Mother's Day is on the 12th May and you may have already started to think what would make the perfect gift. We know lots of Mums are enjoying the benefits of a regular yoga practice. So why not support your Mum's passion and buy a gift to enhance her routine. It's always tough to find the right gift and buying something your Mum is already loving is a great start. We have teamed up with our favourite local yoga studio, Kanuka Yoga Space to create a Mother's Day gift guide and also a special offer. We have some beautiful gift ideas from some specialist yoga stores that ..read more

Easter is just around the corner, and I've teamed up with some amazing small businesses to bring you a fabulous Easter guide filled with gifts, activities and treats for your little bunnies. It's a bit of a long one so grab a cuppa and a hot cross bun and take a read. Make it Magical Stardust and Whimsy bring the magic back to Easter with a special letter from the Easter bunny letting you know where to find your hidden eggs. Beautifully crafted and illustrated the letters are individually written and are even completed with a bunny postage stamp to bring the ultimate magic for your little one ..read more

It's officially the month of love! Is that too cheesy - I'm sorry about that. One thing I do love about this month however is an opportunity to spread a little bit of happiness. Whether you call them random acts of kindness or small simple gifts to make people smile, it makes everyone feel good.  This month I have launched a range of small gifts to capture this spirit. They can be used for Valentines (14th Feb), Galentines (13th Feb - a day to celebrate your friendships) or just because you want to say "I'm thinking about you". Here's a guide to my range of sweet little gifts from Bi ..read more

With the new year upon us it's always a good time to reflect and figure out what worked and what needs to be left firmly in the past. Firstly, to bring you up to speed with my business, Big Little Gift Box. I finally took the plunge this year and set up Big Little Gift Box as a ‘proper’ business. I stopped referring to it as a hobby or fundraiser. That was really just me hiding that this thing is real just in case it didn’t work out. I found the mechanics of setting up a business quite simple, but making it work takes a huge amount of hard work and effort. It’s not been plain sailing, far from ..read more

With Christmas a few weeks away it’s time to share my favourite handmade gifts with you. I’m hoping you find some inspiration and enjoy these beautiful products made by small handmade businesses in New Zealand. The Papery Studio - Weekly Planner Something that I simply cannot live without is my weekly planner. I know its a bit old school having a physical diary, but it works so well for me. There's something about writing things down that helps me. This is the one I bought this year from The Papery Studio and there are lots of other gorgeous designs to choose from. You can shop here. Dasato W ..read more

With Christmas just round the corner and the shopping malls already advertising huge sales, as a small business you may be thinking “Should I do Black Friday?” Black Friday this year falls on 24th November and goes through to Cyber Monday however we can already see sales set to go for the whole of what is now known as Cyber Week. Whilst everyone loves a great deal there is a dark side to Black Friday. It is estimated this shopping event creates over 1 million tons of waste globally each year and in NZ only 28% of our waste is recycled. That’s a lot of Black Friday products going to landfi ..read more

This year I’ve had lots of orders from customers who are sending special gifts to friends. They were simply saying "I’m thinking about you" and "I care about you". There was no specific occasion or reason, just a gift out of the blue. How wonderful would that be? A lovely way to boost someone’s mood, confidence and absolutely make their day, week or month! Now of course not many people can afford to spend a fortune on these kind of gifts. But don't worry, something affordable yet beautiful will absolutely do the trick. Here are my top ideas that are the perfect way to say I care. I love handma ..read more

Like most small handmade business owners, I'm not a huge fan of being in front of the camera. But, I know it's important to see the face behind the biz so I have embraced my fear and here I am. This picture is me, Katie, at Catalina Bay Market with Big Little Gift Box. I'm a Mum to two amazing kids, and we live in Auckland with my wonderful and long-suffering hubby. I left the corporate world about to look for something more meaningful and aligned with my purpose. I started Big Little Gift Box as a hobby, which has grown into a small business. I love to sew, love handmade products, and also lo ..read more

I'm excited to introduce to you a co-collaborator and now friend of mine, Marina Kacic-Bartulovic who is the founder and owner of Illyrian Gems. We have just started to stock Marina's beautiful earrings in our new heavenly gift box so I thought it would be great to hear a little more from her in a guest blog post. Hello everyone and thank you Katie for inviting me to write a guest post, I feel so honored. My name is Marina and I’m the person behind my brand Illyrian Gems which I created to showcase the beautiful traditional jewelry coming from the heart of the Mediterranean. All of the earrin ..read more

Let’s face it, owning a small business can be lonely. It’s easy to get lost in your own thoughts and self talk and start to doubt yourself. This is especially the case if you are working from home and don’t have co-workers to bounce off. Add to that the other responsibilities, chores and tasks that need to be done and you can easily find yourself talking to the microwave for inspiration. The good news is that if you own a small business, you aren’t alone. There are over 546,000 small businesses in New Zealand with 20 or fewer employees. Many of these are single director businesses, sole trader ..read more