Need a Mother's Day gift? SPECIAL is more than just a gift card

A gift card can seem like a cop out to some, but in this day and age there’s a huge range of very niche gift cards that allow you to show some thought about the gift you’re offering. Special is a new one, and it’s all digital with a fancy delivery and design to impress mum.

Instead of having to drop into a Servo on the way to Mother’s Day Lunch, or a late night dash to the supermarket – you can do it all on your smartphone.

At Special.com.au you can get mum a Gift Card with anything from $5 to $1000 of credit, but instead of picking a store where the gift card will work, you can choose a category your mum fits in.

Mum might be a Latte Lover, or a Chill Seeker, perhaps she’s a Style Setter, a Tech Head or just an out and out Super Shopper!

Those are just a few of the options at Special.com.au.

We’ve tested this out and the best part of the experience is the “opening” of the gift and the way you store your card.

Mum receives and SMS with a link to Special. Click that link and there’s a gift box on screen ready to “open”

Tap the gift to reveal your card, and hey presto your gift is delivered.

Download the Special App, and you can then view the card at any time, see the balance, add the card to your Apple or Google Wallet and off you go.

With a gift card in your Apple Wallet alongside your existing bank cards, you can tap and go to use the card when you’re shopping.

The only issue I can see is that the cards are set to work at limited retailers – when I say limited, the Tech Head one works at 76,400 retailers in Australia, Latte Lover works at 112,900 retailers – and the list is in the app and on the website.

I tried to pay for parking with a “Pub Crawler” card and it declined. I then used my Latte Lover card at my local cafe which wasn’t listed on the retailer list – but it worked a treat.