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?

Moving on up

We're moving on up, moving on up......up north. Not north to Alaska but north to Murwillumbah! Hands up who knows where Murwillumbah is? High five to you!

Murwillumbah is on the Far North Coast of NSW (about 20 mins south of the Queensland boarder) and is known for Mt Warning, the Banana Festival and the Austral Cafe! (mmmmmm cheesecake and vanilla milkshake or maybe chips and gravy).

Moving is not fun, do not let anyone tell you otherwise!! Anyone who says it's easy has never moved before or has employed others to do everything. Box everything, unbox everything. Empty the wardrobe, fill the wardrobe. Empty the bookcase, fill the bookcase - good grief, did I live in a library! On a side note: I just went to the local op shop (in search of a dining table) and bought 4 more books! I also found some fabulous chairs, $10 each people!! but someone beat me to them. booo. I digress (but I do love a good op shop outing!).

Ready for the fun to continue! Will it all fit?

Not only did I have to pack up my housey things I also had to pack up Rainbow Designs - lollies, chocolates and boxes galore! Do you know how torturous it is driving your car with a boot load of lollies and not thinking to put some in the front! I organised for a removalist to take the majority of my stuff but didn't trust them with my confectionery goodies (although I didn't really trust myself, I swear those M&M's were calling me on the drive up!) or my precious items, like my gorgeous nan's tea set or my vast array of jugs and salt & pepper shakers. I am a collector NOT a hoarder (do not ask my family to confirm this). ;-)

My house warming gift!

After a few delays I'm finally all bunkered down here in Murbah (it's what us 'locals' call Murwillumbah), Rainbow Designs is all up and running to full capacity and in a fabulous new work room/store room and, as a bonus, the Toll drop off point is just down the road!

I'm still getting use to my new little place and still in need of a dining table and decent bed but other than that I'm all set to conquer the world cook cheese on toast, make my lolly boxes and enjoy the next chapter of mine and Rainbow Designs life.

Head worker bee & chief taste testers desk!

Have you moved recently? Any mishaps? I packed my computer charger in a box the removalists took, yay for smart phone! (not so much 'smart' people)

X is for...Xerox

Xerox - a copy, a duplicator

Glad I found a word starting with X that I could use, I was starting to think I'd have to share some of the families x-rays!

I've been copying and copied in business since I began. I didn't invent gift boxes or hampers and never professed to have what I did was get ideas from other businesses and went with it. I lent towards the sweeter side of gifts as I am a very unapologetic CHOCOHOLIC! I had seen on a website relating more to travel than gifts, selling a gift box of lolly bananas and snakes and that's where the spark of an idea started. I 'copied' their idea and turned it into Rainbow Designs :-)

For the first few years all of my gifts were made and sent by me and all were someway lolly or chocolate based. I did try a few alternate gifts which bombed. haha. So they didn't last long! Then after being in business for about 2-3 years I approached a couple of gift hamper business with the proposal of 'drop shipping' their hampers, or some of the hampers. I didn't want to copy their hampers I wanted to use their hampers as I knew they knew what they were doing and didn't think I could improve them anyway. After a few hiccups and misadventures I am now working with one (fantastic) gift hamper business who produce amazing hampers of which my customer have become to order regularly and love. They do differ from my sweet tooth theme I originally started out with but, for the most part, they all have some sort of relationship to confectionery, sweetness, chocolate or lollies.

Nuts About Sweets - $60 delivered

Copying outright with no regard or thought the the originator of an idea or product is just plain wrong and rude! It takes a LOT of time, money and guts to produce something only for it to been stolen and copied by someone else. It's also very heartbreaking when it happens and can be quite damaging to, not only your business but you confidence! If you like someone's business, idea, product, name etc DON'T steal it or copy it, contact them and see if there is maybe a way of working with them or incorporating it into your business. I have found it so rewarding and beneficial working with another hamper company than 'xeroxing' their ideas. For me it was a logical way to expand my products without having to outlay a truck load of money or need a huge storage space plus it stopped any temptations! (something of which my M&M's know only too well!)

The success I have had with working with my drop ship hamper business has been leading me down the path of just focusing on my Hampers and only having my 'sweet tooth' inspired gifts available during Christmas and Easter. This will leave me time to pursue other ideas and job opportunities without having to sell or close Rainbow Designs. Who knows? But it's definitely something worth thinking about.

Don't Xerox.
Collaborate, Innovate,  Inspire, Enjoy, Share.

Q is for...Quality

Taste testing is one of THE most important jobs I have at Rainbow Designs and my favourite job! The quality of the lollies and chocolates I sell as well as the quality of the tins and boxes I use to package the gifts in have to be spot on. I've had a few dodgy products over the years which I have had to either return or let the kids and/or parents eat on very rare occasions I have thrown things out but this is 'very' rare!

Our 'quality' lollies all taste tested by me!

I now have a set selection of lollies and chocolates that I use in my gifts are, at the moment, don't plan on adding any more. As previously mentioned, I've had a few disasters over the years and some wasted money spent on non sellers - stick to what I know people like, is now my motto!

Allens Confectionery has always been my main source for my lollies as just about everyone chooses Allens over all other brands. I did try The Natural Confectionery Co lollies a few years back but, surprisingly to me, they weren't a hit - people prefer Allens.

Quality doesn't just cover our products it also includes our website. I started off with a pretty (pretty ugly) website way back in 2004-2005 and gradually saved up enough money to be able to afford a professional looking website that had the function to back up the prettiness. It hasn't changed much over the last few years and I plan on keeping it as it is for the seeable future - if it ain't broke don't fix it.

