On the 12 Days of Access, Here’s What Broadsheet Gave to Me

It’s been a blockbuster 2025 at Broadsheet Access and to celebrate, we’re giving our members yuletide gifts galore. As end-of-year festivities kick off, we’re proclaiming the 12 Days of Access: 12 fab prize package giveaways over 12 days that’ll have you (and your friends and family) set up for Christmas and beyond.

From December 1 to 12, we’ll reveal a new gift bundle each day from some of our favourite local independent brands, stuffed with goodies you can parcel out as presents to your nearest and dearest, offer to guests at your next holiday get-together – or just keep yourself for an extra dose of seasonal cheer.

Broadsheet Access members can enter once every 24 hours for a chance to win that day’s prize. (And if you’re not an Access member yet, what’s stopping you? Head here to join.)

Read on for a guide to the fab local brands that are handing out the prizes, and a bit of a hint about what’s included in each giveaway. Remember: pop by daily to find out prize details, and to make the most of the 12 Days of Access.

December 1: Pep

Melbourne’s Pep, the premium pepper label launched late 2024, is the brainchild of three friends and food lovers who once worked together at Vice. Their single-origin peppercorns, grown in Cambodia’s Memot region, are fragrant and herbaceous with notes of chocolate and citrus – and basically unlike anything you’ve ever bought at the grocery store. For Day One of the 12 Days of Access, Pep will be gifting something a little spicy to give your Christmas a kick.

December 2: Apostle

NZ couple Lydia Harfield and Mat Watkins launched small-batch condiment label Apostle in 2019. They now sell at over 200 stores in four different countries, but they still rely on locally grown ingredients – from cold-pressed NZ rapeseed oil to kawakawa from their garden – and they still turn out beautifully presented sauces and seasonings that are almost too pretty for the pantry. For Day Two, Apostle is offering a whole lot of aesthetically pleasing heat (plus something sweet).

December 3: Thematikos

Thematikos is a mother-son duo from Melbourne making gorgeously scented (and shaped) candles, perfumes and home fragrances inspired by quirky family food memories (Nonna’s Fig Tree, Tsoureki) as well as more traditional bouquets (oud, honeysuckle, cedarwood) and even locations like Athens, London and Rome. For Day Three of the 12 Days of Access, they’re lighting up the holidays with a bunch of swoonily scented stocking stuffers you’ll probably want to keep for yourself.

December 4: Acide

Acide started as a lockdown project for Melbourne founder Jon Bussell and has since grown to produce more than 500 kilos of pickles and ferments per week. Each jar is crafted with precision using varied vinegar-to-sugar ratios and flavour profiles ranging from hot and umami to really sour. In short, the brand offers non-boring pickles (and kimchi and sauerkraut and mustard) that add a bit of zing to any meal. Acide’s offering for Day Four will feed a small Christmas army, and gift you a cute outfit too.

December 5: Raaie

Made in founder Katey Mandy’s native New Zealand – and harnessing the country’s land, sea and alpine botanicals – Raaie produces high-performance skincare focused on sun protection. The Sephora-endorsed brand’s pleasingly curvy packaging looks more like a mini sculpture installation than a collection of beauty products, and what’s inside is backed by some serious science. For Day Five, Raaie wants to give you the ultimate at-home spa treatment slathered in manuka honey.

December 6: Maat

Endorsed by French, Australian and British Vogue, Maat was launched in 2020 when exercise at home was the norm and beauty was in short supply. The Australian label produces a range of chic high-quality yoga mats made from natural tree rubber and recycled PET – each printed with artful designs you’ll want to keep on display long after your workout is done. (There’s animal print, abstract nudes and interplanetary artworks for starters.) Maat’s gift will have you shooting for the moon next time you bend and stretch. It’ll also help you roll and release in style.

December 7: Nonna’s Grocer

When sisters Madeleine and Isabel Hoy launched cult brand Nonna’s Grocer in 2021, Broadsheet promised its lifelike fruit and veg candles would “make any room 100,000 times better”. Four years on, we stand by the claim, still thoroughly seduced by the NSW label’s wobbly tomato candles, wax Bordeaux grapes, and confoundingly realistic garlic wicks. For Day Seven of the 12 Days of Access, Nonna’s Grocer is gifting a bunch of farm-fresh candles seemingly straight from the fruit and veg aisle of your local supermarket.

December 8: Fin Wines

Launched in 2020, Fin Wines is a Yarra Valley fermentation collective making natural wines, ciders and piquettes with an emphasis on drinkability, sustainability and fun. The three friends behind the label are committed to lo-fi production in terms of minimal additions, no filtering, spontaneous fermentation and “minimal faffing” in the winery. Let’s just say whoever wins on Day Eight will have a very well-stocked wine fridge come Christmas Day.

December 9: Non Tox Tea

Mornington Peninsula label Non Tox Tea is unabashedly obsessed with how good the right tea can make you feel. All its functional wellness blends are certified organic and formulated by an award-winning naturopath to meet modern needs. (They also come in plant-based compostable tea bags so they’re easy on the planet, too.) Day Nine is all about the gift of wellness, with a bunch of soothing stocking stuffers for you and your mates.

December 10: Mihan Aromatics

Founded by a barber and a neurophysiotherapy expert, Melbourne’s Mihan Aromatics is a perfume house that blends neuroscience, beauty and design into fragrances that are inclusive, contemporary and distinctly Australian. Products span personal fragrances (inspired by everything from city pools and thunderstorms to camping out bush), scented candles and decidedly posh air fresheners. This gift bundle holds top notes of sea air and bergamot, followed by soft coconut and cucumber.

December 11: Starward

A few years ago, Melbourne whisky powerhouse Starward became the first Aussie distillery to take out the title of Most Awarded Distillery of the Year at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, aka the Oscars of booze. Needless to say, the local label has continued to produce stellar drops ever since, including a seasonal favourite panettone whisky with notes of banoffee, sultana and cinnamon. Starward’s gift pack for Day 11 tastes like smoky promises and iconic Italian festive loaf.

December 12: TINA & Assembly

Beverage brand TINA (This Is Not Alcohol) is the tasty, tea-obsessed creation of Melbourne cousins Christina Trabucco and Imogen Hayes. The duo’s snazzy canned drinks are all natural and deliciously complex – just right for non-alc summer entertaining – and a smart spin-off from Trabucco’s other venture, Assembly coffee and tea shop. The two brands wrap up our 12 Days of Access with topnotch coffee at home, and the celebratory clinking of glasses filled with something good.

The 12 Days of Access runs from December 1 to 12 and is open to all Broadsheet Access members. Not yet a member? You can join here and enter our daily draws.