Peet's: Free coffee and tea all day long on Dec. 24.

If you're feeling the chill while you're out and about doing holiday errands on Xmas Eve, stop in to your local Peet's for free brewed coffee and tea all day! (See the second paragraph on that page.) Flask optional.

Barnes & Noble: 40% off one gift item.

I'm not exactly sure what "gift item" means — that could be just about anything at this time of year, as past holidays have taught me. But you can get 40% off one gift item, whatever that is, at Barnes & Noble now through Dec. 24.

6-pack of pom-pom ankle socks? Power drill bits with no drill? What will YOU pick?

Barnes & Noble: 30% off one item.

Last-minute shoppers, all is not lost! Barnes & Noble has a 30% off one item coupon that's good through Dec. 24. There's a bit of fine print, but it mostly applies to everything, so shop away!

And if your holiday shopping is already done, feel free to breathe a sigh of relief and use this for yourself.

Restaurant.com: $25 certificates just $1!

UPDATE: This deal is so hot, it broke their server! But don't worry, the discount goes through Dec. 24, so go have a peppermint latte or something and check back in a bit.

Looking for some last-minute stocking stuffers? Restaurant.com dining certificates are a great way to get discounts to restaurants you already know and love, or have just been wanting an excuse to try.

A $25-off certificate (generally off a minimum food purchase of $35) now costs just $1 with promo code JOY. There's usually some fine print, so check before you buy, but when else can you turn $1 into $25 this easily?

Groupon: Buy local, get $10 back.

Groupon has a special holiday promotion running where the first 150,000 who buy a local deal in their area will receive $10 in Groupon Bucks placed in their account on Dec. 31! The Groupon Bucks you receive must be used by March 31, but that shouldn't be too hard to do.

If you're looking for a last-minute gift, buy a local Groupon and you can treat yourself too!

Dec. 16 is Free Shipping Day!

Otherwise known as Oh Crap It's 9 Days Till Xmas Day, today is Free Shipping Day! Get free shipping from almost 2,600 online merchants. You can use the Free Shipping Day website to browse participating merchants, search for a specific one, and score promo codes for free shipping and discounts.

There's a wide variety of participating stores, so don't panic!

Target: Free $10 gift card with $75 purchase.

The Target gift card offer is back, in a slightly less appealing form... this time you'll have to spend $75 in order to get the free $10 gift card. Still, if you're buying a couple of gifts and some holiday dinner groceries, maybe some candy or wrapping paper, it won't be hard to hit the minimum purchase!

Offer is valid from Friday, Dec. 16, at 5:00 pm through noon on Dec. 17, so choose your shopping times wisely...

FREE $10 dining coupons from Restaurant.com.

You may remember this offer from last year, when Restaurant.com just started shooting free $10 dining certificates out of a cannon during the holidays, and it's BACK! Go to their Feed it Forward site and login with your regular Restaurant.com account (or create one) in order to start sending $10-off coupons to your favorite local restaurants. Send one to your coworker, send one to your mailman, send one to your yoga teacher! They're free, so why not?

You can send up to 40 a day, so get going!

Target: Free $10 gift card with $50 purchase.

Here's a deal that I won't have any trouble qualifying for... it is not hard at all to rack up $50 at Target on things I simply must have (especially since they have surprisingly good prices on baking supplies).

Get a $10 gift card with this coupon when you spend $50 at Target, now through Dec. 12. Even if you're way more organized than me and already have your holiday shopping done, stock up on toiletries or groceries and you'll be there in no time!

Einstein Bros.: Free Holiday Poppers with beverage purchase.

Now this one really mystifies me (even more than the gelatinous crystal air freshener chunks). At Einstein Bros., you can get something called "Holiday Bagel Poppers" free with any beverage purchase. They look like donut holes, in that they're covered in frosting and sprinkles, but I assume they must be bagels under there because they're called "bagel poppers."

If you dip a bagel bite in frosting and sprinkles, does that make it a donut hole? I guess there's only one way to find out. Somebody try it and tell us!

Seattle: Free ice skating Dec. 9 at Capitol Hill ice rink.

What's this? I leave town for a couple of weeks and they build an ice rink in the middle of Capitol Hill? If you're as curious as I am, try it out free tomorrow, Dec. 9, from 11 am to 3 pm. (Admission is normally $12, so that's a pretty sweet deal if you're free during the day.)

