Raakai

Mōrena e hika mā,

Sadly, My husband and daughter have both been hit by covid-19 and therefore our whānau have been in isolation since last week. Unfortunately, this does mean there will be a delay on all pending orders being shipped until everyone in our whare can produce a negative RAT test at the conclusion of our isolation period. I apologise for any inconvenience or upset that this may cause and trust that you understand the need for these measures to be put into place - doing our part to ensure public safety is of paramount importance to us at this time.

Please feel free to email us at [email protected] if you have any questions or concerns regarding your order.

Nāku iti nei,

Nā Pareanna ♥️

As promised, e hoa mā - Our first sale for 2022 is live from now (6pm) until Midnight next Monday! 🤩

Buy 1 item, Get your 2nd 1/2 price!

Valid for the next 22 orders placed - discount will be applied automatically at checkout.

Kia kakama, e hika mā! Be Quick!

Head over to RAAKAI.COM NOW to place your order.

Ngā mihi o te tau hōu ki a koutou!

My whānau and I are back from our hararei and I’m ready to get stuck back into mahi - starting with packing up all the orders that have come through since Kirihimete to be sent out on the courier this week.

We hope everyone is enjoying the festive season. Please keep safe on the roads and in the water if you are travelling or swimming this raumati ☀️

First sale of 2022 coming up this Friday - set a reminder so you don’t miss out 😜

Ko ngā hua nui o te tau hōu pākeha ki a koutou katoa 🎆

Nei rā te mihi aroha ki te whānau o RAAKAI

It is with great disappointment that I have to announce that there are some delays in our product shipment due to port congestion.

For those of you who have made pre orders, these will now be shipped by 15th December.

We apologise for any disappointment or inconvenience this causes, e te whānau.

Nā Kōwheori-19 te hē 😑

If you have any queries, please contact us directly via email at [email protected].

Today is the last day of our Anniversary Sale! Get in quick to get some awesome deals!

Ipu Tiakarete Wera - Hot Chocolate Canister - $6.99

Head over to our website to get 30% off selected items! 30% will be taken off at the checkout!

Mōwhiti Ārai Rā - Sunglasses - $17.50

Check out our toa at https://raakai.com/collections/all to find 30% off selected items!

Kohinga Tote me Pepa - Salt and Pepper Set - $28.00

We’re so excited to be sharing our anniversary with our Raakai whānau! Head over to https://raakai.com/collections/all to get 30% off selected items!

Ipu Mairō - Milo Canister - $6.99

Our 30% off Anniversary sale is on for a limited time - go to our online store https://raakai.com/collections/all

Kohinga Kīnihi - Kitchen Set - $84.00

Help us to celebrate our third wedding anniversary!

Mōwhiti Ārai Kikorangi - Bluelight Glasses $27.99

Nau mai, haere mai kia whakanui te huritau tuatoru o tō māua mārenatanga. Ka whakahekea te utu ō ētahi hua nei mā te 30%. Ka tū te hokonga mō te wiki kōtahi e whai ake nei mai te 3 karaka i te ahi nei

Celebrate our third wedding anniversary with 30% off selected items from 3pm today!

Some great deals for Christmas this year! Go to https://raakai.com/collections/all

Ngā mihi o te rā ki a koutou e te whānau whānui o RAAKAI

Ko Ōkawa Rauora Nolan-Edwards tēnei

E 2 ōna tau

This is Ōkawa or Orky boy as his Māmā likes to call him.

He is 2 years old

✨

Ōkawa’s parents, Oriwa and Nga Anahere, are personal friends who were in my Te Reo class last year and were pivotal in my success in passing the course.

Nga Anahere has also been a loyal supporter of the RAAKAI kaupapa and was the 2nd person ever to place an order with us when we first launched RAAKAI.COM.

✨

On the 13th October, Ōkawa was diagnosed with Hepatoblastoma, which is a rare cancer that affects, on average, 3 children each year here in Aotearoa.

