It has been a hectic month in the world of Christmas Hampers and finally the pace has slowed sufficiently that there is time to reflect and write a short blog post to thank all of our loyal customers for choosing Virginia Hayward to send their festive wishes.

We’ve learnt a vast amount this season, thanks to the frank feedback that we’ve been getting from our customers which is now being read by visitors to the site, both old and new. Where we’ve made mistakes, we will endeavour to learn from them and make the changes that mean that they won’t happen again and equally, where we’re getting things right we’ll continue as we were and hope to improve if we can. There have been many challenges this year, not least the weather, but I sincerely hope that the (on occasion almost superhuman) efforts of our staff have paid off and that each and every hamper that we’ve been asked to deliver this Christmas has arrived safely.

It remains only to wish a very Merry Christmas to one and all from all at Virginia Hayward. We hope to see you again in 2011, for Christmas and all occasions in between.

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We’ve always taken in pride in the fact that we listen to our customers and try to act on your suggestions and feedback to improve both our Christmas hampers and our service.

We know that people are sometimes don’t have the time to comment unless their experience has been one of two extremes, so we’ve gone a step further and made it even easier for our customers to provide their views on every part of the order process, from the first click onto the website, to the parcel arriving in their hands and beyond.

We’ve teamed up with independent review specialists, Feefo, who contact all of our customers with a 15 second survey, where customers can express their views on both our service and our products. We’re not allowed to edit the feedback in any way, other than to respond to points made by customers, so we really are taking on board the points raised by customers, both good and bad to see if we can improve our Christmas hampers and our service.

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It’s little more than a month until Christmas and we’re really getting into the festive spirit here at Virginia Hayward. So much so in fact that our Product Development team have launched another 30 gifts to give you more choice than ever at Christmas time.

We haven’t restricted ourselves to Christmas hampers though; there’s the Winter Teddy, in his knitted woollen jumper, or 5 new gifts that we’ll personalise with your gift message directly onto the packaging. New to the range are a trio of ‘Edinburgh Preserves’ gifts, all packaged in a smart black gift boxes delivered directly to your recipient.

If you’re looking for something home grown, then you might like the ‘Union Jack Bag’ – a tote bag filled with quintessentially British produce and with a Union Jack emblazoned on the front of the bag itself. Vodka afficianados will recognise Chase Vodka as the English potato Vodka which recently won the San Francisco World Spirits competition. For the rest of us though, it’s simply a stunning looking Vodka which tastes even better than it looks!

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Encouraged by the success of recently launched sister site YourHamper.com and the interest in our Personalised Sweet Cube, we’ve expanded our range of personalised hampers and gifts to include 4 new hampers and gifts, each of which can be individually personalised with your special message.

Simply enter your gift message as normal when prompted during the checkout and we’ll print that message directly onto the box lid for our white gift boxes or wooden hampers boxes, or we’ll create an individual leather tag for the hampers.

There’s a personalised gift to suit every budget, from the Personalised Sweet Cube at £22.50, through to the Personalised ‘Turtle Dove’ Christmas Gift Box at £85. You can see the full range here: Personalised Christmas Hampers, or feel free to browse our range of Christmas hampers.

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We’re asking food lovers to help us, as we’ve created a fantastic gift box, but can’t decide what to call it!

We have had enormous fun designing what we feel is one of the tastiest treats on our website this Christmas, but we’re stuck on the name and have decided to take your advice to come up with an original name that does this colourful gift justice.

Of course, we’re planning to say thank you in the best way that we can think of; we’ll be choosing the most original name before Christmas and will send the lucky (or most inspired!) winner one of these gifts in plenty of time to put it under their own tree.

It’s easy to enter, simply send us an email at sales@virginiahayward.com, using ‘Name the Hamper Competition’ in the subject line, along with your name, address, telephone number and proposed hamper name. Alternatively, complete your details on our ‘Contact Form‘ or send a letter to Virginia Hayward Ltd, Blynfield, Stour Row, Shaftesbury, Dorset, SP7 0QW.

Can’t possibly wait? Want to send a hamper to a friends, family or colleagues? Have a look at our full range of Virginia Hayward Hampers, or the nameless gift box itself – we’re certain that you will find the perfect gift!