Apparently the rink is using "synthetic ice," whatever that is, which some people have griped just isn't the same. There's only one way to know...

Wonder if they'll be hosting Occupy Seattle Icecapades?

Barnes & Noble: 20% off one item, 50% off cookbooks.

This isn't THAT great of a deal, but maybe I'm just posting it because I'm nostalgic for the glory days of Borders coupons. Now through Dec. 8, you can get 20% off one item at Barnes & Noble's online store using promo code T3N9N3L.

Of course, that doesn't really make up for having to pay shipping unless you hit the $25 free shipping mark, so it's probably best used on a bigger-ticket item. Sadly, the Nook e-reader is excluded from this deal, but it looks like just about everything else is fair game.



Oh, and all cookbooks are 50% off at B&N.com today, too!

Free holiday song-a-day from Amazon.

Ready for nonstop holiday music between now and the 25th? If you need more holly jolly in your life, check out the free-song-a-day offer on Amazon.com. Every day, another new holiday song is available for free download, so there are already five free songs waiting for you!

This offer is how I originally heard the Lady Gaga "Christmas Tree" song, which has become one of my favorites, so I'm looking forward to seeing what they have this year...

$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

 

Making the best of those unwanted gift cards.

In this modern age, it's hard to get through a holiday season without receiving at least one gift card (I got four myself). But do you know all the applicable federal and state laws surrounding gift cards? Of course not, and that's why this handy state-by-state guide to gift card law is so awesome. For example, here in Washington state, gift cards are redeemable for cash if the value is $5.00 or less - good to know if you assumed you HAD to spend down to the last penny (and end up spending your own money to cover the difference on that last purchase).

Lifehacker has a good article on ways to make sure you use your gift cards to their fullest, including electronic reminders when you're close to an expiration date.

And if you have a dog of a gift card that you know you'll never, ever use in a million years, consider using a trade-in site like Plastic Jungle to exchange it for one you actually will. Yeah, you'll lose a bit of value on that card, but you'll end up with something you'll really use.

Free coffee and tea at Peet's all day on Dec. 24!

While you're out bustling around tomorrow and doing those last few holiday errands, stop by Peet's for a free brewed coffee or tea. They'll be giving it away all day long as a thank-you to the local community.

Each Peet's store has chosen its own nonprofit organization to donate holiday fundraising efforts to, so you could also do a good deed and drop a buck or two into the collection box while you're enjoying your free beverage.

Free NPR Best Music of 2010 playlist.

NPR has a holiday gift for you: a free playlist of the best music of 2010, hand-picked by them. Download the iTunes playlist (if you don't have iTunes, it's free, but you need to download it first). The selection includes folk, electronica, jazz, and world music, so it sounds eclectic, to say the very least.

40% off at Ann Taylor, 30% off at Express, Gap, Old Navy.

Last-minute holiday gifting panic? Or are you all done and ready to shop for yourself? Either way, check out these clothing sales:

• 40% off everything at Gap, today only (30% off tomorrow, 25% off the next day)
• 30% off everything at Express, today only
• 40% off your entire purchase at Ann Taylor with promo code SAVE40 (through Dec. 28)
• 30% off any one item at Old Navy

Shop till you drop!

Today is Free Shipping Day - WITH guaranteed Xmas delivery.

Now, of course I'm not talking about you here, but if you have a friend who maybe hasn't gotten all their holiday shopping quite done yet, they'll be glad to know that today is Free Shipping Day. Over 1,000 merchants have joined in a mighty fellowship, making a sacred pact to offer free shipping AND guaranteed Xmas Day delivery if you order today.

Some stores are offering this deal for all orders; some require a minimum purchase; and some are offering discounts and sales on top of the free-shipping offer, so you should browse the list of merchants and check out your options. Just don't take too long, because that's what got your friend into this mess in the first place.

(Courtesy of Hey It's Free)

Seattle: Buy a $10 Cupcake Royale gift card, get a free cupcake or drink.

Panicking over last-minute surprise gifts, Seattle? Why not keep a $10 Cupcake Royale gift card in your pocket, and you'll be ready for whatever the holidays throw your way. 

• Thank-you gift for coworker, mailman, pet sitter
• Emergency present-ambush defense 
• Toss it in a "white elephant" party and watch the blood fly as people fight for it

Plus, when you buy a $10 gift card, Cupcake Royale will treat YOU to a free beverage or cupcake as a little thank-you. See, it really is better to give than to receive.