Following Ōkawa’s diagnosis, his Māmā and Pāpā have temporarily relocated to Auckland along with their 4 month old pēpi, to be at Ōkawa’s side as he goes through the gruelling cancer treatment process.

✨

To give back to this whānau and to support them with all the ongoing costs associated with the journey ahead including; travel, accomodation, kai etc… RAAKAI will be donating the proceeds from the next 10 Kōhinga Kīhini that are sold directly to the whānau.

These sets include:

1 x Tote + Pepa
1 x POUAKA PARĀOA
1 x IPU KAWHE
1 x IPU TĪ
1 x IPU HUKA
1 x IPU MAIRŌ
1 x IPU TIAKARETE WERA

Our Kōhinga Kīhini are our BEST SELLER and with Kirihimete coming up soon - we’re hopeful these will sell quickly so we can get the putea to this whānau asap.

You can purchase yours here:

https://raakai.com/products/paraoa-bin-inu-wera-set?_pos=1&_sid=75ef6a0e2&_ss=r

Laybuy and Afterpay options are still available.

✨

E rere ana ā mātou whakaaro nui, ā mātou mihi aroha anō hoki ki te whānau Nolan-Edwards - kia kaha rā, koutou mā ❤️ Kia piki te ora, E tama x

Kia ora e te whānau whānui o RAAKAI!!

It’s been a miniti since I last posted and as many of you may have noticed, posts in general have been sporadic throughout the year. Truth be told, my priorities turned to a hauora haerenga that I’ve chosen to undertake which has asked a lot more time and energy of me than I originally anticipated and has demanded my focus in order to achieve the goals that I had set for myself….

Heoi anō, as we draw nearer to the busy festive season - I’m reminded of where my focus and energy needs to be directed at this time. Thankfully, I’ve worked on developing some pretty solid habits over the past 6-8 months that should (hopefully) allow me to do all my mahi without burning out 😅

So here’s to the next 10 wiki and the potentially restless times ahead. May they be swift and sane 👏🏾😂

Giveaway Update/Announcement tonight @ 8pm

💫

If anyone is interested in joining me on my holistic hauora journey and getting to know the person behind RAAKAI - I have this whārangi on instagram, , where I share real and raw content of who I am and how I’m getting on about life. Be warned - it’s not everyone’s kapu tī! And I’m PAI with that. This haerenga is all about accepting and sharing the parts of myself that I hid in shame for so long; plus working on alllll my work-ons so that I can better myself for my whānau and friends - which goes hand in hand with my reo reclamation journey and learning more about my māoritanga. There’s a bit of reo māori, a bit of mahi korikori tinana, a bit of kanikani and looots of self- reflective wānanga/kōrero 😂 A real mixed kete of treats that I cannot guarantee you’ll enjoy 🤣🤷🏽‍♀️ and should you be one who finds the tī is not to your liking, please feel free to quietly make your way to the nearest exit and 😂☺️

Hūrō!!

He pānui hiamo tāku mā koutou
[I’ve got an exciting announcement for you all]

We know many of you will be excited to hear we’ve finally received an Estimated Delivery Date [EDD] for our next shipment which means we’re finally able to take PREORDERS from those eager to order as soon as possible!

The estimated shipment date for all PREORDERS is 30/11/2021. Customers who preorder will be advised of any delays via email.

Taihoa ake - Wait! That’s not all…
Following some feedback received regarding the sizing of our 24oz Pātara, we’ve decided to switch this size out for a 32oz size to offer you more volume capacity! We haven’t had a chance to photograph the new size as yet however we will endeavour to get our online imagery updated as soon as possible!

Stock is limited and is likely to be the last shipment received for 2021 so PREORDERS are highly recommended to avoid disappointment.

