Buyagift Review : Drayton Manor Park With Buyagift

Why give an experience as a gift?

I’ve talked before about why we prefer to give experiences, like days out and foodie treats, rather than ‘stuff’. Thoughtful trinkets tend to turn into clutter after that initial joyful unwrapping.

Buying a voucher or gift experience* means the recipient can pick how and when they want to use it, rather than finding somewhere to hide it.

Experiences are also a top gift idea for people who never ‘need’ anything, because as soon as they do they buy it for themselves. Mr Tin Box is one of these awkward types. And the icing on the cake is that if you use Buyagift.com* it is a climate conscious company.

It’s been working with the rainforest conservation organisation Cool Earth for the past decade and supports climate action projects like reforestation in the UK and other parts of the world.

When you buy an experience from them you can also send it to the recipient as a e-voucher rather than a physical object, cutting back on unnecessary waste.

Types of experience box

Buyagift have a wide choice of experience boxes*, from the Happy Birthday Experience Box to indulgent boxes for couples, special treats for individuals and dining experiences.

Each gives the recipient hundreds, if not thousands, of options to use their Buyagift voucher all over England, Scotland and Wales. There’s also up to two years to book the ideal experience, so there’s no rush to use it. We were sent the Family Fun Experience Box* which costs £49.99.

What’s in the box?

The Family Fun box gives a family of two to five people (depending on the experience you choose) the choice of 490 days out.

Experiences range from entry to the Enigma Escape Rooms in Middlesbrough for two adults and two children to a birds of prey day in Warwickshire, or a three course meal for two adults and two children at Cabana in Covent Garden.

If you send a physical Buyagift box it arrives in a cardboard box with a laminated sleeve, a book containing all the experiences available split up y region, and a square of card printed with the unique voucher code and pin code with instructions on how to use them.

All of the information is also available online, so I’d recommend getting the voucher sent by email to save on paper and delivery.

How does it work?

Once our Family Fun Experience Box* had arrived we had to take a few steps to use it:

• Register our voucher on Buyagift.com
• Pick our experience
• Download our experience code
• And book direct with the company offering the experience!

We chose to visit our local Vue cinema, so got two voucher codes: one for our film tickets and another for snacks to enjoy while we were there.

Our vouchers covered tickets for four people, one medium drink and popcorn, and two Vue Kids Combos, which include popcorn or Monster Munch, a drink and a small bag sweets or a Milky Way.

Buying Vue tickets with a Buyagift code

When I went to use our cinema tickets voucher code, it took me a while to work out where to type it in on the Vue website. So if you receive a Family Fun Experience Box and decide to use it for a visit to the cinema here’s what to do:

• Select one seat for the film you want to see
• Click on ‘Add a promo code’ to the right of the screen (on a desktop computer)

You should then be able to confirm your booking and will receive an email confirmation once you’ve added in all your contact details. Buyagift send you a separate voucher code for your snacks. Make sure you have this on you to use when you get to the cinema.

If you have questions about booking any experience with your Buyagift voucher, take a look at the Help section on the website.

Our experience

We booked to see Peter Rabbit 2 at our local Vue cinema at Torbay, Devon. The kids were so excited to see a film on the big screen after more than a year of movie nights at home.

The snacks made it an extra special treat as I’d probably usually say no to popcorn, a chocolate bar AND a drink. But that was an extra expense that we didn’t need to worry about as it was already covered as part of the experience box.

Something worth mentioning was that we had a slight hitch with our Buyagift snack code when we arrived. The Vue till wouldn’t process it. However, the duty manager was aware if the Buyagift package and arranged our snacks in no time. Top marks to the team at Vue Torbay for being on the ball.

Handy things to know

If you are buying a Buyagift experience box or gift voucher for someone else, be aware that the price you pay may be more than the value of the experience they choose, depending on current offers.

As Vue were offering reduced price cinema tickets when we went, the cost of our visit, including the snacks, was less than £49.99. However, if you have a Buyagift discount code, you could pay less than the RRP of the experience box!