Quality Streets - I got a tin of these for Christmas! Just thought I'd share that with you :-)

Little Sweetie Gift Hamper

I also outsource the traditional gift hampers I sell on my website. I have been working with this company for quite a number of years now and know their quality control is just as strong as mine. I have never had a complaint about their hampers or the quality of the products, ever. I did have a few mishaps with a couple of other businesses I started to work with which could have had terrible consequences for my business so I cut ties with some and spoke to the others about the issues I was having. If businesses don't know something is wrong or a customer was disappointed we can't fix the problem. So, please let us know, the good, the bad and the ugly. Just do it in a nice way please, no need to be rude.

I schedule in some quality control every day (wink wink) I've got to be certain that the M&M's from yesterday are still just as yummy today - it is a hard life and I'm glad I get to do it!

Father's Day is fast approaching!

Another year is flying by, don't they all?? I can't quite believe that Father's Day is only 2 weeks away - I'm sure we just finished Easter!! Sometimes I can't keep up with the speed of the weeks and other times I wish the days would go faster (weekend anyone??)!



We've got a fabulous variety of gifts this year at Rainbow Designs with 'dad' in mind - think licorice, beer, big box of chocolates (all for him!), more beer and even lager and cider if he is that way inclined!

 



Our yummy range of gifts from Port Macquarie can be ordered up until Wednesday 28 August to ensure delivery is made before Sunday, 1 September and our gorgeous gift hampers from Brisbane and Melbourne need to be ordered by Monday 26 August - the earlier the better really!

 



Remember, deliveries are not made on the weekend so all orders will be delivered the week leading up to Father's Day - it's up to your dad whether he has the will power or not to not open it until Sunday!

 



Gifts start at $19...............so there is NO reason to not send your dad something! He deserves it! Just quietly, I think my dear old dad will be getting boring old socks (he can have all the chocolates he wants just about anytime he wants with me close by!) but don't do that to your poor old dad!!! :-)

Take care and don't forget to eat some lollies,

Jacqui

Gifts for someone who has everything?

I have noticed over the last few weeks quite a few people who found Rainbow Designs by using the search term 'gift ideas for someone/couple/friend who has everything'. Lucky them! I guess it is hard to buy a gift for someone who appears to not actually need anything - I think our gift boxes are just the thing. Everyone likes lollies and chocolates, well almost everyone!


It's A Wrap - $60 includes delivery!

This was part of the reason why I started my online gift business around the theme of sweet tooth. It's a gift that can be given to almost everyone for almost all occasions and they're not expensive plus it's so easy to order online - win, win, win!

I love that people love being able to buy something a little different but still mean something to the recipient. I get emails saying how excited the recipient was when they opened their gift and found LOLLIES! Also so many people have said how they love they can send something other than flowers and cheaper than flowers (and yummier!). It is a great feeling knowing that my little business has been used and enjoyed by so many people around Australia and the world - I've had orders from NZ, UK, Japan, Canada, Singapore, USA.... exciting. I love picturing them sitting half way around the world looking at my business online, drooling at all of the yummy gifts and relieved that they haven't missed 'little Johnny's' birthday! Yay for the internet!

So, if you need a gift for someone who has everything - we can help and quite often do! Love it!


Sweet Celebration Hamper - $99 including delivery

Lolly Hampers

It's a Lolly kind of day today it seems! So many of the searches included the word 'Lolly' and it is something we have a LOT of here at Rainbow Designs! I think I might be missing something though? There are so many of these types of searches that don't end in an order, why? Maybe they are after more 'traditional' style Hampers? Maybe we don't have the types of lollies they want? Maybe they need it faster than we can delivery? (even though we do have Next Day delivery) I'm starting to think I need to include some different types of Lolly Gifts but what? I've tried Sugar Free, Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Peppermint, Licorice, Freddo Frogs, Kids styles BUT none of them did very well. What am I doing wrong?

I'm going to try another style of Lolly Gift soon, still using the gift box that a lot of my Lolly and Chocolate gifts come in but in a different style/colour. These new lollies are chocolate coated lollies and are made in Australia. They will be individually packed in 150g bags/boxes making it just over the kilo - pricing will be about $65 and this will include the delivery charge, as all my gifts do. I am hoping this style of gift will be more suited to the people who search for 'Lolly Hamper' and end up at Rainbow Designs. I guess I'll find out in a few weeks! (fingers crossed)

I've also been deciding on whether to have a Cadbury Gift box?? Made up of a variety of different Cadbury Bars and Blocks - "Cadbury Cravings" maybe??

A couple of weeks ago I added an option to many of my Lolly/Chocolate Boxes to add a Bear to their gift - I don't know why I didn't do this sooner! It has proven quite popular and I have realised that the Pink bear is a big favourite! I sold out too quickly - I feel sorry for the other colours. Luckily the company I get my bears from are pretty speedy with their deliveries so generally bears aren't out of stock for long. One of the hardest things is updating the website to reflect this - it is very fiddly and time consuming and more often than not an order will come in before I have had a chance to put something out of stock! Typical!

A few months ago I added a gift called 'Cravings' where you can select exactly what you want to go inside the box - popular! I've just added a larger Cravings gift called 'Cravings Overdrive' for the BIG sweet tooth.

I try and use lollies and chocolates that are known ie Allens, Mars, Nestles, Trolli etc so people know what the quality is like and can be happy ordering something for a far away friend or relative. The new gift I plan on adding soon is from a small business called Freckleberry so is a sort of unknown to most people but I hope over time my customers will realise that the quality is great and is just something a little bit different but still yummy and priced well.

If I can get small quantities of some new products I might look at trialling the special diets gifts again and include sugar, dairy, nut free products - it all depends on what I can find and the prices as I still want these gifts to be affordable and value for money, like all my other gifts.