Christmas joy turned to tears for 11-year-old Jansen Pears when his new BMX bike was stolen from the driveway of his family's Aramoho home.

Mum Wendy Coley said Jansen's dad bought him the bike for Christmas and it was the first bike he has had in five years.

"He was really excited to get the bike and he'll be starting at Whanganui Intermediate School so he was looking forward to biking to school," Ms Coley said.

"But about lunchtime on Saturday, even though the gates were shut, someone came down the driveway and took the bike from outside the garage. If no one had been home, the bike would have been inside but my step-dad was there mowing the lawns.

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"It's just absolutely gutting that someone could do that."

Ms Coley said the theft of the distinctive Haro BMX bike, which is brown with yellow wheels, had been reported to the police and shared on social media. The bike was stolen about 1pm on Saturday, December 30.

"I've spoken to all the neighbours in case they saw anything and we've driven around the area to look for it. We've been over to the skate park at Kowhai Park numerous times to try to find it and we've even been to the bike park by the Splash Centre."

Jansen, who has been left with only a photo of his prized Christmas present, said he was "really unhappy" about the theft of his bike. Because he had been away, he had only had two days to ride it - Christmas Day and the day it was stolen.

Ms Coley asked anyone with information about the bike to report it.