Kapiti Coast business brings Christmas cheer to children

A small business based in Te Horo, Kapiti Coast has developed an innovative and creative way of bringing some Christmas cheer to children across the country via ecommerce.

With the festive season fast approaching, and the country’s businesses still battling severe Covid restrictions, it seems unlikely children will be able to do the usual Christmas activities they’ve been used to in the past – such as Christmas parades and meeting Santa.

As owners of a small but growing immersive events business, OnTrack Events, sisters Emma Oliver and Sarah Ferguson could do little as their plans for events across New Zealand and Australia were scarpered by an ever-changing landscape of restrictions.

They were planning to run five events in 2020 and a further six in 2021 but that all came to a screeching halt thanks to the pandemic. During the first lockdown in 2020, knowing that their own business was not going to be able to operate, they set about donating their time to creating systems of support for other local businesses, setting up online markets such as the Kapiti Online Market and other social media groups that gave small business owners a way to promote and sell their products and services.  

This year they knew they needed a solid plan to pull their business through and 2021 has definitely provided more challenges than they anticipated.

Famous for bringing the North Pole Express immersive events to Auckland and Kapiti last year, the pair decided to create a sister business to their successful North Pole Express® Christmas experience, called the new North Pole Mail™ – personalised letters from Santa. The new business has just launched, and the sisters are optimistic for the future.

A personalised surprise

North Pole Mail™ enables parents, grandparents, caregivers and others the opportunity to purchase a personalised letter ($12.50) from Santa which will be posted directly to the child identified. Personalisation includes things such as name, age, friends, family, what the child is hoping to receive or has asked Santa Claus for, as well as any special achievements or milestones they have reached.  Each letter is created in New Zealand and sealed with Santa’s monogrammed wax seal. Upon opening children will find their personalised letter, wrapped in a beautiful red and gold-foiled band.

Alongside an official North Pole Mail letter the duo also came up with additional items for purchase if people desire such as a gold plated and year dated Nice List pin ($7.50), or Santa’s Magic Key ($7.50) – so Santa can deliver presents to children’s homes, even if they don’t have a chimney!

“North Pole Mail just made sense to us,” says Sarah. “Our business has always been festive and family friendly. We needed to create a product or service that we could easily deliver to people in their own homes, even in restrictions. It also had to be something that would give people a bit of joy, particularly children who have had a really tough time during lockdowns.”

The sisters understand the challenges of trying to run a business and a family at both current levels of restrictions, Emma is currently in Auckland while Sarah is based in Kapiti.

“Emma obviously has it a lot harder than I do and we’ve run into a few logistical problems with couriers and post delays. But for the most part we are just doing what everyone else is and trying to keep positive, move forward, and celebrate the small wins,” says Sarah.