Privacy

What we keep, why we keep it and who else sees it. Christmas on the Coast is run by Tea Break Studio, here in New Zealand.

Last updated 2 November 2026

What goes on the map

If you add your house, this is public, so anyone can see it:

• the name you give your lights
• your street and area
• which nights and what times your lights are on
• what you tell people to look out for
• your photo, once we've checked it

Pick Just my street and the pin sits on your street, not your door. Pick My exact spot and it sits where you tapped. Only add what you're happy for everyone to see.

What stays private

• Your email. We use it to send your private link, check an event, get back to you or send the one heads up email on 1 December. It never shows on the site. We don't sell it and we don't send you anything else.
• The spot you tapped, if you picked Just my street.
• A scrambled code from your internet connection. It stops spam and people voting a house up over and over. We don't keep your actual internet address.

What's saved on your phone or computer

Your browser keeps your private link, your ratings and that you've already been through the entry screen. Clear your browser's data and they're gone from there. We don't use advertising or tracking cookies.

If you tap Show where I am, your phone asks you first. Your location only moves the dot on your own screen. It doesn't get sent to us.

Who else is involved

A few other companies help run the site, so some of your information passes through them:

• Cloudflare hosts the site and the database, runs the safety check on the forms and counts visits. The visit count doesn't use cookies.
• FormSubmit sends our emails. What you type in a form, your email and your private link all go through them.
• OpenFreeMap serves the map. OSRM works out the routes between houses. For a Just my street pin it also gets a spot near where you tapped, so it can find your road.
• unpkg, jsDelivr, cdnjs and Amazon serve some of the site's code and the hill shading, so your browser asks them for those files.
• Google Fonts serves the fonts. Google Maps or your own maps app only comes into it if you tap Directions.
• Apple plays the songs if you press Play Christmas songs.
• Stripe takes the payment if you chip in. We never see your card.

Changing it or taking it down

Your private link lets you change your pin or take it off the map whenever you like. Anyone can ask for a pin to come down, and we look at every request.

When a pin comes down it stops showing, photo and all. We still hold the record, including your email, your photo and the spot you tapped, until you ask us to delete it.

You can ask to see what we hold about you and get it fixed. That's your right under New Zealand's Privacy Act 2020. You can ask us to delete it too. Email [email protected] and we'll sort it out.