The Christmas gifting hack — buy their presents, reward yourself
December is your single biggest gift-card spend of the year. The loop should too.
Christmas is the single biggest gift-card month of the year in the UK. Buyagift, Virgin Experience Days, Not on the High Street, Amazon, John Lewis, M&S — a lot of family members get their presents in envelope form, and most of us are cheerfully fine with it, because the alternative is panic-bought candles.
What nobody mentions is that December is also the best month of the year to be earning A1 Tech Deals store credit. The same money you were going to spend — stepdad's Buyagift, gran's M&S voucher, teenager's Amazon — buys presents and quietly funds a January tech upgrade. The loop is at its most generous on exactly the categories you ramp up on anyway: multi-brand experience cards and lifestyle brands.
Buy the gift card
Pick any brand and pay as you would for tech. The code is sent straight to your email.
We reward you
A1 Tech Deals credits your account with store credit — funded by us, not the brand.
Spend it on tech
Use the credit at checkout on anything at a1techdeals.com — phones, laptops, accessories.
The numbers on a typical Christmas
That's £367 a year of store credit — more than enough for January's big tech upgrade.
The January upgrade, paid for in December
Apple WatchApple Watch Series 11 Smartwatch 46mm Jet Black Aluminium Black Sport Band M/L
Apple WatchApple Watch Series 11 Smartwatch 46mm Silver Aluminium Purple Sport Band M/L
Apple WatchApple Watch Series 11 Smartwatch 46mm Rose Gold Aluminium Light Blush Sport Band M/L
Apple WatchApple Watch SE 3 Smartwatch 40mm Midnight Aluminium Midnight Sport Band S/M
The monthly figure is smoothed across the year — in practice, Christmas spend is one big November/December hit. Multi-brand and experience cards (the ones that let recipients pick) routinely earn 14–18% back, which makes a December present run the single most-rewarded shop of the calendar.
Cards that make Christmas easier
tastecard - 6 Months
Buyagift
Swarovski
Hotel Giftcard
The Wellness Card
Bloom & Wild
The Restaurant Card
The Hotel Card
The Dining Out Card
HelloFresh
Not on The High Street
Rewards Earth
Two Christmas setups
The adult-side of the family
Nadia buys £60 Buyagift for her parents, £60 Virgin Experience Days for her in-laws, £40 Not on the High Street for her sister, and £50 National Book Tokens for her brother.
Enough for a Kindle cover and a new charging stand — a January tech pick-me-up, paid for by the December present run.
The big-family Christmas
Olu buys £400 of mixed Buyagift / experience / lifestyle cards across seven family members.
Pays for a pair of wireless earbuds or most of a Fire tablet — a proper January present to yourself, on the December spend you were doing anyway.
What people always want to check.
The single best-rewarded month of the year
Buyagift, Virgin Experience Days, Not on the High Street — A1 Tech Deals store credit toward your January upgrade, automatically.
More from the issue.
Reward your staff and kit out the office for less
Multi-brand cards mean one invoice, happy staff, and tech credit toward the office upgrade.
Cheaper days out with the kids — theme parks that earn you tech
Merlin, Chessington, Warwick Castle, LEGOLAND — the summer holiday funding the next tablet.
How UK parents can save on the weekly shop and fund kids' tech
Turn the weekly shop into the next family iPad — without changing a single habit.
