How to be more awesome this Christmas – guest post

If you’re looking for a gift that does good, look no further than this blog, brought to you by Nic of Good Bitches Baking. Nic Murray is trying to save the world with kindness, and cake, after getting pretty drunk one night and accidentally starting a charity. She’s based in Wellington and is a self-employed contractor who gets shit done. You’ll find more of Nic at @goodbitchesbake and @NicNicNZ Take it away, Nic!

@goodbitchesbake and @NicNicNZ

You are pretty awesome already because you’re playing Secret Santa, but there is a way to become more awesome. It’s easy too – you’re buying a present anyway, all you have to do is buy a certain type of present and you’re instantly more awesome (and the world is a little brighter).

Buying a gift that supports a charity is a gift that gives more. As well as your recipient getting a great present, the charity you supported gets some much needed funds and you get to feel twice as good because in effect you gave two gifts. More people win, and you are more awesome than you were before you bought that gift.

There are loads of ways to do this, but since I’m writing this blog I’m going to shamelessly spruik my charity – Good Bitches Baking. There are about 1000 GBs all over our lovely land who believe that kindness can save us all. We show kindness by baking delicious treats and giving them to people who are having a tough time. There are a lot of them – in shelters, refugees, hospital wards, support groups etc. We know that a moment of sweetness has amazing benefits, for everyone involved.

We need money to keep going, so we’ve made a freakishly beautiful cookbook called Bloody Good Baking. The recipes are tightly-held kitchen secrets and family heirlooms. And there’s a special price of $40 available for you until 3 December – even more winning!

Also available is a cool tea-towel ($15) featuring my highly sought-after ginger crunch recipe. Seriously, people who usually have good grace and decorum used to beg me for this recipe. This is perfect for anyone with a kitchen.

Buying these things will definitely make you more awesome! Do it here.

Of course, there are other charities that you can buy presents from. Check out some charities that you love and see if they are selling stuff. Or have a look at:

• Super cool bandanas from Canteen and help support teens with cancer and their siblings
• A knitting book from Neonatal Trust and help support prem babies and their parents

Or if you think your gift-recipient would like it, you could buy a gift that goes to someone else, like:

• A ride on toy for a kid at Ronald McDonald House
• A donation in their name to Women’s Refuge

And even if you can’t help out a charity, there are other ways to make your gift-giving dollars do more good, like buying your gift from

• Trade Aid and help craft makers in developing counties
• a company that treats their suppliers fairly like these Wellington Chocolate Factory chocolates or Flight coffee
• a store that supports lots of charities, like Moore Wilson’s.

You can even get customised Christmas cards made, with some of the profit going to a charity of your choice.

There are loads of ways to help make every dollar you spend do good. And crikey, we could all do with a bit more good right now, eh?

5 tips for playing #NZSecretSanta – guest post

Okay Santas, we’re getting down to the wire on sending deadlines. Good thing Meagan (ThisIsMeaganK) is here to give you some hints and tips on how to play and how to get your gift sorted.

We’re in full swing with #NZSecretSanta – everyone has been assigned the person they’re gifting to (if you’re not sure who yours is, make sure you check your dashboard, stat!) and some Santas have already shipped their presents off to the elves. Some people are easy to shop for because they join in the Q&A sessions, they tweet a lot and they’re active on the #NZSecretSanta hashtag; but what if you’re trying to find a great gift for someone who has a locked account, only tweets about work things or just retweets ratings of cute dogs?

THINGS TO HELP THEM RELAX

If someone tweets about work a lot, there’s a good chance they need a bit of R&R! Gifts to help someone relax are always a nice treat regardless – think body lotions, face masks, candles, foot scrubs … basically any of those nice “feel good” things.

EMERGENCY TEA BREAK KIT

The humble tea break is the perfect time to check Twitter, so why not get your giftee some things to make that tea break even more awesome? Suggestions include a nifty coffee cup, something to drink (I’m a fan of hot chocolate and coffee myself, but go for your hot beverage of choice), a tasty snack, and something to pass the time – a magazine, a crossword, Sudoku – think about what you like to do on your breaks!

CHECK OUT THE BAD SANTA GIFT STASH SPONSORS

The elves have been hard at work lining up some amazing sponsors, and they have some pretty cool things that might spark some ideas for that perfect gift. Find the full line up here.

