Fun Gifts For Kids (Of All Ages)

Admittedly many of our gifts are for adults. We have an interesting range of kitchen hampers and a few gift hampers which contain wine, beer and cider. But let's not forget the kids.

We also have a fun range of gifts which are suitable for kids - and the best bit, you get to share in their enjoyment of the gift. After all, you don't want them to consume too much sugar, and that is where the help of mum and dad come in, right?

While you may not be keen to give them a whopping 1 kg box of chocolate or lollies, unless you intend to snack while they are sleeping, we have some smaller gifts which are just as wonderful.

Just Chocolates

500 grams of chocolates is enough to win anyone's heart. This half kilo box of chocolate is jam packed with jaffas, chocolate bullets, turkish delight, smarties, m&ms and more...

Just Lollies

For those who prefer lollies over chocolate, this half kilo box is divine. It features jelly babies, snakes, strawberries and creams, gummi bears, jelly beans, frogs and more...

Medium Sweet Tooth Gift Box

The Medium Sweet Tooth Gift Box offers the best of both worlds - a selection of lollies and chocolates. You get a delightful half kilo of fantales, snakes, smarties, turkish delight, chicos, peanut clusters and more...

Just To Say - Bulk Orders

If you are planning an event or gathering with lots of kids, then our Just To Say gift pack is ideal. You need a minimum of twenty 500 gram grab boxes which will be filled with a high-quality selection of lollies, chocolates or a combination of the two. Just select your option when you are ordering.

Delicious Gifts For $50 and Under

Ordering gifts online does not have to be expensive. We have some lovely and very delicious gifts for $50 and under, including postage and handling.

For $48 (including shipping) you can order a Big Chocolate Box, a Big Lolly Box or a Big Sweet Tooth Gift.

For exactly $50 (including shipping) we have the Little Sweetie Gift Hamper and Nibbles For Everyone.

If your budget is a little more fluid and you wanted to spend a bit more - say in the $60 range - then consider the Chocolot Gift Hamper, the Congratulations Cake & Bubbly Gift, the Nuts About Sweets Gift Hamper or the Ultimate Cider Gift Box.

All of our gifts will be expertly packed and shipped to your door or your friend's door in no time at all. Don't forget that you also have the option of upgrading to Express Post which is wonderful for those who have left it to the last minute to order something special for their friends or family. Even if you do order your gift a day or two late, your recipients will forget that fact as soon as they open your gift.

As the saying goes, "better late than never" right?

Popular Australian Lollies

Australians love their lollies!

We recently did a mini-survey on our Rainbow Designs Facebook page asking people to list their favourite lollies, and we weren't too surprised by what we saw.

Chocolate Aniseed Rings, Chicos, Snakes, Green Frogs, Raspberries, Cobbers, Minties and Freckles were listed as some of our fan's favourites. We agree wholeheartedly - they all sound pretty yummy to us!

Australians have always had their favourites - Fantales, Jaffas, Redskins, Freddo Frogs, Caramello Koalas - and there is always a loud uproar when our favourites are taken off the shelves. Remember when Nestle discontinued the Spearmint Leaves and Green Frogs from our shelves. Aussies were not happy. While they did bring them back for a limited edition in late November to Christmas Eve in 2016, Nestle said that their customers will have to 'watch this space' to see if they will ever return. We personally are still in mourning over the disappearance of our beloved green frogs, a firm favourite on the Rainbow Designs' shelves.

And then there are our beloved chocolate bars. Foreigners may not understand our love for the Pollywaffle, Mint Patties or the Cherry Ripe - but we cannot get enough! Images of musk sticks, jersey caramels and chocolate bullets inhabit our childhood dreams. And no weekend was complete without a trip to the milk bar to sample the Milko Chews and Sherbies.

Aah the memories. What was your favourite?

Did Someone Say Coffee?

Coffee hampers and gifts are well received for any occasion. They work perfectly for those over the coffee drinking age, are great for either men or women and are suitable as Christmas gifts, Australia Day gifts, Father's Day presents, birthday presents or thank you gifts. They are decadent, yet practical; classic, but trendy! All in all, they are a win-win - well, unless your recipient likes to drink tea.

