Don't Forget The Kids

What child doesn't love the anticipation of Christmas? It is full of fun, family, sweet treats and exciting presents and we have a number of gifts at Rainbow Designs which are particularly suitable for our younger fans.

While many of our gifts feature an abundance of candy and chocolate, here are some which include a cuddly toy to accompany the sweets heading their way.

Perfect for Christmas is our Christmas Lolly Jar featuring Santa Claus - once the jar is empty is can be reused for other equally delicious treasures providing fun memories all year round.

Our Reindeer Delivery gift features a cuddly reindeer measuring 30cm as well as a handful of delicious candy canes and chocolate stars. Name him what you will - Dasher, Dancer, Prancer or Vixen!

And let's not forget Santa's Puppy. His spots and soft fur will easily win over any child, as will the scrumptious chocolate Christmas tree and baubles.

Our Rainbow Bear Sweet Tooth Gift is popular all year round making it a great gift for Christmas, a birthday or just for a job well done! Choose the teddy bear of your choice and he will help protect the half kilo of mixed chocolate and lollies. I am talking jelly babies, strawberries and creams, freckles, frogs and snakes to name just a few.

It won't be long before the children will be nestled all snug in their bed while visions of sugar-plums dance in their head, so make sure you order your gift before our Christmas cut-off date of 17 December 2013.

Many of our Christmas gifts have already sold out due to popular demand so we advise you to order sooner rather than later.

Let The Christmas Baking Begin

I confess I am not much of a baker (hmm that might well be an understatement!) but I do love the look of all the yummy recipes which are appearing on my Facebook feed at the moment.  So much so, I might even attempt one or two of them over the Christmas holidays.

I recently posted this Easy Santa Claus Cupcake recipe on our page and it looks like it would be so much fun to make, and a great one to share with the kids.  M&Ms, chocolate chips, coconut, sprinkles and frosting are required to turn the cupcake into Santa.

I also love the look of these Peanut Butter Reindeer Cookies which will easily make use of the spare chocolate chips and M&Ms you have leftover from the cupcake recipe

These are made using a peanut butter cookie recipe although this can be adapted if necessary.

And for those who may be baking-challenged like me, these dip sticks look very festive, although in reality you can dip anything from pretzel sticks, mini pretzels, Oreos, wafer cookies, sugar cookies, shortbread or biscotti.  A delicious treat with no baking required.

If however baking is not really for you, then I would recommend popping a tin or two of our delicious fudge on the table as an alternative and watch it disappear.

Fudge seems to be a favourite in every household I come across and these beautiful tins can be used over and over again.  And there is something for everyone - vanilla fudge, chocolate fudge and the ever so delicious rum and raisin.

What are you looking forward to baking or making this Christmas?

The Calm Before The Storm

November for me has always been a strange month; it is the calm before the Christmas storm so to speak.

It is however in reality, a great time for me to get organised and mentally prepare for the busy weeks ahead. I am able to plan, restock and deal with the increased number of customer service enquiries which grace my doorstep.

While orders are still coming in, generally November for retailers is nowhere near as hectic as December - in particular the last couple of weeks prior to Christmas.

For me the last week before Christmas is actually extremely pleasant as I am officially on holiday - Rainbow Designs' Christmas cut-off date is the 17 December.  If we left it any later, there would be a lot of unhappy campers amongst us as the orders would not be guaranteed to arrive before Christmas Day.  As it is, the postal workers and courier companies are already working overtime in preparation for the festive holiday.

So today I thought I would share with you two new products which are available for the Christmas season.

The first is our Nuts About Christmas Hamper.  It comes already packed in a gift box and includes Christmas blend coffee, macadamia nut fudge, honey roasted cashews, a brownie bite and a pack of organic licorice.  Delicious, right?

The second gift is our Santa's Puppy Pack.  It features an adorable Joyce & Co puppy dog, Freckleberry chocolate Christmas tree and 20 chocolate baubles.  Imagine the surprise on Christmas morning when they open that one.  Again it comes already packaged in a lovely gift hamper box for ease.

I hope that this time of year is not proving to be too stressful for you.  We aim to take the stress out of Christmas with our delicious range of gifts and hampers, so if we can help you in way, just give us a shout!

7 Weeks Until Christmas

Alright...I said it...don't shoot the messenger!

Christmas is not that far away (sorry!) particularly when you take into account that last orders will be taken 17 December 2013 and even earlier for corporate orders, 11 December 2013 which is essentially only 5 weeks away.

