Amaze is Ponsonby's one stop gift shop. You can literally walk in there and walk out five minutes…read morelater with a funny and funky gift, complete with quirky card and gift wrapping. Amaze is that good. With numerous stands housing a seemingly infinite number of gift cards, regardless of whether you're after one for your best friend, mother, uncle, grandmother, for a friend's wedding, an anniversary, bereavement or baby shower - there are dozens of cards for every occasion to pick from. And they're all quirky and perfect in their own ways. I love just perusing the cards, let alone the rest of the store! Though, that's not to say the rest of Amaze isn't equally as AMAZING... It's the perfect place to find funny hens night-type products with candy G-strings, penis straws, and naughty dice stocked by the dozen. Amaze also stocks an array of journals and diaries, and as a real stationary lover I find I could spend hours just ogling over these products, let alone the choices of wrapping paper they also possess! Talk about overwhelming! It's like a dream come true in this store, sad as that may sound!

'Amaze' is just that. A shop that offers every type of card you would ever need - plus quirky gift…read moreideas. There are a few card stands outside to tempt you or you can go in-store and be spoilt for choice. I have purchased many birthday cards from 'Amaze', unique wrapping paper and gift fillers. Service is friendly & always sincere. Nothing can ever replace a fantastic card, from $5-$8 to say it with words! I love cards - writing in them, gifting them & especially receiving one too! Yelp, yelp, yelp!

I really enjoy popping in from time to time, and checking what is new on the shelves at this cute…read moregift store on Mokoia Rd. Can be overlooked as the store, is located between takeaway food stores, and a skate clothing outlet shop. Venture in to find an amazing range of choice. All the gifts have an artistic flair to them I believe which is amazing. I arrived not knowing what I wanted to buy, and found two presents within minutes- that is not hard to do here. Walk out the back of the store and there is an outside section that sells outdoor/garden gifts- a favorite area of mine. A creative option of gifts here before the store across the way.

Art of Gifts is a gorgeous collection of art and gifts... predictably. There's so much to feast…read moreyour eyes on it's a bit much to take in in one go. What caught my attention first was the stash of wallets on the shelf to the left of the entrance. They were leather and came in all sorts of colours and styles and patterns. For what they were they were quite affordable. I was hooked by a $19 coin purse! Wondering around the rest of the store you see lots of home décor stuff and quite a bit of Kiwiana. The best is outside the back. It's quite easy to think you're done after doing a quick circuit inside but if you potter up into the outdoors you will see a beautiful garden with great little things to make your own garden look just as beautiful. I was mentally taking note of everything I wanted so I could come back on payday and spend up large.

What a way to run a business!!!! Hoping to buy some supplies for my upcoming art class I rang your…read morenumber several times but all I got was the answerphone, so in the end I left a message asking for the location of the shop. The day later there was a message left on my phone, so on Sat. I made the trip from Pukekohe to Howick only to find the shop closed and no explanation why ,even though the web site still said they were open. The girls in the shop next door said that several people had been enquiring but they had no idea why the shop was closed. Please keep your web-site updated and leave a message on the door. I shan't be making that trip for nothing anytime soon. Joan A

Paints, brushes and canvases galore, Art supplies is filled from top to bottom in the best array of…read morecolours you've seen since that HP Inkjet Printer advert. I'm not much of an artist, but I know good paint when I see it. They also have some great gifts, including face paint, glass and mug painting kits to colour the hours away. If they don't have what you're looking for, then they'll order it for you. Their website is really useful too if you want to take a look at what they have before visiting. It also has some artist tips for those determined to master the talent. Tucked away in the Meadowlands Shopping Centre, you may be travelling out of your way to get there (unless you're a local), but I doubt it will disappoint.

What a wonderful store, such a great range of product. If you needed to buy a gift for a female…read morethen this would be a good bet. I often come through Newmarket and admire their window displays which are lots of fun, but inside, there is so much to take in. You cannot go by what you see on their website, you have to go into the store. There is stuff in here you would not need until you saw it, such as an owl ornament and bright coloured candelabras. When Mothers Day is upon you, come here. You could pretty much by anything in here, the store buyers have made the gift selection edit, all you need to do is pay for it. To make things easy, they do have gift wrap and cards too so it is a one stop, Mother pleasing gift shop. Either that or good for female friends.

