New World’s Little Shop was an instant hit in New Zealand in 2013 with kids of all ages flocking to collect mini grocery items encouraging play, swapping, and learning across the country. The promotion was so successful that New World continued to run a similar mini-grocery collectable promotion for the next two years. With this sort of success the obvious question is ‘What are you going to do next?’
It’s time for the reveal. The latest innovation in supermarket mini-collectables are now available at New World stores around the country. New World’s Little Garden new seedling kit collectables are a ground-breaking initiative aimed at teaching Kiwi kids (and adults) about how plants grow, where food comes from, and how to eat healthily.
To celebrate spring, New World supermarkets will be giving away Little Garden seedling kits. Shoppers will receive one free with every $40 spent in-store. Each kit contains everything that’s needed to grow one type of vegetable or herb: seeds, soil and a pot. There are 24 seedling kits to collect, including 18 veges and 6 herbs, plus shopper will get the chance to buy a limited edition collector tray to keep them all in one place.
And helping to get all those Little Gardens growing is acclaimed landscape gardener, Xanthe White, who says the thought of many families discovering the joy of growing is “absolutely wonderful”.
“For those who haven’t gardened before, especially young kids, this is a fun and easy way for them to get started,” White says. “Even if you don’t have a backyard and can only grow in pots, now is the perfect time of year to get growing, and it’s amazing what you can grow even on a small balcony.”
“For experienced gardeners, meanwhile, Little Garden will be an amazing opportunity to have a play with some plants they mightn’t have grown before. Like a lucky dip for your vege patch!”
White says as well as being passionate about raising real seeds, she loves planting mental ones too: “The thing I love about Little Garden is that it’ll get people trying something new and give them the confidence to keep growing. The positive effects of New World doing that may well last a lifetime.”
Little Garden’s other major positive is that it is effectively zero-waste, as Stephanie Pyne, New World’s Retail Marketing Manager and architect of Little Garden, explains. “All the materials are either compostable or recyclable. The pots are made of wood pulp and peat, the soil tablets are coconut husk, and the collector trays and packaging are recyclable. We’re really looking forward to people of all ages participating in the promotion and growing their own Little Garden.”
In addition to giveaways in-store, over 1,000 Little Garden kits with specially designed lesson guides are being made available to primary and intermediate classrooms around the country.