Free Krispy Kreme Halloween donut for costumed customers, Oct. 31.

You may be too old for trick-or-treating, but you can recapture the magic of free sugary handouts if you stop by Krispy Kreme on Monday, Oct. 31, in costume. Dress in costume and get a free Halloween or pumpkin spice donut! No purchase necessary, but you may have to show them the coupon on your mobile phone. Find a store near you.

$5 magazine sale at Hearst.

I know you don't want to think about it yet, but the holidays are coming! And the beauty of giving magazines is that if you do it now, the first issue will actually arrive sometime around the holidays, so your timing will be perfect.

 

Hearst is having a $5 magazine sale on a dozen or so titles. Some of those are for partial-year subscriptions, so read the list carefully, but you should be able to find some mom-and-dad-friendly titles for those family gifts...

• Cosmopolitan 6 issues
• Country Living 12 issues
• Esquire 12 issues
• Food Network Magazine 5 issues
• Good Housekeeping 12 issues
• Harper's BAZAAR 12 issues
• House Beautiful 12 issues
• Marie Claire 12 issues
• O, The Oprah Magazine 6 issues
• Popular Mechanics 12 issues
• Redbook 12 issues
• Seventeen 12 issues
• Town & Country 12 issues
• Veranda 8 issues

 

Facebook: Free $25 AmEx gift cards to the first 30,000 on Nov. 1.

UPDATE: It starts at 1:00 pm Eastern time, or 10:00 am Pacific time for those of us on the West Coast. Set your reminders!

Last year, American Express did a support-small-business program during the holidays, where you'd get a $25 refund when you made a $25+ purchase at a small local business. This year they're doing it slightly differently by teaming up with FedEx via Facebook.

Starting on Nov. 1 (which could mean EDT or PDT - stay tuned!), the first 30,000 visitors to FedEx's Facebook page can sign up for a $25 ShopSmall AmEx gift card. This is all part of its campaign for Small Business Saturday (Nov. 26), encouraging shoppers to buy from their local independent businesses this holiday season. A good idea whether you get one of the gift cards or not!

Restaurant.com certificates 80% off.

Once again, Restaurant.com is offering 80% off on their discount gift certificates, this time as a Halloween special. Use code PUMPKIN through Oct. 31 to get 80% off — a $10-off coupon will cost you just under $1, and a $25-off coupon will cost you about $2.

For those prices, you could almost use them as trick-or-treat handouts (at least the parents would appreciate them)!

Arm & Hammer Neti Pot kit free after rebate.

The season of sinus congestion is upon us, and what better time to enjoy a free Neti pot kit? Just send in the rebate form along with your receipt (with price circled) and the UPC code from the box, and you'll get your purchase price back up to $14.99.

Um... have fun?

Free sample of Aveeno Living Color 'poo and conditioner.

It's been a little while since we had a 'poo freebie, but Aveeno saves the day with some free samples of their Living Color hair stuff! Scroll down to the bottom to find the link to the online form, and your samples will be on their way to you.

Free Republic of Tea samples.

It's officially tea time (says the lady with the stuffy nose and sore throat)! Start things off with some free Republic of Tea samples. Yes, you'll be signing up for their e-newsletter, so be sure to give them your very finest, and not at all junk, email account.

Facebook: Free L'Occitane 10 ml hand cream in-store.

Fancy-pants bath-product store L'Occitane is offering a Facebook freebie to their fans: a free 10mL (1 oz.) hand cream, normally $10. When you "like" them, you'll register for a free coupon that they'll mail to you, which you take to a store to redeem.

Find a store near you. Seattle, our closest store is in Pacific Place, downtown.

Southwest Fare Sale: $35 and up.

Southwest is having a fare sale right now and their pricing structure makes sense: you pay based on the distance you travel. So it's $35 for a distance of up to 450 miles, and on up from there to $125.

Book by October 20 and fly November 30–December 14, 2011 or January 4–February 15, 2012.

Target: Free Barista Prima K-cup sample.

The coffee freebies continue! Today you can get a free sample of Barista Prima K-cup coffee through Target's sample website. They offer quite a few samples through this page, so it's worth it to stop by occasionally and see what's available.

