering it for a family member who lives in the USA for the same reason!

I think Bettys deliver to Australia.
www.bettys.co.uk/customer-service/delivery

Tbh there isn't much you can't get in Woolies or Coles in Sydney these days. Ten years ago I was very excited when people brought me food from Ireland/UK, now I would say save your money. David Jones is the place to go if you want posh hampers.

Sending anything to Australia takes sooooooo long. We sent some pictures over by air in May - they arrived in August.

I thought you meant like a Red Cross parcel! I thought I had missed some terrible news about Australia, buried under the Trump/Biden thing! That's a relief!

Yes, as someone who watches to Australian customs thingy on the TV, they are very strict with what comes into the country (and rightly so!).I guess buying local from David Jones is the way to go.

I agree too, you won't be able to get an M&S hamper into Australia.

Australia has so much beautiful local gourmet food, I would send a local Christmas hamper. They will have traditional English foods like pudding and mince pies etc available.

www.thehamperemporium.com.au/Christmas-Hampers

gourmetbasket.com.au/occasion/christmas-gift-hampers/

byronbaygifts.com.au/collections/christmas-hampers

www.davidjones.com/home-and-food/food-and-wine/food-hampers/22084283/Complete-Christmas-Hamper.html

There's some ideas for you.

I have used this Sydney company for hampers: www.giftboss.com.au. Their hampers are excellent quality and have interesting items, not the usual cheap chocolates and wine. I have got hampers from them for teachers, relatives, business associates, etc. and all without exception were absolutely thrilled with them.

Buy from an Australian shop. There are loads.

www.ukfoodsdownunder.com.au/

www.britishsweets.com.au/

bestofbritish.com.au/

treatsfromhome.com.au/

It’s totally fine to send food to Australia - so long as it’s normal packaged food, not things like meat or seafood (but why would you send that anyway?!). But British sweets and chocolate are fine, my parents send them all the time and bring them in when they come and visit.

Ozgirl75, have they been doing that all through the pandemic without delays/problems? That's good to know.

They have businesses in Australia which already import English and Irish food and they do Xmas hampers for expats

@pergnet some things have taken a bit longer but other times it’s been totally fine. It’s a bit random but it’s been basically fine.

I'd missed all these responses - sorry, and thank you to everyone who's posted!

I heard elsewhere on MN about British Corner Shop, and they have just sent off a parcel of wonderful delights such as mince pies, Cadbury's chocolate, mint sauce, Heston's Christmas pud! It is expensive, but if our trip over Christmas had materialised, we'd have spent a lot more!

Just have to wait and see how long it takes to get there now - it left Bristol yesterday.

On the strength of the vaccine, I've just booked for DH and I to travel to Australia for two months in June - fingers crossed we actually make this trip.