Coffee has been around since it was accidentally discovered in Ethiopia. Most of the world's coffee currently comes from Brazil, followed by Colombia and Vietnam. While it has been banned and lauded many times over, there is no denying its popularity.

While Australians go through their fair share of coffee every year, they are actually ranked number 42 on the coffee consumption list at 3kg per capita. The top ten countries for consumption of coffee are:

1. Finland: 9.6 kg per capita (consumption of 2.64 cups/day)

2. Norway: 7.2 kg (1.98 cups/day)

3. Netherlands: 6.7 kg (1.84 cups/day)

4. Slovenia: 6.1 kg (1.68 cups/day)

5. Austria: 5.5 kg (1.51 cups/day)

6. Serbia: 5.4 kg (1.49 cups/day)

7. Denmark: 5.3 kg (1.46 cups/day)

8. Germany: 5.2 kg (1.43 cups/day)

9. Belgium: 4.9 kg (1.35 cups/day)
10. Brazil: 4.8kg (1.32 cups/day)

Now, that's a lot of coffee!

Let's run through the coffee gifts we currently have on the Rainbow Designs' shelves.

Barista Coffee Hamper

This impressive coffee hamper features a Bodum French-press 'Brazil' three cup coffee maker for true taste extraction. It also comes with three packs of quality Arabica ground coffee, packed and sealed in vacuum bags for freshness. Pair with two Bodum double walled coffee mugs and a box of HK Anderson Honey Wheat Braids and you have a gift that all coffee lovers would love to receive.

Coffee and Cookies Hamper

The delightful Coffee and Cookies Hampers includes a classic French press coffee plunger, one bag of Gourmet Explorer Coffee and two glass walled coffee mugs. And, of course, let's not the forget a decadent pack of cookies. Delicious!

A few new hampers at Rainbow Designs

I've mentioned previously that we'll be getting some fabulous new hampers here at Rainbow Designs, well these aren't them. He he. They are new to the website but not 'the' all new ones that are coming soon. IYKWIM.

Anyway, without further confusing you here are the new gifts I've recently added to our website:

Deluxe Boutique Beer and Snacks - $200. This one is for all of those men and women who just love trying new 'fancy' beer. They have their standard, go to beer but cannot resist trying something different.

Deluxe Boutique Beer and Snacks - $200 including delivery

Her Birthday - $90 A simple but elegant hamper that's made for celebrating with. Champagne can brighten their spirits if they've hit a 'milestone' birthday that they're just not quite ready for or toast to the start of something new and exciting. Bubbles for the win!

Her Birthday

His Birthday - $70 A classy gift for a classy guy. For he's a jolly good fellow and deserves a bit of pampering and lux in his life, even if it is just for the day.

His Birthday - $70

Savoury Selection - $100 Another elegant hamper with gourmet food and wine to impress even the hardest to buy for person. They will be very impressed with you and your taste when they receive this gift. 

Savoury Selection - $100

I've also added a fabulous Italian Pasta Making Hamper ($135) as well as a very fun Moroccan Tajine Hamper ($100) - both of these gifts are just great for the budding chef or the Jamie Oliver wannabe ;-)

Jacqui - Rainbow Designs boss(y) lady and lover of eating, especially if someone else cooks!

A Is For Advertising

As any business owner knows, whether online or off, advertising is necessary to showcase your brand and get yourself noticed.  And for the team at Rainbow Designs, it is a major challenge; you need to identify opportunities for advertising which will garner successful results.  Pay too much and there may be no return on your investment, pay too little and your advertising campaign may fail to get noticed at all.  It is definitely a fine balance.

Our blog of course is one way to get noticed and we have developed Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter pages to connect with our online fans.

Knowing who your customers are can also help pinpoint your options.  As most of our shoppers are female, then a spot on Femail works in our favour.

The ability to leave online reviews makes shopping easier for people and is another positive form of advertising.  We have review pages set up on WOMO, Product Review and Google+.  It is also important to register on sites such as TrueLocal in order that people become familiar with your business and it gives you another website where customers can leave feedback.

