You could celebrate Christmas at a flat just like Bridget Jones' with your friends this year

If you get serious nostalgia for the noughties and love all the best rom coms, then you’ll no doubt adore Bridget Jones’ Diary. It’s the ultimate film to cry to if you're sad or get all warm and fuzzy over—and now you and your friends can actually stay in a flat just like Bridget Jones’!

That’s right, you and your friends can celebrate the festive season together in a replica of the iconic central London flat. And no you won’t have to eat Branston pickle from the jar or touch any blue soup.

BLOOM Gin is launching a competition to let one lucky friend group stay in a flat staged exactly like the one from the 2001 film. The fun doesn’t end there—the lucky winners also get a supply of cocktails, an on-hand mixologist, a preloaded Netflix account, polaroid camera's and matching PJs, all to celebrate Friendsmas! If this isn't Christmas heaven, we don't know what is...

What’s Friendsmas you ask? Well as the name suggests—it's spending Christmas with your friends, who like you just the way you are (see what we did there?). It’s a trend that started to pick up with Millenials and Gen-Z's who are opting to spend the festive period with friends rather than family, or at least celebrate with their pals before heading home for the holidays. 

In fact, a 2018 study found that one in five young people between 21-38 said they were planning to spend Christmas with friends. It’s gained more momentum since then, and it can actually make us feel really happy according to behavioral psychologist Jo Hemmings.

Jo says: “Friendsmas is something to be anticipated, cherished and enjoyed. It gives us freedom, relaxation, and joy to be with the friends that we love the most but without the pressure, formality, and expectations of a traditional Christmas dinner." Something Bridget was very familiar with...

“We’ll just create something appropriately festive with whatever we’ve got to hand, or our friends bring with them—in our own or a gal pal’s home—and wash it down with a drink and a lot of giggles.”

Jo explains that there is a scientific reason for our love for Friendsmas, saying: “Friendship releases all the best feel-good hormones —oxytocin, the bonding neurotransmitter, which connects us and creates that warm feeling of togetherness. We even get a top-up of endorphins, the pleasure we feel from laughing with our friends.” And what better way to spend Friendmas than where the original single girl lived? 

Groups of up to six friends aged 21+ can enter the competition through the website by submitting their most hilarious Christmas-themed stories and blunders. Tales that Bridget would be proud of—good luck!