GIVING MEMORIES

James Fitzgerald is one of the founders of Chuffed, a business that allows people to gift experiences.

James Fitzgerald describes the founding of Chuffed as “an act of desperation” born out of the COVID-19 lockdowns.

“When you have your back against the wall, you think differently to how you normally would when you're sitting in a comfortable, ‘everything's cruising along nicely’ position,” he says. “It seemed like a good idea, so we gave it a crack to see if it worked.”

The idea was great. Chuffed allows people to gift experiences rather than material objects. The company caters for personal occasions like birthdays, Christmas and weddings as well as businesses wanting to gift their staff or clients something more meaningful than the standard bottle of wine.

“Handing something over and receiving a box is actually a really important part of gift-giving as part of the showing of love or appreciation. The handing over is the gift-giving moment. There's so much value tied up,” he explains. “We have created physical gifts. People receive a box, open it up and it reveals that they've been given an experience. We tried to stick with what traditionally is the awesome thing about giving gifts, but make it so the gift is actually a reallife experience.”

Receivers have a range of experience options to choose from. Everything from adventurous escapes, relaxing getaways, thrill-seeking activities or wining and dining. Each package offers over 80 local experiences to select from.

This is a big part of Chuffed that James is, well, chuffed about. Connecting their local partners with people they otherwise may not have reached.

“A lot of them are small family businesses. What we've been able to do through gift giving, is connect people that might have otherwise received a bread board or a bottle of champagne with the small Kiwi businesses around the country,” he explains. “Suddenly, these small family businesses and in Raglan, Tauranga, Taup ō or wherever have Aucklanders turning up on the doors to do their experience. Chuffed’s had a real meaningful effect on their businesses and their families.”

“We get a real thrill when the invoices come in from the partners and the whole cycle of the gift has happened,” he smiles.

It sounds like Chuffed may be the only company out there that actually enjoys paying out money.

“Yeah,” he laughs. “It is a good feeling because you know it’s been working. It’s great!”

CHUFFEDGIFTS.CO.NZ