Jamba Juice is doing it right this holiday season. At participating locations, you can buy a $25 gift card and get a free smoothie. If you’re a Jamba Juice regular, buy the gift card for yourself and start slurping! If you’re going to give a Jamba Juice gift card, then this next offer is even better.

Gift with Purchase

As Kevin B at the San Ramon Jamba Juice explains, for $15, you get a 22 oz. Tumbler and a $5 Jamba Juice gift card. I love ths promotion because it follows my 5 Steps to Better Gift Card Giving. The gift card can be used at a variety of locations, is in a usable amount ($5 is plenty for Jamba Juice), and the recipient gets to “open something.” This would make a great gift for teachers, office staff, and others you want to give a small token to this holiday season.

Add a Personal Scoop

Make it even more personal by putting a list of your favorite smoothies or the “secret Jamba Juice menu” inside the tumbler. Have fun with it.

Get a Gift Card for the Happy Hostess

With Thanksgiving next week, my thoughts are turned to hosting the family festivities. Yes, it’s a little bit of work, but I love it. We’re lucky to have a house big enough to hold everybody, family nearby who want to visit, and willing hands that make the work light.

Thanksgiving

I’m thankful for a mom who still wants to cook Thanksgiving dinner (complete with homemade dinner rolls) but kindly does it in my kitchen. I’m thankful for my husband who wants a deep fried turkey bad enough to cook it himself. (If you’re counting, that’s two turkeys.) I’m thankful for kids and cousins who love to play together. I’m thankful for step-daughters who call their Dad on this day and stop by if they can. I’m thankful for our little granddaughter who reset everybody’s priorities and I’m thankful for willing donors who may help her get better. I’m thankful for the annual Turkey Bowl football game and I’m even more thankful for the ice packs and Advil that are in high demand after it’s over. Though we have our share of hardships and trials, our collective bounty is full.

A Gift for the Hostess

All I ask of my house guests is that you put the toilet seat down and don’t judge my cooking. But if you can’t possibly visit someone empty-handed, check out these ideas on gift cards for the hostess.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving,

Shelley

Paul loved receiving a gift card to his favorite sporting goods store.

With the  holidays coming up and recent changes to gift card laws, my gift-card-obsessed brain is bouncing around like a kid in front of the self-serve topping bins at Yogurt Shack. So many options–so many things to talk about, so many ways to use gift cards, to save money with gift cards, to get free gift cards, and so forth.

But in conversation with Laura Rowley, the Work & Life blogger at Simply Stated, I remembered why I started this website in the first place–simply to share my ideas on ways to turn any gift card into a thoughtful gift. Laura says she has felt funny giving a gift card because of the “impersonal nature of the whole thing.” She’s not alone. But if you add just a touch of effort, those anxious feelings can be dashed. You’ll give someone a gift they can enjoy and you can feel good about at the same time. (Thanks for the shout out, Laura!)

So just a reminder going into the holiday season to keep it Real (Simple). Rather than run all over town shopping for traditional gifts, stressing over sizes and styles, and overspending when nothing is in your price range, get your holiday list checked off in an afternoon by buying gift cards. Then you’ll have time to put a little effort into personalizing those gifts cards or simply enjoying the season.

I’ve got hundreds of ideas and more to come via my blog.  Take a deep breath…I’ll guide you through it!

The South Carolina State Park Service just announced that it’s now offering gift cards for rental of its cabins, campsites, picnic shelters and meeting facilities. I just love this idea. And had to do a little Googling to see if my great state of California offers gift cards as well. Of course, they do. I’m so happy!

I’m always on the lookout for gift ideas for families we exchange presents with over the holidays. Rather than buy individual items, I like to get something the entire family can enjoy, preferably an activity. I’ve given bowling tickets, DVD rentals, and movies passes. But a gift card to the state park would be new and different. I’d probably pair it with some bug spray and a first aid kit or rain ponchos for everybody. Maybe even throw in s’mores fixins that they can eat now in anticipation of a summer camping trip.

A state park gift card would also be a great Mother’s Day or Father’s Day gift because it encourages family togetherness–just be sure to include a homemade gift card to do all the laundry when you get back!

Check the GCG web site for other family, Mother’s Day or Father’s Day gift card ideas.

Treat a family to a trip around the rink.

Tired of nagging my kids to pick up their shoes, stop fighting, talk nice, get ready for school, clear the dishes, flush the toilet, and so forth, I plunked a jelly jar on the counter one day and blurted out, “Fill this jar with beans before holiday break and I’ll take you ice skating.”

I laid out a fairly simple reward structure–do what I say without negotiating, earn a bean. Do me a favor (e.g. let your brother go first), earn a bonus bean. Tell me something nice a sibling did instead of a tattle-tale, earn five beans. Having never been ice skating, the kids snapped to attention and filled the jar before school got out and just before their interest in the whole gimmick ended. (Rumor has it Dad abused the system and awarded a fistful of beans in exchange for a Saturday afternoon nap at some point.) Nonetheless, the kids filled the jar so we took them ice skating this week for the very first time. 

Family Fun for Everyone!

We had so much fun, I couldn’t help but add ice skating to the list of family gift card ideas. To give the gift of ice skating, I would get a gift card to a nearby rink and download the public skating schedule. Then I’d get either an inexpensive set of gloves or a pair of warm, tall socks for everyone in the family. You could also add a travel bottle of hand sanitizer, hot chocolate mix, or matching beanies as well.  Love that.

Teryn gave us a gift card to the movies plus free babysitting.

My 20-year-old step-daughter lived with us for about six months. Though we tried to insulate her from the constant chaos of kids, Teryn couldn’t escape the early morning wake-up calls, dinnertime negotiations, and a constant barrage of questions (“Where are you going?” “Who are you talking to?” “Why do you go to school at night?”).

It’s no surprise she knew exactly what Paul and I needed for Christmas–a babysitter!

Teryn gave us a movie gift card and a homemade ticket that reads, “Redeem for a night off. Admit 3. Ages 9, 7, and 5.” This gift is a treat for the whole family because I get to enjoy a date with my husband and the kids get to spend an evening with their big sister. The movie gift card is a wonderful bonus, but the babysitting alone is all she really needed to do. We can’t wait to redeem this very special gift card!

Click here for more Family Gift Card ideas.