Gift Baskets Done Differently

Why We Love Local?

We are two Wellingtonians, Timo and Valerie, who love exploring all that the Wellington city has to offer (although we recently moved to Kāpiti). Supporting local businesses has been important to us since starting as a gift basket delivery service – initially under the name Kāpiti Goodies – in 2018. We saw the love and effort small local businesses put into their products, and how they genuinely care for their customers.

At the most basic level, when you buy local more money stays in the community. Since local businesses are based in Wellington, they are more invested in the future of their community and the people in it. For example, did you know that Fix & Fogg peanut butter is an accredited Living Wage employer? Small local businesses are the largest employer in New Zealand, 97% of enterprises have fewer than 20 employees. Choosing to support small businesses allows you to help realise many other Kiwis’ dreams! 

Sustainability

Whenever possible, our gift baskets are personally delivered by us using electric cars which are powered by 100% renewable energy (thanks SolarCity, Ecotricity, and ChargeNet). In addition to food items, we also strive to source as much material as possible from local suppliers, e.g., the wooden gift boxes are handmade out of recycled pallet wood by The Shed Project in Paraparaumu.

Who is behind We Love Local gift baskets?

We’re a husband and wife team from Waikanae:

• Valerie Reitnauer took a break from her career in hotel management after having a child in 2015. During this break, the idea of Kāpiti Goodies was born, and she started to reach out to small local food producers who were keen to get on board. Valerie is also a qualified personal trainer specialising in training programmes for new mothers.
• Timo Reitnauer has worked in internet businesses overseas and locally. After spending the last ten years building domain registrar iwantmyname, he is eager to apply his knowledge to a local company making a difference to small businesses and people in Kāpiti.

We believe in the power of our community and want to positively impact the Greater Wellington Region by helping to grow a sustainable gifting ecosystem.

More recently, we have both made efforts to be more conscious about our consumption practices – to us this means buying local goods whenever they are available. Changing our own habits has showed us that buying local takes more time and effort, you can’t simply go to one big store or mall and find everything you need to create the perfect gift. We want to make buying local easier by curating interesting and unique gift boxes, and sending them to you or whoever you want to give one to.