One thing I really miss about Christmas time pre-kids though is the good old Office Christmas Party - before I had children I worked at a huge city center office and their annual Christmas party was something we all looked forward to, my work friends and I would plan out our outfits for weeks in advance and head off on our lunch breaks to source them.
Working from home now means that I forego that traditional Office Christmas Party experience, so I was actually delighted when the lovely people at Boon. got in touch to invite me to take part in a Christmas Party Shopping Challenge!
They tasked me with using £100 Boon. Credit to buy myself a party outfit, a Christmas party accessory, a Christmas jumper and a Secret Santa gift from a charity shop!
So, with my iPhone in hand, I headed out to see what I could buy..I was delighted to find how many of our high street stores accepted payment via Boon. - I think I expected to struggle a little but with the exception of one store who don't use Contactless yet (Next...get with the times guys!) - everywhere accepted the payment! Anywhere that the Contactless or Apple Pay symbol is displayed, you can use the Boon. app to pay.
If you're worried about how to use it, don't be...it could not be simpler!
All you do is hover your phone above the card reader, your phone will then display your apple wallet and ask for your Touch ID...you'll notice that the Apple Wallet defaults to your usual credit or debit card but all you need to do is tap the Boon. card displayed to pay with that instead...then once you press Touch ID - the payment is sent! Job done!
So what did I buy?!
For the party outfit, it just HAD to be something sparkly...this rose gold sequin dress from H & M was just perfect, you can't beat a bit of glitz for the festive season right?! And for £49.99 it was well within my budget - I even had enough to splurge on some matching rose gold sequin shoes too!
As for the party accessory, what better than a pair of Festive earrings...these ones from Primark did the job perfectly, and at £2 they didn't break the bank either!
When it comes to Christmas Jumpers, I say you need to go big or go home...so I went mega! I picked out the Cringiest Christmas outfit I could find...this super festive Elf Dress was also from Primark, and came in at £16.00 - perfect!
This left me with plenty of change for my Secret Santa gift, but what to buy?!
I decided to go for a Christmas Decoration...this beautiful snowflake just really pulled me in when I saw it sitting on the shelf at our local Charity Shop.
So there we have it, my Christmas Shopping Challenge complete and it couldn't have been easier thanks to Boon.
The app was so simple to use, and would be ideal for helping to stick to a budget for Christmas Shopping as rather than using your debit card to pay for items and not keeping a running total going...you simply add your allowance to the Boon. app and you can see the total remaining at the click of a button!
This would also be really useful for teenagers who have an allowance, as rather than giving them your card to use - you can transfer the funds onto the app for them.
The Boon. app is available to download from the App store and is compatible with Iphone 6/SE or above. Get involved with #boonforcharity and win £100
#boonforcharity celebrates the amazing bargains to be found in charity shops - every month the winner with the best charity shop purchase wins £100 for themselves. To enter all you need to do is snap your charity shop purchase and tag it with #boonforcharity on Facebook, Instagram or through boon.'s website: http://boonpayment.com/boon-for-charity/. Good luck!
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