Kiwi Mums uncovered

Media Release
8 May 2011

Kiwi Mums uncovered: Judy irreplaceable as the Mother of the Nation

The Paper Plus Great Kiwi Mums survey has revealed that Judy Bailey will always live on in our hearts and minds as the Mother of the Nation. The survey, which was completed by over 2,500 New Zealanders, showed that 56% of respondents believe that the veteran former newsreader is irreplaceable when it comes to holding the coveted title.

Yummy mummy Pippa Wetzell took out sexiest Kiwi mum with a whopping 53% of the votes while Petra Bagust came in second with a respectable 17.5%. Kerre Woodham topped the polls as the mum most New Zealanders would like to have coffee with (39%), followed by Robyn Malcolm (30%).

When it comes to being a great mum the survey found that being a domestic goddess as well as letting kids learn from their mistakes are the two most important characteristics.

Bilbo and Frodo proved unpopular choices for boy’s names with less than 1% of people saying they’d name their child after the Lord of the Rings characters. Yet Bella came in a winner with 38% of people saying they’d name their daughter after the Twilight beauty.

Over a third of the country (37%) feels that a book or greeting card is the ideal gift for mum on her special day, although flowers and a visit from the kids also featured highly. Amusingly, of the mums surveyed, a cheeky 13% would prefer Mother’s Day to be ‘a day for me’ as opposed to spending quality time with the family.

“At Paper Plus we’re proud to be Kiwis as well as 100 per cent New Zealand owned and operated. We don’t take ourselves too seriously and thought it would be fun to provide our fellow New Zealanders with some insight into the psyche of the quintessential Kiwi mum,” says Rob Smith, CEO, Paper Plus Group. “We also wanted to remind the 18.6 per cent of people who still haven’t bought their mum a present to shake a leg on it and head into their closest Paper Plus. And remember you’ve got until the end of today to win your mum Books for Life!”

Pride and Prejudice was the stand out favourite for Kiwis if they faced with the conundrum of being able to read only one more book in their lifetime (40%). Interestingly, the Bible rated a distant second (26%) after the English classic while the modern cult phenomenon Harry Potter came in at third place (14%).

It also appears we’re a nation of suspense-lovers - 27% chose a thriller as their favourite book genre. In fact it’s likely you’re curled up about to read a James Patterson or Lee Child novel right now!

Happy Mother’s Day from Paper Plus.

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About Paper Plus
The Paper Plus Group began 28 years ago and is one of New Zealand’s largest stationery and book sellers. The Group incorporates three separate retail brands: Paper Plus, which has 106 stores; Take Note with 48 stores; and Office Spot with two stores, all offering a great range of stationery, books, magazines, cards and gifts to New Zealand consumers. There is a Paper Plus store in most towns from Kaitaia to Invercargill. It is the only New Zealand book and stationery retailer with Fly Buys.

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