A year to remember

Dear 2020,
What was that about? We started off well – booking holidays, arranging a weekend away with the girls, looking forward to a family wedding in 2021 and generally excited for what was to come… And we ended it, well, where we have been for the last 9 months, at home!

Don’t get me wrong, we know we’ve been incredibly lucky. Our business being online meant we shelved our wholesale plans but otherwise carried on as before – but with an extra 4 yr old team member who spent most of her day buying movies on Amazon Prime!

There have been plenty of personal highlights for us, and the inevitable lows, but as a business we wanted to record our achievements – because when you are in the thick of it you don’t see the bigger picture.

A Year of Dates – in numbers

• 1 TV appearance for our date box.
  We were featured on This Morning back in February as part of the Ultimate Valentines Gift Guide.
• 300 squ ft to 3,500…
  We made the move to our new office 10 days before lockdown in March! Never has a move been so well timed…
• 27 new products and variations
  Wow – we had to re-count that a few times! Within this was the Year of Strength our self care and recovery box that’s really resonated this year. 10% of sales from this box go to NHS Together Charities. In 2020 we raised almost £2,000 for our charity partners.
• 1 new business
  In June we purchased Bride to be Boxes, not something we’ve shouted about given the situation with weddings, but trust us you’ll hear a lot more about it soon!
• 2 Gift of the Year Awards (Highly Commended)
  At the beginning of February we took Phoebe to her first award ceremony as part of Spring Fair. It was so great to introduce her to what we do – who knew then quite how much time she’d spend in the business!
• 2,000+ boxes shipped to USA
  In October we shipped 1,000 boxes to Los Angeles (lucky boxes!) to help speed up Etsy deliveries… Just before Christmas we sent another 1,200 as they’d sold out! And we couldn’t have done it without…
• 3 team members
  We started the year just the two of us in the office… And we ended it with Sarah, Chelsea and Becci making our lives run so much smoother! We’re so grateful to have such a dedicated team behind us, it was such a big leap taking people on but we’d really not have survived December without them. Shout out to our ‘stuffers’ too, a growing gang of people building the sets at home.
• 20,000 orders on Not on the High Street
  In December 2019 we celebrated 12,000 orders… Mind. Blown.
• 2 National magazine features
  We (ok Kate) love to chat… So to be interviewed is a dream come true. Our story has been told in Closer and Chat magazines this year.
• 8 corporate orders
  In a year where we all worked from home letting your staff know how appreciated they are was never more important. This area is something we’re keen to expand on in 2021. These orders are all bespoke but check out our new Corporate page for more examples and get in touch!

Hopefully distance will make the heart grow stronger and we’ll look back at the memories made in 2020 more fondly once we’re on the other side.

Happy new year to all of you, lets make it one to remember for the right reasons x