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

[feener]

go less on spouse gifts and possibly not do siblings

[Stacy]

How am I saving money? You mean in more ways than by just NOT buying things?
In fact, we're taking advantage of some sales, planning ahead and getting specific gifts for certain people, keeping our list to just close family and remembering that being together and celebrating our health and happiness are the most important gifts.

[Julie]

Fun giveaway. I'm shopping online with coupon codes!

[Kimberly]

I plan to save money by making more of my gifts this year. Also, we are picking names in our family so we only have to buy one gift instead of 20!

[Amy]

It would be so great to win some holiday gear for my little one and to share with friends. This is always a slow time for me in my line of work but it's especially bad thus year. I'm pretty broke until after the new year. I'm saving money by staying in town and counting on grandparents to come through w gifts for my daughter. Also instead of buying gifts for family and friends this yr, I'm giving cards to let them know I'm doing some volunteer work in lieu of presents. Hopefully this will b more meaningful for them anyway. It's a bummer to be broke during the holidays but I know many people are worse off than me. It has helped me to fous on what is really important.

[Teresa]

To save money this Christmas we're buying fewer presents and making cards. It's all about family!

[Melanie]

One of the best ways I'm saving money this year is by putting in the time & effort making my own holiday and party snacks and goodies (stuff like appies and desserts) instead of buying ready-made. My kids are helping me out, and we're having fun!

[Laptop Televison Mom]

What a great prize pack!

Our family is doing a book exchange this year instead of exchanging elaborate gifts. This way we each get new books to enjoy and the opportunity to explore each other's tastes in books.

[Nicole]

My kiddos and nieces would love this basket. We don't have much choice about saving money - so we're buysing minimally online, staying with family for the holidays. We planned a thanksgiving trip about a year and a half ago, so thankfully (ha!) that was already paid for.

[Julie Donahue]

I guess you could say we are saving money by getting the engine replaced in our SUV. We are getting almost double the gas mileage as before. (Not quite enough to offset the $$ spent on the engine, but.....)
So we aren't spending much right now!