It’s approaching Mothers Day again and I don’t know about you but each year I find it harder and harder to think of ways to treat my lovely Mum. Over the years she has received everything from smellies, books and chocolates to purses, clothes, pyjamas and jewlery. More recently it’s been personalised photo gifts with pictures of the Grandchildren on but even so it’s getting harder to surprise her.
This year I don’t need to worry though. I was thrilled to be approached to review the One4all Gift Card from the Post Offiice. With gift cards for all occasions and even personalised ones, they can be loaded with any amount from £10 to £400 and can be spent at 17,000 different retailer outlets nationwide including favourites like House of Fraser, Debenhams and Boots. They can be used Instore and online and can be used as full or part payment on everything from spa treats, to clothes, books or bags, to Jewlery or even home accessories and holidays. There really is something for everyone.
There is also an app to help you keep track of your spending and find the stores where you can use it. It is straightforward and easy to use.
I would never give my Mum just cash (far too impersonal) but a gift card that can be used in a number of stores which has a personalised picture like this one is a different story completely. How sweet do my girls look?
It’s definitely personal. I was really lucky to have mine loaded up with £100 to spend to help me write this post so I decided to share it with my Mum (well we are both Mums and deserve it). We hit the shops together with Daisy for an early Mother’s Day treat.
Our first outing was a bit of a washout. As a busy mum of three, I don’t get out shopping much and thought it would be lovely to go to Cribbs Causeway as I love it there. Unfortunately I didn’t check out what stores were there first and there wasn’t a huge amount of places I could actually spend it. I wasn’t able to get any internet signal either which meant the app didn’t work. By the time we realised, we didn’t have the time to go anywhere else. I ended up buying this cute little notebook from Waterstones to check the card worked before leaving it another week to try again:
The second time we went closer to home and it was much more sucessful. There were sales all over the place which meant we actually managed to get lots for our money too. To be honest I haven’t even spent it all yet but it doesn’t matter as it lasts 18 months (not that it will)!
We started off with a dress for me to wear to Cheltenham races. Debenhams had some real bargains and this Phase Eight dress was reduced from £165 to just under £40:
I was very happy. I even managed to have my eyebrows shaped. Something I don’t get to do nearly often enough. Whilst not quite the same as a pampering massage it was much needed and made me feel better about myself (perfect for Mother’s Day):
My Mum wanted a nice cleanser, toner and mosieriser set so was thrilled when we found this one from Clarins:
Oh and we also picked up some lovely lip glosses too.
Using the card was easy enough but I did encounter a few staff members who had to ask others how to use it. This of course meant waiting patiently and holding up the queue (a bit of a pain). You have to know how much is on the card and will be asked at the till so don’t forget to keep track of your spending.
There is quite a list of stores participating and you really can use the card to buy pretty much anything but it would be good to see a few more of the big stores joining up. I would have loved to see John Lewis, Next, Marks and Spencers and other big name high street stores on the list.
As you can imagine, I have had great fun with this one. Shopping with my Mum is something I don’t do nearly often enough and now I’ve done it twice in two weeks 🙂 obviously we enjoyed lunch out and made a bit of a day of it too.
Personally I think the cards a great idea. So much more personal than cash it means the person receiving it can buy something they really want. A bit of staff training wouldn’t go amiss and it would be great if some of the other large chain stores partipated too but all in all a positive experience.
That’s me sorted for Mother’s Day, how about you?
Karen x
A huge thank you to One4all for helping me out with my Mother’s Day gift this year. Despite receiving the card in return for this post, all words and opinions are my own.