They were big and red and filled with sacks of presents.
The sound of reindeer hooves was replaced with the sound of sirens as two fire appliances made special Christmas deliveries in the Whangarei suburb of Otangarei yesterday.
Firefighters from the Whangarei Fire Station were helping to deliver shoeboxes filled with presents from Rangimarie Mako's Christmas in a Shoebox project.
The project - which encouraged people to choose a gender and an age between 2 and 17 and fill a shoebox with Christmas presents for them - had more than 1000 boxes donated.
Mrs Mako had spoken to social services to identify families to receive the boxes, as well as taking nominations from the public.
One recipient was 14-year-old Pearl Nathan, who said her siblings, as well as her neighbours who also got a delivery, were very excited.
"It was cool, it was cute."
They were all going to wait until Christmas to open their boxes.
Mum Letitia Nathan said the delivery had made things easier for her.
"I think they've just made Christmas for them."
Another recipient, Brooklyn Jones, 7, didn't wait for Christmas. He tore into his with excitement and exclamations of "whoa".
Firefighter Richard Tobin said he spotted Mrs Mako's call on Facebook to help deliver some of the boxes.
He thought: "Who else better to deliver presents to kids than firefighters?"
So he gave Mrs Mako a call and arranged it. Yesterday two fire appliances, each with a support vehicle, went on two separate tours around Otangarei to deliver gifts to 13 homes.
At the same time, they handed out lollies, balloons, some fire safety information and asked the families if they had smoke alarms.
He said Mrs Mako deserved all the credit. "It takes a special person to organise something like this."
Mr Tobin said it was an awesome morning. "It's such a positive thing for the community.
Just to see the smile on the kids' faces it's pretty special. These kids who get these presents, you can tell they appreciate it."
Mrs Mako was almost speechless after delivering the presents. She said it was "definitely amazing".
"Just when we started my heart was so happy."
Along the way they handed out presents and lollies to neighbouring children who came to see what the sirens were all about.
After finishing deliveries the two appliances headed to Te Timatatanga O Te Matauranga Kindergarten to give out small gifts and lollies to the children.