PREORDER NOW AT RAAKAI.COM

✨TE HURINGA TAU TUATAHI O RAAKAI✨

A year ago today, I anxiously launched RAAKAI to the world…

At that point, I had already invested so much time, money and effort into RAAKAI despite not even knowing if anyone would want to buy anything from me 😅 but there was just this overwhelming confidence within me, a sense on assuredness that surely someone, somewhere was going to want what I had to offer…

Fast forward to today and I have made over 300 sales via my website, have held two very successful market stalls and have launched 5 new colours in our Pātara Wai range, to name a few of the achievements that have far surpassed any expectations that I had in the beginning.

To every single person who has supported in any way - from making a purchase all the way to liking and sharing my posts; Kei whea mai koutou!!

I couldn’t have done this without my team; those in the background who have helped along the way - from packing orders until late at night, setting up and running market stalls and unpacking new stock as it comes in. I would tag you but I’m bound to miss someone, so I won’t. You all know the know. Ko koutou a runga rawa atu ❤️

HEOI ANŌ, I must make one special mention to this little one here…
Taku kati taramea,
Taku pēpi wāwau tahā 🤣
Te kuku o tōku manawa - arā Ko taku tamāhine, Ko Piper Rangimārie…

Without whom I would never have had the courage to take on the wero of reclaiming Te Reo Māori for my whānau, the confidence to venture into this entrepreneurial space, nor the motivation to keep going at times when I wanted to throw in the towel…

Because of you, I know that giving up is never an option.

E kore rawa e mimiti taku aroha mōu, e hine.

That’s all from me! So excited to see where the next year takes us.

P.S Māmā is on a hauora journey so the pēpi gets to eat our huritau kapu keke 👀👀😂😂

✨

To celebrate, we’ve added a discount offer to our website!

Order from RAAKAI.COM TODAY and get 30% off your entire order. Applied automatically at checkout. Excludes our Kōhinga Kīhini and our Pātara Wai.

Offer valid until midnight tomorrow (Rāpare/Thursday)

Hei te 5 karaka, e hika mā!!

👀👀👀

Our biggest giveaway yet is dropping at 5pm today and some of our amazing hoa kaipakihi have come on board to tautoko the kaupapa!!

Tēnei āku mihi aroha ki te tokotoru nei mō ā koutou tautoko ki tēnei kaupapa hirahira o RAAKAI. E kore e maroke ngā mihi ki a koutou ❤️





All the details, the prizes and of course, how to get your hands on them, will be announced this afternoon!!

Nō reira, e hoa mā - mātakitia mai hei te ahiahi pō nei 👀😉

✨TE WĀ TUKU TAONGA✨

To celebrate RAAKAI reaching 1000 followers on both of our social media platforms (2443 total) AND our HURITAU TUATAHI , together with a few of our friends, we’ve come up with a couple of awesome prizepacks for TWO lucky winners!

✨ Prize pack #1 ✨

2 x whakakai from

A gift pack from
including: 1 x soy wax melts, 1 x roller, 1 x shea butter

1 x $100 kāri koha (gift card) from Kaitiaki Clothing.

PLUS

1 x Kōhinga Kīhini
1 x 24oz Pātara Wai

✨ Prize pack #2 ✨

3 x whakakai from

1 x Gift pack from
Including: 1 x roller, 1 x WAIHANGA collection taonga, a pair of Wamu Poi

PLUS

1 x Kōhinga Kīhini for your whānau
1 x Kōhinga Kīhini for your kura/mahi/marae
1 x 40oz Pātara Wai
1 x 24oz Pātara Wai
2 x 18oz Pātara Wai

Plus a few spot prizes for those standout entries!

✨ How to enter:

Prize pack #1

1. Make any purchase from RAAKAI.COM between now and Mahuru 1 (September 1st).

2. (Optional) Share a photo of your new RAAKAI taonga to your story, feed or timeline and tag each pakihi involved in this and add the hashtag for 5 extra entries!