Free La Creme coffee creamer after rebate.

It seems to be Rebate Week, so let's keep it going with another one: get up to $2.99 back when you buy a full-size La Creme coffee creamer (available at Walmart and Safeway). You have until 12/31/11 to buy the product and send in the rebate, so you can even wait a while and save it for your Thanksgiving dinner or holiday cookie parties if you want.

One thing to remember with rebates is to read the instructions VERY carefully — sometimes they insist on you cutting out the UPC code, sometimes they don't, but they usually want the original receipt with the item(s) circled. So if you're trying to cash in on all the rebates this week, make sure you buy them in separate transactions so you have receipts to send off with each one.

Restaurant.com certificates 80% off.

Here's another old faithful: Restaurant.com has their dining certificates for 80% off using coupon code TOUCHDOWN (I think it's a soccer term?). You know the drill - basically you're buying $10-off or $25-off coupons for $1-2, and many of them come with minimum purchase amounts or other restrictions, but they can be a pretty good deal and there are lots of restaurants to choose from. Stock up and look like a big spender!

Zombie Borders: 33% off your entire purchase.

Well, how about that! Just the other day I was lamenting how the steady stream of Borders coupons always gave me things to post, and how I was going to miss them. And now we have a hauntingly similar promo code out from Zombie Borders! (The walking corpse of Borders.com is now being run by Barnes & Noble - you may have received an email this week notifying you that B&N was taking over Borders' email lists.)

Use promo code BNJ9464R to get 33% off your entire order. Good through 12/6/11 - maybe to get rid of the last bits of inventory? That's even better than the single-item discount we used to get with the coupons! I already like Zombie Borders.

$5 magazine sale at Amazon.

Looking for something to curl up with during the fall and winter months ahead? Sign yourself up for a $5 magazine subscription through Amazon. And I just want to point out that Country Living is much better than you're probably thinking — it's not like Country Bunnies Monthly or anything. For $5, you can afford to check it out, right?

Free PAM cooking spray with rebate.

It's quite the week for food rebates! In addition to the Progresso soup rebate, now we have one for PAM cooking spray. Get a free cooking spray in original, olive oil, or butter after mail-in rebate (up to $4.00). Send a copy of your cash-register receipt (dated 10/1/2011–4/27/2012) showing the purchase of PAM Original, Olive Oil, or Butter variety (with the purchase price circled), and the completed offer form. Must be received by 05/27/2012.

Just don't try to use the PAM to cook your soup. Nothing good can come of that.

Free Emergen-C Kidz samples.

Emergen-C is always giving away free samples, and this time they're offering samples of Emergen-C Kidz (start 'em young!). I wonder if I would have been fooled into thinking this was just a tasty drink mix if my parents had given it to me as a kid? It probably would have been better than the time my dad tried to pass off carob chips as chocolate.

Free Aquafresh Extreme Clean toothpaste.

Brighten up your teeth the EXTREME way with Aquafresh Extreme Clean toothpaste! Get your free sample and let the scouring begin.

Free can of Progresso Rich & Hearty soup.

If your morning commute was as chilly and rainy as mine, then there's no doubt in your mind that soup season is here. How about a free can of Progresso Rich & Hearty soup to start things off? Get a mail-in rebate for up to $2.68 when you buy one Progresso® Rich & Hearty Soup between 9/1/2011 and 1/31/2012. Fill in the rebate form and send in, along with the cash register receipt and UPC bar code symbol from can, postmarked by 2/17/2012.

Plus, that long, brisk walk as you attempt to find a mailbox or an open post office will warm you right up...

Baskin-Robbins: BOGO Flavor of the Month.

It's OCTOBER, you guys! Yikes, where did that come from? Time to start getting serious about my Halloween costume.

Get in the Halloween mood with this BOGO offer from Baskin-Robbins. Buy a cone, get one free on the flavor of the month, Trick Oreo Treat, which is "vanilla ice cream with orange creme-filled Oreo Cookies, Baby Ruth, and Butterfinger candy pieces." It kind of looks like leopard-print ice cream, which, frankly, is completely fine with me.