The holidays keep people pretty busy and totally crazy! {Please say yes so I know it isn’t just me!} If you’re a mom, chances are they are even crazier for you because a lot of the gift planning, buying, wrapping and giving falls to you.

I wanted to give a good friend of mine a little break from the craziness of the holidays recently. Of course, it is the holidays so my budget was pretty small. So, I visited the Mastercard Marketplace to see if I could score a deal. The only stipulation to use the marketplace is that you use your Mastercard. No problem in our household. We have our Mastercard and our card for Costco and that is it as far as credit cards go 🙂

So, what exactly is the Marketplace? It is a site where there are bunches of offers for discounted goods, services and restaurants that are open to Mastercard holders. You can sort the offers by category, start dates, popularity and even check out offers your friends have liked!

I started my plan in motion by making sure my friends’ kids had stuff to do so she wouldn’t have to worry about watching them. I wanted this to be true time away. Once that was settled, I invited her over under the pretense that I needed her help with something around the house.

In reality, I was planning a sweet and treats afternoon! I had found an awesome deal in the Marketplace where I could get delicious pastries from an upscale local bakery at half off! I clicked on the deal and it took me to the site to finish up my purchase. Using my voucher was a breeze at the local bakery too!

I picked up some macaroons and petit fours. I was pretty excited to see the cute little Christmas themed petit fours!

To complete our “treats”, I bought some ingredients to make frozen hot chocolate and pulled out my super cute red and white straws.

The frozen hot chocolate was so easy to make and really delicious.  I used a recipe from Epicurious which mimics the Frozen Hot Chocolate from the famous New York restaurant, Serendipity.

My friend was so surprised when she showed up! We had a fabulous afternoon of relaxation with some very delicious pastries and frozen hot chocolate to complete the “party”.

Want more info on the Marketplace so you can plan your own afternoon delight? Check out Mastercard Marketplace’s twitter, Facebook and Instagram!

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias® and MasterCard #CBias #SocialFabric #FinishMyList