Xmas package to son in NZ?

[Coaster1]

I’d like to send something for Xmas but wondered
a) will it get there? His birthday card didn’t

b) would it be better to pay for a gift something from a NZ based company?

any other tips gratefully received

thank you!

My son is in Canada. I post a parcel with Christmas bits each year using economy postage as it's much cheaper. This means that it can take up to 16 weeks to get there, though more often it takes only two weeks. But you need to make sure you post in time. Anything I send doesn't really matter if it gets there for Christmas or not, nice if it does, but no worries otherwise.

For you to send something now, unless you are going to pay a huge postage it probably won't get there for Christmas.

Anything else I buy Amazon Canada to get to him in time. I have tried local shops in Canada, but more often than not they won't take a foreign card payment, so I end up resorting to amazon.

DD is overseas - I always buy from a company local to her. Mind you, I do the same for family in the UK now (I live in France) and use Moonpig for cards. Just not worth sending anything internationally in my recent experience.

Amazon is your friend here.

Forgot to add - how about Etsy? Lots of international suppliers and some brilliant stuff on there. I use it a lot at Christmas but you need to think about it now because of lead times (a lot of artisans).

I don't know about New Zealand, but some countries (including Australia) have no duty-free gift allowance, which means your parcel could be stopped by customs and the recipient might have to pay duties and charges to receive it.

Conversely you can send a gift to the U.K. up to a value of about £35 without the recipient being charged duties.

It's a shame because it's nice to be able to send personal gifts, but having been caught out previously in both directions I now use Australian companies for gifts to my Australian relatives. I'm in France and we have no allowance here either.

I'd look for a local NZ company. Or a NZ company which could do a UK hamper- if that is what you were thinking of: like these. I've never used these companies BTW.

https://ukfoods.co.nz/?srsltid=AfmBOorCtRUys5B1sPoxnQGx_ythHTUWky3Sc1mhMty4BEDle1wbo_r6

unionjacks.co.nz/?srsltid=AfmBOoouuMJ86Iz3IJlmUDiVZlNOL4bzC6mqqwUq3HKsi3pJmY4BjkNR

Perhaps try and ask on the Aussie and NZ board here on Mumsnet.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/aussie-nz-mumsnetters

Good luck!

Hi there @Coaster1
I live in Auckland so may be able to advise on local businesses. We don't have Amazon in NZ but many people use Amazon Australia.
Do you want to share the type of gift contents you had in mind?

Most of the time I find the NZ websites refuse to accept my English card.

Asos are a good website to use. Make sure you use the New Zealand version of the website.

I’ve recently used Red Dog Gift shop based in nz for a card and the delivery was v quick.
Ive tried moonpig before and it’s taken forever to get there despite allegedly being a nz website.

Is it? They don’t have Amazon in NZ. Do they deliver there? Is it from Australia?