Our story
Chuffed is on a mission to change gift giving culture in New Zealand. To rid New Zealand of material gifts and thoughtless gift cards and bring about a change where the best unique gifts are about connecting people, places and businesses and fostering lifetime memories and life changing experiences.
Gift giving should be inspirational and unforgettable both for the gift giver and receiver…. and that’s our mission.
Chuffed is all about regenerating New Zealand tourism and began as a result of Covid, redundancies and potential business failure - read more about our story below.
A Chuffed Gift starts with opening a unique gift tube and revealing the Experience Booklet designed to wow!
How the journey began
Chuffed became something during Level 4 Lockdown. James Fitzgerald – co-founder of the multi-award-winning Rotorua Canopy Tours had a problem. The borders were closed, business had dried up and the prospect of surviving on a market of only New Zealanders was the future. How could we get more New Zealanders travelling into the regions and helping the recovery of our tourism sector?
The answer was obvious – what if people gifted travel experiences rather than material goods? And if the travel experiences had a multi choice aspect to them then the recipient could choose what and where inspired them the most. And the gift buyer could never fail……
Such a vision required help
And two incredibly talented but Covid displaced tourism marketing staff jumped at the chance to be part of this unique gift concept.
Alex Howard hired a motorhome and travelled the North Island pulling partners in to the vision, while Melissa Heath tirelessly worked to create the online and visual presence of Chuffed Gifts.
Alex with his motorhome ready to travel the North Island and share the Chuffed vision and our unique gift concept with all our partners.
And 6 months on, after reimagining every aspect of the gift giving process for both buyer and recipient – with a network of some of the most beautiful, adventurous and life changing experiences, Chuffed is now making its mark on changing the way Kiwi’s give gifts to each other.
Find out how we're regenerating tourism through gift giving >
Melissa with our awesome Chuffed tube and experience booklet. Being able to gift something physical while gifting an experience is part of the way we're changing unique gift giving in New Zealand - we all love opening a pressie!
Our Partners
Our partners are integral to the success of Chuffed and we searched far and wide to find the most unique and fitting experiences to help deliver the Chuffed vision. From horse treks in Raglan, to blokarting in Muriwai, to boat sailing in Taupo, to therapies on the Coromandel, our aim is to be integral in the success of our partner businesses. If you have an amazing experience and think you could be a good fit with Chuffed, email hello@chuffedgifts.co.nz.
We've partnered with some of the best experience providers in New Zealand to help deliver our Chuffed vision for unique gifts, just like Off Road NZ in Rotorua. The Off Road experience is available in Try Something New - Discover, Try Something New - Explore and Try Something New - Inspire.