When it's my mum's birthday, this is the first place I'm going to come to look for a gift to send…read moreback to the UK for her. The store specialises in inoffensive jewellery, nice smelling soaps and body lotions--Mum Mecca. They've got a great selection of Kiwiana- so perfect for gifts to send abroad- and they have a really good selection of jewellery from popular NZ brands such as Kagi and Karen Walker, so it's nice to know that what you're buying is locally sourced. It's not a place you're going to find the most fashion-forward or out of the ordinary gifts, but what they do sell is of great quality and reasonably priced. The store is clearly aware that it is a "gift" shop and that they are selling things for people to buy for other people. The staff are attentive and clearly know what they're talking about, which I imagine must be a godsend to men looking to buy gifts for the women in their life!

I needed to buy some presents before my recent trip to visit a nephew and niece under the age of 14…read moreand Smiggle was the answer to my calls for help. This store has a crazy cool amount of options to choose from for the young and hip kid. I loved that there was a different style and colour for every pencil case, folder, writing book, journal, and money safe. It did make trying to decide on a design quite hard at first, but with help from the really friendly and chatty sales assistant, I was on my way with a bag of Smiggle gear for the kids in less than 15 minutes. Smiggle has everything the kid would need for school. For example bags, wallets, lunch boxes, drink bottles, funky slap bands to swap with friends, writing tools. It's completely endless, and mind boggling what they have come up with, it's like they have entered the child's mind and asked- what would you want? Always a fun time shopping here, I get to be a kid for a bit.

It seems Japanese shops such as this one are growing like mushrooms!…read moreI would rank this one as my second favourite, the kitchen section in particular has lots of pretty soup bowls and pans and steamers. As mentioned in my fellow Yelpers's reviews there are also the stationery and bathroom sections and lots of random cute thingies no one needs... But oh they' so cheap so why not?!

This place is pretty awesome, hidden in an obscure location, you almost miss it. Thankfully for the…read morevibrant orange and black sign to mark the narrow entrance you begin your decent into the lower depths of Queen Street to find yourself in a rather large store that I could not accurately categorise. This is because there is a lot of stuff here, stationary, the gift bags and paper section is great, Hello Kitty and Snoopy are well represented here. There are aisles of all kinds of things for your home, a massive chopstick section, Hello Kitty cling wrap, food bags and plasters. Interestingly a big range of nappies and other baby things. It is fun just to look around, there are some odd things here too, especially in the bathroom and cleaning sections. Good fun I say, you'll walk away with things you didn't need but make are entertaining none the less. (Hello Kitty keeps my food fresh now).

This is such a cool store, one of the go to options for when I have to buy gifts because everything…read morethere is unique. Even though it is New Zealand designed and made, there is not too much kiwiana, that makes for good gifts for tourists or people you know who are overseas but much of the store is just products created by amazingly talented people of whom Texan Art Schools bring collectively into their store. You'll find textiles, glass, ceramics, jewelry and prints here as well as what I think must be feijoa candles because the store smells of feijoas. A while back I purchased some amazing glass vases and a dish for myself and had wanted to go back and get another colour of one of the vases. It was gone. So lesson here is that you need to just buy it at the time. Stock is often limited.

Candlewick Village sells all kinds of handcrafted soy candles in cute little containers. There are…read moreunscented candles, but the scented ones are the real treat, with some scents that are less mainstream. Have the days of candles as the ultimate generic gift gone by the wayside? Well, if they have, I think they should be revived. This is the perfect stall to buy something as a emergency gift to tuck away the next time you're caught short for a pressie. The travel candles in tins are particularly tasteful. Sharing the stall with Candlewick is a lady who sells those funky soaps that look like cake, fudge, slice, and other sweet things you might not normally shower with. The stall is always charmingly decorated with tiered cake stands and the soaps are beautifully presented on pretty porcelain plates.