Prize pack #2

1. Follow all pakihi māori involved in this (giveaway)

2. Come up with a creative way to introduce yourself and where you and your whānau come from in Te Reo Māori! You can be as creative as you like… the more creative - the more likely your entry is to stand out! 😁

We’ll share some resources in the coming days to help out those who may still be learning 😁

This is a chance to get your whole whānau involved and to start or continue the kōrero about where you come from… and an opportunity to share the masterpiece that is YOUR WHAKAPAPA with TE AO MARAMA! This must be done via a post on your timeline or feed or a Reel/TikTok and must have the hashtag ☺️

*Winners must make contact to arrange collection of prizes from Palmerston North or alternatively, delivery can be arranged at the winners expense*

COMPETITION IS OPEN WORLDWIDE 😜

(Please note all pages must be set to public to qualify)

Prizes will be drawn during Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori, Mahuru 13-19 (September)

✨KOTAHI MANO ✨

We’ve nearly reached 1000 followers on Te Paeāhua [Instagram] and have well surpassed that number on Te Pukamata [Facebook] so to celebrate, once we’ve reached 1000 followers on both platforms, I’ll be doing the biggest giveaway to date! 😍

Be sure to share this post with your whānau and friends so that they know and can be in to win as the turnaround from announcement to draw will be quick to ensure we’re acknowledging those who are already here and have been here to support us on what has been the most exciting and rewarding first (nearly) year in business.

✨

Pictured is our Pouaka Parāoa in Mā

Purchase yours now from RAAKAI.COM

✨Te Hui Ahurei O Te Tapere Nui o Whātonga Wrap-Up ✨

Part 1/3

Well well well… what a day!!

As an overall summary - I am elated by the response from those who attended this extraordinary event over the weekend - our Pātara Wai AND our Full Kīhini Sets were flying off the shelves! So fast that my afterpay, laybuy and eftpos systems couldn’t manage to keep up at a lot of points 😅🤣 (I can laugh about it now but I was dying on the inside and sweating bullets at the time 😂)

It became a bit emotionally overwhelming for me at one point as I took a step back and seized a moment to appreciate the success of RAAKAI with my friends; which in all honesty has far surpased any expectations I had for it, especially in the short 10 months that we’ve been operational. As you will often hear me say - I am so so grateful to be in this space and after this past weekend and how successful it was in almost every way (There were still a few hurdles but nothing I couldn’t manage), I have finally come to the conclusion that I deserve to be here. In fact I belong here, in this entreprenurial space. Something that I struggled to say a short 10 months ago but I realise now that this is what I was born to do. My tīpuna have been waiting for me to get to this point in my journey for so long... Who am I to keep them waiting any longer? 😌

✨TE WĀ TUKU TAONGA✨

To celebrate the launch of our new Pātara Wai and the closing of Pre-Orders, we’re giving away a - FREE - PĀTARA WAI (24oz)

All you need to do is tell us which one is your favourite colour of them all and you could win your chosen colour 😍

Winner will be drawn 04.07.2021 (Rātapu/Sunday). Recipient must be Aotearoa based and must be following us on Te Paeāhua (Instagram) and/or Te Pukamata (Facebook)

✨

Pictured:

• Kārikikōwhai | Lime Green (24oz)
• Pango | Black (18oz & 40oz)

✨ TE HUI AHUREI O TE TAPERE NUI O WHĀTONGA ✨

“ KIA HIWA RĀ! KIA HIWA RĀ!

The Rangitāne Māori Cultural Arts Society (RMCA) and Te Hui Ahurei o Te Tapere Nui o Whātonga Working Group; in partnership with TE MATATINI would like to announce the:

TE HUI AHUREI O TE TAPERE NUI O WHĀTONGA FESTIVAL

This wellness response festival will see for the very first time a cross-sectorial day of groups performing from a combined kōhanga reo group, to the Primary and Senior sectors respectively, as well as a regional taikura/pakeke group, all in conjunction with the Te Paetaiohi Manawatū/ Horowhenua secondary schools competition - all in one day” - RMCA

