One Mahurangi – How many shopping days until Christmas?

As I was writing this, I looked up how many shopping days there were and it said 48! My first thought was that given how quickly this year has gone by, Christmas will be here before we know it. I realise that people hear One Mahurangi promoting Buy Local all the time, but imagine how easy your Christmas shopping would be if each of your presents to family or friends was a gift voucher from one of our local businesses.

This could be the easiest Christmas shopping you have ever done and to make it fun on Christmas Day, put them in different sized boxes so no one knows what they are getting.

Vouchers for things like haircuts, a meal out, flowers, coffees, a car service, car valet, fuel, clothing, a house clean … the list is endless. Imagine how happy any busy professional would be if they received a gift of a deep clean for their house. It’s not too hard to think outside the box when given the chance to imagine what a good gift could really look like.

The really nice thing about buying local is that it keeps all the money that may have been spent either down in Auckland City or online in our town where it can be recycled and used to keep someone employed or on advertising within the town. Perhaps it might be the money that is used in sponsoring your sports club or school.

It has been great to see some of our local shops starting to open on the Sundays leading up to Christmas and the more that do it, the more attractive it becomes for people to come in on a Sunday to shop and have a meal out. We will be having two late shopping nights in the build up to Christmas and these will be December 15 and 22, where we are encouraging as many retailers as possible to stay open until 7pm on those Thursday nights. Spread the word among your networks and we could have a lot of people coming into town to Christmas shop.

Don’t forget that the Warkworth Santa Parade will on Sunday, December 4, starting at 11am in Baxter Street, going through town, and finishing on the wharf with prizegiving.

I look forward to seeing lots of community, school and business floats in the parade. Contact me for a registration form. murray@onemahurangi.co.nz or visit https://onemahurangi.co.nz/santa-parade-2022/ for more information including the event route and timetable.

We will also be taking Santa and Mrs Claus out in the Sleigh around Warkworth streets on December 5 and Snells Beach on December 7, so keep an ear out for those bells!

Let’s support our own people and businesses this Christmas by shopping local and keeping the local business community stronger together.