Milnrow husband and wife team secure premises for their gift company The Funky Deer

Date published: 21 August 2021

A husband and wife team who started a gift company by writing letters to Santa have expanded their business, taking on a shop on Dale Street in Milnrow.

The Funky Deer is a venture by Christopher and Sarah Taylor, who have both lived in Milnrow for their entire lives, and offers a range of personalised gifts.

The couple’s journey began in October 2019 when Sarah was on maternity leave with their second child.

She said: “Christmas had always been one of my favourite times of the year and after seeing a number Facebook posts advertising hand-made Christmas gifts, I realised how much I loved those items that made Christmas even more magical.”

The business was borne with a launch of personalised letters from Santa, elf gifts and Christmas wish bracelets. As orders flooded in, Chris began helping Sarah to create products and process orders.

After the festive season, they began to plan and prepare for 2020 – with no idea of the year ahead from the resulting pandemic.

However, whilst many businesses struggled throughout lockdown, the Funky Deer continued to grow, thanks it its hugely successful ‘pocket hugs’.

In May this year, they realised how quickly their business was booming, invested in a second machine to produce their products and then took on their shop premises at 67 Dale Street (access via Physioworks).

The Funky Deer is one of the traders which makes up the Rochdale Food and Artisan Market each month, and Sarah and Chris now have a team of full and part-time staff.

Chris added: “It’s a massive step for us but with the support of local people we can continue to be a real success whilst providing the local community with fantastic items.

“We’ve gone from writing Santa letters two years ago to now having a shop, producing all our own products including wooden laser engraved items and two machines in operation.”

The Funky Deer offers a wide range of hand-crafted personalised items for all occasions, including welly plaques, wireless chargers, bottle openers, save the date tokens, hammers, family plaques, keyrings etc.

In the run up to Christmas, it will also have treat boards, personalised letters from Santa, an elf range and many other items.