✨

E hika mā, I am priviledged and excited to announce that RAAKAI will be holding another stall next weekend! This time, we’ll be supporting this amazing kaupapa that is promised to be a day packed full to the brimm of Indigenous Excellence. I am so excited to be getting out into the community again and being able to connect with and expand our RAAKAI whānau whānui once more. We will have exclusive specials on the day for those who are able to make it; with eftpos, laybuy and afterpay facilities available for payment options. Admission to this event is FREE ☺️

More exciting announcements to come in the week ahead, e hoa mā - mātaki tonū mai 👀☺️

✨

When: Hātarei [Saturday] 03.07.2021, 8.30am-5.00pm

Where: Manfield Park Stadium, 59 South Street, Kawakawa [Feilding]

✨

Our new KARAKA 🍊 option is our best seller so far with only a couple of each size still available to preorder 😱

I am so humbled by the incredible initial response from our 2nd launch and am so grateful to each and every one of my customers - both new and especially returning customers ❤️

Pictured you can see two more of our new colours:

Karaka - Orange (40oz)
Kowhai - Yellow (18oz)

View the full range of colours and preorder yours now at RAAKAI.COM

Preorders and Stock are very limited so don’t wait to avoid disappointment

**Please note that Preorders will close on Wednesday 30.06.2021 and be sent out on Thursday 01.07.2021**

✨He whakataukī ✨

E noho e, kia raungāwari || sit down and bide your time/be flexible

A whakataukī that speaks to me of the virtue of patience and the value of being flexible; qualities that I’ve never really been very good at (ktk) but that I’ve been forced to put into practice throughout the process of this second launch 😅 and I’m grateful to say that I’ve grown so much from all of the adversity ☺️ Still so much to learn in this space but just happy and so so grateful to still be here.

Nō reirā, e hoa mā - After many delays and countless hurdles, we are finally ready to release our NEW COLOURS and the NEW SIZE out into Te Ao Mārama. These are now available to PREORDER before their official release date on 5.07.2021.

Pictured are 3 of the available colours:

Kikorangi | Sky Blue (18oz)
Pūwhero | Blush Pink (24oz)
Mā | White (40oz)

View the full range of colours and preorder yours now at RAAKAI.COM

Preorders and Stock are very limited. Nō reirā, kia tere e hika mā - you don’t want to miss out on this drop! Who knows when the next one will be 🤪🤣

**Please note that Preorders will close on Wednesday 30.06.2021 and be sent out on Thursday 01.07.2021**

E kore rātou e kaumātuatia
Pēnei i a tātou kua mahue nei
E kore hoki rātou e ngoikore
Ahakoa pehea i ngā āhuatanga o te wā
I te hekenga atu o te rā
Tae noa ki te aranga mai i te ata
Ka maumahara tonu tātou ki a rātou
Ka maumahara tonu tātou ki a rātou.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning,
We will remember them
We will remember them

- The Ode of Remembrance

[Source - https://www.news.library.auckland.ac.nz/2021/04/19/commemorating-anzac-day-2021/ #.YISHuyV4bDs]

TAUTOKOHIA NGĀ PAKIHI ITI | Support small businesses!

To celebrate , there’s a 20% off FLASH SALE going on over at RAAKAI.COM**

Head on over to our website and get amongst this deal.

Also, be sure to head on over and give the guys at a follow and enter the competitions they’ve got running today too! Such a cool kaupapa, guys! Kei whea mai koutou 💯

**Discount is applied automatically at checkout. No minimum purchase required.

💫💫💫💫

He whakatauki:

“Kotahi te kākano, he nui ngā hua o te rākau” | A tree comes from one seed but has many fruits [an interpretation]

-

The tree of RAAKAI is growing and our new coloured PĀTARA WAI are just about ready to drop 🫐🍉🍋🍊🍏

So to get everyone excited for their arrival, here’s the 1st of our new colour options 😁

AVAILABLE TO PREORER AND PURCHASE FROM RAAKAI.COM SOON

Be sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook so you don’t miss the launch date announcement and the Giveaway to go with it 😉