GROW YOUR OWN

Plants can be a cool gift but they’re hard to send in the post (all that soil and whatnot). A kit to grow something cool of your own? Now there is a great idea! Grab a premade kit (these Peropon ones are my top pick, they’re super cute) or pick out some seeds and create your own.

FEELING CHARITABLE?

A donation to a rad charity is always a nice thought. CanTeen is the #NZSecretSanta charity this year, or you could support another one you think might appeal to your giftee. Whichever one you choose, make sure you send a little something in to the storehouse so that the elves can check off your gift – maybe a card to say what charity you’ve picked and what you’ve donated on their behalf?

If you’re still feeling stuck and need to give your #NZSecretSanta giftee a nudge to help you out, check out the NZSS Prodder – they can send an anonymous tweet on your behalf and do some sleuthing for you. Good luck Santas!

What CanTeen and #NZSecretSanta mean to me – guest post

We’re lucky enough to have another guest post from CanTeen – this time from Matt, a member of CanTeen. He’s here to share his story and what he thinks of #NZSecretSanta supporting CanTeen. Take it away Matt.

Me at the 2015 CanTeen Christmas party.

Kia ora folks, my name is Matt. I’m a member of CanTeen and I’ve been invited to share a little about ourselves and what this years #nzsecretsanta means to us.

You may be aware that the team at NZ Post have decided to make us the lucky recipients of this years BSGS (assuming there aren’t too many bad santas out there!) and some of you may have even been awesome enough to send us a gift yourselves! We reckon you should know therefore what we’re all about at CanTeen.

In case you’ve never heard of us CanTeen is an organisation which supports young people living with cancer. Thats people aged 13-24 and includes patients, siblings of patients, bereaved siblings and offspring (people whose parents have cancer). I’ve been a part of this fantastic family for over three and a half years now so I know much about what this all involves but lately I’ve been thinking a bit about what it’d be like on the outside looking in- what you guys see. And I think what is often seen is the ‘ABC’s of CanTeen’.

In my head these ABC’s are adolescents, bandannas and camps. Is this what comes to mind when you think of CanTeen? No doubt that’s all part of what we do and we can do them all well but to me there is a whole alphabet to the world of CanTeen (don’t worry, I won’t be so inane as to assign something to each letter!). What are some of these other things? Well, we of course offer important support in hospital, we run programmes that help our members deal with grief, relationships etc, we take member experiences and with those advocate to government, we offer counselling, peer support, leadership development and loads of fun times. Although that’s far from an exhaustive list, point is that supporting us helps support a tonne of really important work- and I can vouch for that importance because I’ve experienced it personally.

Me with my sister, Hayley.

And what of myself? I’m 22 and a bereaved sibling member. My sister Hayley was diagnosed with cancer just before the beginning of 2013 and together we experienced much of CanTeen’s support in hospital, through catch ups and at camp. In Hayley’s case cancer wasn’t to be overcome and she died in April 2014. Since then I’ve seen ever so much more of CanTeen. I’ve grieved a lot and grown a lot and they’ve been by my side the whole way.

There is a quote from our Queen which really resonates with me- “Grief is the price we pay for love.”

I had it hard for a while after Hayley died, I was very close to her and for months I’d cry myself to sleep. Since then I’ve learnt that the grief I experienced came from my love for her and I am convinced that the love I was able to share with her makes it all worth it. And that is what life’s all about- being kind to one another and sharing our love.

I must confess my prior ignorance to the #nzsecretsanta phenomenon but reading the blog and browsing the hashtag I see that in the community that you’ve all created. This idea is such a bright spark and it is amazing seeing the joy people have in giving and doing something kind for a stranger. In some cases that stranger may be people like me, members of CanTeen, and knowing that we have that support and backing from you means a great deal- more than the material benefit ever will (and you can bet we appreciate every bit of that we can get too!).

With that I’d like to give a huge thank you to everyone involved in NZ Secret Santa- the sponsors, the team at NZ Post and of course the thousands of you- you’ve already brought a few smiles to my face today and there is huge potential for many more!

Merry Christmas and thank you to all- you guys rock. xx