This weekend we were tasked with the Blue Monday Busting Day Out challenge from Nectar in order to #BEATBLUEMONDAY
Blue Monday is a name given to a day in January (typically the third Monday of the month) reported to be the most depressing day of the year for countries in the Northern Hemisphere.
As I write this I have a worn out happy 2 year old sleeping beside me, he’s seen all kinds of sea creatures from breath taking Jelly Fish to cute Clown fish. He ran until he could run no more around the soft play centre. Filled his belly with Pizza and smothered his face in chocolate gelato.
That sounds like an expensive day out though… But was it?
Our challenge was to see how we could turn that Blue Monday frown upside down with a family day out. Easy? Using and collecting Nectar points.. Still easy!
Our first task was planning where to go. With a wide range of choices on the Nectar website it was a hard decision.
With options such as Alton Towers, Sainsburys, Cafe Nero, Madame Tussauds, Sea Life, London Dungeons, Pizza Express and many more we were spoilt for choice.
Opting to stay local, encouraged by the influx of overnight snow we chose to visit SEA Life in Manchester. This meant Using 6,780pts (£16.95 per person) to book two adult tickets. As T is under 3 he didn’t need one, bonus! Booking the tickets via the Nectar website was quick and easy taking only a few minutes. A voucher is then sent to you in the post for entry. Some venues you will get an instant ticket loaded to your in-app Nectar wallet.
Planning ahead we also purchased a £30 Pizza Express voucher with our points. This meant we could have an entire day out on our points! A £30 voucher cost 4,000pts and was loaded to my mobile app instantly. It’s valid until July so if we didn’t fancy Pizza on the day, it didn’t matter.
Stopping at the BP garage along the way to buy fuel we were able to collect 1 point per litre of fuel purchased and every £1 spent in the BP shop. With over 1,200 sites across the UK it’s easy to earn points on daily essentials such as buying fuel. This meant we earned a further 35 points! That’s 35 points closer to another day out.
We had a great day out spending 10,780pts overall for family entry into the sea life centre and the £30 meal voucher. We managed to earn a further 35 points on fuel at BP and 60pts on groceries at Sainsburys on the way home. We’re already closer to paying for our next adventure.
My top tip for a spur of the moment family adventure would be to check what offers are on the Nectar website, I wouldn’t have thought of going to SEA Life in Manchester, until I saw it on the Nectar offers, We had a really great time!
I’d also advise being aware of the many places you can collect point, you’d be surprised how many UK stores and venues are partnered with Nectar. We bought curtain poles from Dunelm and were able to earn point there too. With 500+ brands they soon add up. Check out their current offers and book yourself a Blue Monday Busting adventure!
Don’t be blue – we have something for you. Win 5k pts. Post a pic of a fave hol with #BeatBlueMonday & tag us. T&Cs> https://t.co/DXQfv1HlHa pic.twitter.com/qn4Xvhu0Kx
— nectar (@nectar) January 16, 2017
Nectar are running an exciting competition on their Twitter for you to win Nectar points as seen in the tweet above! – so make sure you enter, and if you don’t have a Nectar card already then definitely set one up – Mine took minutes to set up – We’re able to collect Nectar points regularly on our food shop at Sainsburys which is a great way to recoop on points.
Also by booking travel with Virgin Trains. I have a few events planned for the summer and hope to take advantage of the January travel offers with 500 bonus points by booking now! I’d be foolish not to.
*This a sponsored post in collaboration with Nectar
