photo credit: Creativity+ Timothy K Hamilton
With the holiday season upon us, my wife and I have started our planning and shopping for gifts for family and friends. We plan on being patient in our shopping this year, looking for the best possible deals. We have already planned on cutting back this year on spending, as most American families are doing because of the economic crisis. That makes it more prudent to stretch our dollars as far as we can to maximize our spending. It appears that retailers will probably be offering incredible deals this year, struggling for every dollar they can get in this week economy. In addition to shopping for the best bargains and deals, I have identified 4 gifts for this upcoming season that will cost us no money! I wanted to share this list to inspire others to be flexible and look for ways to save money. This is a working list of free gifts we will be giving away this year. I will be updating it if any more come along in the next couple of weeks. Please feel free to comment on any ideas that you have for free gifts for the upcoming holidays.
1 – My Coke Rewards -
photo credit: moogsI have been collecting rewards points from Coke products for several months now. These points can be redeemed for various prizes, coupons, and coke products on the My Coke Rewards site. One of the products that I will be redeeming is an 8 1/2″ x 11″ Classic Photo Calendar from Snapfish for 380 rewards points. The 380 points has taken some time to accumulate as it is equivalent to 38 12-packs of Coke products. No, I have not been consuming that much Diet Coke, but have been asking co-worker’s, family, friends, and neighbors for their unused points. Most people don’t care to spend the time entering the codes for redemption, so they have no problem giving me their codes. I am planning on having our oldest son help me put this calendar together with pictures of our family. My two boys can then give the calendar to their mother for Christmas.
2 – Discover Card My Rewards – Within the next month, we will have accumulated $20 in rewards from our new Discover Open Road Card. 
photo credit: Aim and shoot!Once we reach this amount, we will be redeeming the $20 for a $30 Blockbuster gift card. The Discover program actually offers better discounts if you choose to redeem your rewards for gift cards instead of cash! We will be using this $30 Blockbuster gift card as a holiday gift for a close friend.
3 – Citi Thank You! Rewards – We have a Citi Rewards Card that we use to make 90% of our purchases. We use this card simply to establish good credit and to redeem Thank You! points through the cards reward program. 
photo credit: JaxPhotographyWe keep track of our monthly purchases and pay off the balance each and every month so that we don’t incur any finance charges or late fees. This year, we will be redeeming 18,000 rewards points and will receive $150 in Target gift cards. My wife and I will be using these gift cards to purchase holiday gifts for our two boys on Black Friday (day after Thanksgiving), or when they have great holiday deals. This $150 will go a really long way in helping us stay on track with our holiday spending. We have been saving up our rewards points throughout the past year so that they can be used to help buy gifts for the holidays.
4 – Walgreens Email -
photo credit: selvaA few weeks ago, I signed up for an online account at Walgreens in order to submit a rebate for some candy I purchased. By signing up, you also receive email notices for special savings, coupons, promotions, etc. This week, I received an email notice to redeem 1 free 8 x 10 photo. I am going to use this free gift to get a nice 8 x 10 photo of our two boys so they can give it to their mother for the holidays. All I need to do is upload her favorite photo of them and then get a frame. I was not counting on this special promotion as a gift idea, but am taking advantage of the offer!
Several of the free gift ideas that I posted took several months of planning to work up to. Unfortunately it may be too late for some to use these examples for this holiday season. However, these practices could be applied for next year’s season and may also inspire others to think of ideas for this year.
How do you stretch your holiday gift budget? Do you take advantage of special programs and rewards to help fund your holiday purchases?
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Honestly, living in Canada we do not find some of the amazing deals I have found while shopping in America.. A little trick of mine is buy gifts WAY in advance, so far in advance that you get a low price because they are simply out of season.. This may seem stupid but hear me out, I keep a closet with random gifts for family members (BDay, Xmas, etc.) When I find a deal I grab it and just hold the item until the occasion comes to give a gift.
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Studenomist – Do you not find the deals in America because of the value of the dollar? I use to live near the Detroit/Windsor border and people would always go over to Canada to buy stuff.
My wife and I also keep a closet of random gifts (mostly for kids for our son’s friends).
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