Kiwi Property is celebrating Christmas in its shopping centres with a unique and empowering children’s book, Where’s Holly’s Hat?, developed with support from The Mental Health Foundation NZ (MHFNZ).
A quintessential Kiwi tale that has an important underlying mental health message, Where’s Holly’s Hat? tells the story of a happy little kākāpō, Holly, who experiences all kinds of feelings when she loses her special Christmas hat. Thanks to her friends, Holly learns to understand and manage her emotions with a happy outcome.
Kiwi Property has printed close to 25,000 copies of the book, one of the largest print runs of children’s books across New Zealand, to be distributed across five of its shopping centres in the lead-up to Christmas.
The book will be free to those who visit Santa from Saturday, 18 November 2023, at Sylvia Park in Auckland, and from Saturday, 2 December 2023, at LynnMall, Auckland; Northlands Shopping Centre, Christchurch; The Plaza, Palmerston North; and The Base in Hamilton.
Kiwi Property GM of Asset Management, Linda Trainer, said Kiwi Property is a proud sponsor of the Mental Health Foundation and the book has been developed to help teach emotional literacy in children.
“We wanted to do something a bit different this year and give children a book that could help them to understand their feelings and emotions. With the festive season being full of so many feelings, we wanted the story to teach children how to manage these emotions, in a positive way.”
Mental health promoter and strategist Ciaran Fox, from the Mental Health Foundation, said it’s great to see businesses like Kiwi Property doing their part to improve the well-being of the community.
“Kids need to understand what feelings are, as this can help them navigate their mental health better, so it is important to provide tools that can help children learn how to manage their difficult emotions. As a parent myself, I know how important developing emotional literacy is for children, and our tamariki need this support at Christmas more than ever.”
Where’s Holly’s Hat? has been designed with bespoke logos from each local centre, and the book ultimately encourages open conversations between whānau and tamariki.