But I would like to add that many of you are already very organised when it comes to your Christmas shopping.  Corporate orders are starting to come in and we have had a number of enquiries from expats abroad asking about sending gifts to their loved ones back in Australia.

Way to go - I am very impressed as I know I am behind in my personal Christmas shopping - so hats off to you!  I also know that my friends and family love receiving gifts from Rainbow Designs so that always makes shopping a little bit easier especially when I often leave things to the last minute.

Are you the same?  Do you tend to be a last minute shopper or are you a person who is very organised and stockpiles gifts throughout the year?  We are all very different when it comes to our shopping habits but one thing we all have in common is that we want to ensure that our gifts reach our loved ones safe and sound and give them as much enjoyment as possible.

Buying Gifts For Men

Apparently buying for men is difficult - we hear this from our customers all the time.  Until they discover our website that is - we hear that a lot from our customers as well.

Shopping for the boys in your life need not be hard particularly if a) they like to drink or b) they like to eat. Think about their likes and dislikes and pretty soon you should be able to narrow down a gift or two to suit.

If he likes beer - then we have 10 - yes 10 beer gift hampers that he may appreciate.  This would include lovers of ale, cider or lager.

If wine is his thing, then we can help here too or coffee for that matter.  See how easy it is!

Moving onto the next course, is he into pizza, Spanish or Moroccan cuisine or prefers tucking into some sushi or pancakes perhaps?

And we can't forget dessert.  Does he like ice cream or is he more of a cheese lover.  Does he have a sweet tooth?  If so he might enjoy one of our lolly, chocolate or fudge gifts or perhaps licorice or ginger is more to his taste.

If you really want to make an impression then consider sending his gift to his workplace - that way his colleagues will be envious of his gift and the thoughtful gift giver behind the gift.

See - we aim to please!

Christmas Sneak Peek

As Christmas is only 9 weeks away, we thought we would give you a sneak peek of what we have on our website so you can start creating your wishlist and working on your budget.

We love our reindeer at Rainbow Designs and have three gorgeous gifts featuring a reindeer (or two) in some shape or form.  Our favourite is the Reindeer Delivery pack for $55 which features a cute reindeer plush toy along with candy canes and chocolate stars.

Rocky Road seems to be very popular at any time of year so we know our Rocky Road Christmas Tin adorned with (you guessed it) reindeer is going to be a bestseller at only $50.

And the It's Christmas tin at $45 featuring some very lovable reindeer and a delicious array of malt balls, festive coloured freckles, chocolate coated peanuts and everyone's favourite, the good 'ole Jaffa, will have you wishing you ordered one for yourself.

If you are planning a Christmas party, whether at work or at home, no Christmas table will be complete without the Rosey Apple Xmas Gift featuring 25 (yes 25!) Rosey Apple Lollipops.  And what's even sweeter is that it will only set you back $30.

And of course it's not Christmas without our Penguin Sweet Tooth Gift Box for $41, chock a block full of mixed lollies and chocolates.

The Be Merry gift pack features a very practical over-sized taupe mug, chocolate baubles, a gingerbread star and a fabric star ornament.  At $40, this gift is perfect for those "hard to buy for" work colleagues and family members.

All Christmas gifts are available to order from November 2013 and all of the prices mentioned above include delivery charges.

We hope you enjoyed our sneak peek and we look forward to receiving your Christmas orders.  We anticipate the little elves at Rainbow Designs are going to be very busy this year.

A Trip Down Memory Lane

Isn't it amazing how a box of candy can take us immediately back to our childhood.

A handful of lollies can sum up delicious memories with each bite.

Do you remember walking to the corner store to get your lollies, standing there hesitantly with your two 20 cent coins trying to work out which ones you wanted to buy.  One of those thanks...two of those...and one of those...and another of those...

Do you remember sitting in the cinema with your Maltesers and when the lights dimmed threw one or two on to the unsuspecting heads in the front row?

Do you remember walking home from the swimming pool with your snakes in hand, stretching them out and chewing their heads off before they had a chance to bite you?

Do you remember quizzing your family and friends on the name of the Fantales wrapper and making a game out of it?

Do you remember sucking all the white sugar off the jellybeans and then sucking them down until they were almost non-existent?

Do you remember trying to guess the colour of the clinker before you ate it?

Ahh those were the days!

What lolly conjures up sweet memories for you?