Contests and Giveaways - Get a Jump Start on Your Holiday Gifts!

Updated December 2: Congratulations to Julie, who is the winner of the holiday gift bag -- and to Mary Ellen, who won the tickets to see High School Musical: The Ice Show. Thank you to everyone who posted a comment! We'll have more contests on SoCal Mom soon.

Silicon Valley Moms Group, is giving away a gorgeous Epson Artisan 800 printer. I reviewed this baby earlier this week on SoCal Stuff, and I have to tell you that this is the best printer I've ever owned - and it looks good, too. Enter to win here.

And I'm running TWO NEW contests here at SoCal Mom: One for SoCal residents and the second is for EVERYONE:

1. I'm giving away another family four-pack: This one is to see "High School Musical on Ice" during its SoCal run. (SoCal residents can enter here by December 5).

2. I'm giving away a holiday bag of stocking stuffers and novelty holiday items. The bag includes:

1. Star Wars Digital Camera Kit

2. Hello Kitty MP3 Player

3. Two Kookey Stuffed Plush Animals (these have a web-based virtual counterpart, similar to Webkinz)

4. Two Tracksters online race cars

5. A plush toy based on a character from the Nintendo game "Animal Crossing."

A collection of holiday Litewear (which light up as you move), including two adult tops, two juvenile tops and a pair of children's Santa slippers.

The entire package retails for a little under $200 and I'll be giving it away on December 12! To enter the drawing, just leave a comment on this post, telling me how you plan to save money this holiday season.

Comments

[Mimi]

Oh I would love to win this!

We're saving money by looking at what we really need to get and budgeting for that.

Also, we're not doing a "full on" thanksgiving but waiting until Christmas for the big meal.

We can't afford to visit family so we'll be solo celebrating for both Thanksgiving and Christmas too!

[kimberly/tippytoes]

Ooohhh! My kids would love this stuff! I'm saving money by cutting back on gifts. Fewer more functional things. The big wow! gifts will have to wait.

[M&Co.]

I intend to shop via the web. Get in. Get what I want. Get out. The malls are a dangerous place.

[xiaolinmama]

oh fun. How am I saving money this season? Well I am going to try to make all gifts or get them free through giveaways:)

[JessicaAPISS]

What a great collection of gifts! As usual, you do everything with finesse.

[Thien-Kim]

We're saving money by only buy for immediate family and very close friends. I also plan to give food gives. Like soup or cookie mixes.

[bonggamom]

I love your holiday gift bag! My daughter would love the Hello Kitty MP3 player.

To save money this Christmas, we are going homemade -- I printed out our holiday cards and I'm giving homemade goodies to teachers, co-workers and friends.

[Account Deleted]

We're saving money this year by doing "family" gifts rather than a gift for each cousin. They can still be great quality, etc, but it ends up being less expensive to get one fabulous gift then a whole bunch of little (overpriced) gifts.

I'm adding in a couple tiny items for each kid so they have something to open for "just them," but it is way cheaper than if each child got an expensive present on their own.

[Stimey]

I'm saving money just by being far more careful in my shopping--and beig a little extra creative. I want to get a Lego table for my son, but they cost at least $90, so I bought a table from IKEA for 12.99 and am gluing four $6.99 baseplates to it. He'll be thrilled and never know the difference.

[Leticia- Tech Savvy Mama]

I am a teacher and at my school, the staff decides to donate money towards grocery and Target gift cards that we give out to our neediest families in lieu of buying each other gifts. While I probably end up spending a little less than I would buying little gifts for everyone, it makes me feel so much better to give back to the families in our school community. Thanks for the awesome giveaways! If I win, some of these presents will go to needy students at our school.