We have a monthly newsletter which we send out at the beginning of the month which features our gorgeous gifts and other tidbits.  Repetition is a great way for people to see and recognise your brand and it keeps it at the forefront of your customers' minds.  Not too much, mind you, as you want to avoid what is known as consumer fatigue where they tune out or ignore you altogether.

Over the last 10 years we have learnt a lot about advertising but we are no expert by any stretch of the imagination.  We would love to hear any tips you can provide.

If you have a business, what do you find works for you in terms of advertising?

Gifts $30 and Under

We understand that sometimes you are on a budget or just need a little gift as a way of saying thank you, congratulations or well done.  $30 doesn't seem to go as far as it used to and more often than not when you buy a gift online the postage is an added extra which might just push you over your budget.

All our gifts in the Under $30 section include postage so you know exactly how much you are going to spend.  Ranging from $20-$27, those with a sweet tooth will be delighted with the gift which arrives on their doorstep.

3PM Pick Me Up Gift

I know the feeling - 3pm rolls around and you are feeling like you need a little energy boost.  This pick me up gift features 300g of mixed lollies and chocolates to keep you going until the end of the day.

Just Chocolates

The name says it all!  Half a kilo of yummy chocolates including Clinkers, Bullets, Caramel Buds, Cobbers and Jaffas.  And if your budget allows, for an extra $10 you can add a coloured teddy bear of your choice.

Just Lollies

For those that prefer just lollies - this gift is for them.  500g of Chicos, F1 Race Cars, Pineapples, Milk bottles and more.  Again add a teddy bear of your choice if you wish.

Spotty Treats Gift

Our spotty gift box is very popular and is perfect as a get well or thank you gift.  This box includes a scrumptious mix of chocolates and lollies - 500g of deliciousness.

So don't let your budget stand in the way of letting a loved one know how much you care.  A little gift can go a long way and can really make someone's day.

And if you order before 3.30pm, they will be sent out the very same day for next business day delivery.

Affordable Gifts was why I started Rainbow Designs

One of the main reasons for starting my business was to try and provide an online store that offered something a bit different to the traditional gift hampers and bunches of flowers BUT for less and in the theme of YUM. I wanted somewhere that was easy to navigate, easy to read, easy to order from and easy on the wallet. I wanted to have my prices cheap, well affordable, and to include everything - the gift, the gift tag, the packaging and the delivery. So when people came onto my site they could see WHAT the gift was, HOW much the gift was and WHEN it would be delivered. The hardest part is the DELIVERY. This is by far the hardest thing to control. Delivery is always (well almost always as I do deliver some myself when it is local) done by a third party, a business that is NOT part of Rainbow Designs. I basically hire them to deliver MY gifts, sometimes easier said than done! I'm currently using Toll Express and have been for about a year now and they have been much easier to regulate the delivery times with. Basically they deliver within 1-2 business days of the parcel being sent. The majority are next business day - great news for me and my customers! Of course there are the inevitable delays which generally come from incorrect/insufficient address details or sometimes the courier is just swamped and has had to hold back some items until the following day BUT in general I can rely on Toll to deliver efficiently.

Now having this type of delivery means the delivery charge I pay to Toll is, in the whole scheme of my gifts and business, quite expensive BUT I do think the reliability and speed far outways the cost. The prices I charge for my gifts include everything and this means the gift box/bag, contents, gift tag, delivery and customer service. It's a tough balancing act - offering affordable quality gifts with fast delivery and making some sort of profit.

I think I am managing to still have great priced gifts and with the use of Toll much better control of delivery times and also great quality lollies and chocolates and even fancier gift boxes! Something that doesn't help is when the BIG supermarkets sell their confectionery and gift items so cheap - I can't compete with them on pricing, never will be able to, their buying power is MASSIVE compared to mine! What I can compete with is quality and customer service - I think I can beat them quite easily most of the time!

Not everything should come down to price but it does form a pretty significant part of any business and also customers, as we all have to be mindful of where, when and how much we spend - money doesn't grow on trees!

$22 - no more to pay! Under $30 - we can do that!

Until next time,

eat some jellybeans!

Jacqui