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As we approach Christmas, we’re only a few weeks away from distributing our 2010 brochure. In keeping with tradition, it’s laden with all sorts of goodies for Christmas, from the traditional Christmas hampers that you know and love, through to personalised sweetie gifts, picnic gifts, fresh foods and much more in between.

So, whilst thinking of the forthcoming brochure, my mind inevitably began to wander back to brochures of the past and came to rest on the first brochure ever produced by Virginia Hayward, for Christmas 1984.

Set on a plain green background, the cover features two angelic girls rifling through a Christmas hamper at the foot of a Christmas tree in front of a roaring fire. The cover boasts ‘Virginia Hayward’s Selection of Traditional British Good Taste’ and could hardly be more Christmassy!

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As I write this post, it’s little more than 73 days and 16 hours to go until Christmas, so we’ve decided to fully embrace the festive season and get the website into its winter clothes. Just last week visitors will have seen a warm, autumn feel to the site, but today it’s on with the traditional red, white and green.

This year we’re featuring the Santa and sleigh design which you can also find on the Virginia Hayward Christmas Hampers brochure. You can’t help but notice that Santa’s sleigh is in fact made from one of our traditional hamper baskets. In the brochure you can find many more designs like this, like the Christmas angel, designed around a triangular wedge of Stilton to promote our Fresh Foods category, or the Champagne bottle bursting with retro sweets for the ‘Sweet and Sparkling’ category.

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Finding a cost effective hamper for Christmas can sometimes be a challenge; browsing around the Virginia Hayward website you’ll find hampers all the way up to £500, which can be a little bit daunting if you’re trying to say Merry Christmas to friends, family or colleagues with one eye on the cost.

However, we’ve given the problem some considerable thought and have come up with the ‘Christmas Box‘, which is a little taste of Christmas, perfect to pass on your season’s greetings without breaking the bank. The charming gift box is a delightful attempt to prove that sometimes good things come in small packages.

We’ve chosen miniature versions of some of our favourite Christmas products. The Walkers Pure Butter Shortbread Fingers are mouthwatering whatever the size, as are the Haribo Jelly Beans. Neatly presented in a ribboned green gift box, this is an excellent choice of Christmas Hamper.

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Have you checked out our new sister website at yourhamper.com? As you may have gathered from previous posts, this new service allows you customise and personalise your hamper with a design and image. Well, we have been open for just over a week now, and have been personalising all manner of gifts. Birthdays and Congratulations have been the most popular occasions, but a lot of people have been making use of the photo upload facility to really personalise the gift.

Back here at Virginiahayward.com we have a full selection of Christmas hampers and gifts as well as our all year round range (if you do not quite fancy mince pies this early in the year!). Not surprisingly, what with a large number of students starting university, we have seen a large increase in the number of sweet gifts such as our Tear and Share hamper. A great way to make friends in those first few weeks!

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Yourhamper.com launches today, specialising in the production and delivery of personalised gift hampers, whilst offering an unprecedented choice of product selection and packaging.

With 26 years of hamper packing experience and armed with feedback from their loyal and extensive customer base, hamper producer Virginia Hayward Ltd has provided a website that allows customers to choose their own packaging and contents. However, not satisfied that a unique gift for every customer had taken the development far enough, the company has marched ahead of the competition with a bright and bold website allowing the customer to personalise the packaging with their own photos, select from over 100 designs and add a message. Director Sam Hayward described the new website as “a similar concept to Moonpig, but with something delicious to eat once you’ve lifted the lid on your personalised hamper!”

Yourhamper.com allows customers to navigate quickly and easily through the website, choosing whether the gift is presented in a classic style hamper with personalised leather tag, a personalised white gift box, or a contemporary wooden box with personalised lid.

After the size and design of the hamper has been chosen, the content can then be selected to suit the occasion and budget. Customers can save time by choosing from the carefully selected ‘quick-fill’ options, or immerse themselves in the choice of individual components. Should they wish, customers can also purchase the personalised packaging empty to fill with homemade goodies.

Hayward says: “Hampers are an excellent gift at Christmas, but we wanted to allow our customers to make their gifts even more personal and to open up the opportunities for more occasion driven gifting throughout the year.  The yourhamper.com offering is all about choice; we want our customers to put their own ideas into their gift by choosing or uploading a design and selecting what is packed into the hampers for their friends, families or colleagues.”

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