WellConnectedMom.com has scoured the Internet looking for Freebies to help make your Christmas a little more fun without spending anymore money. Check out each Freebie and then spread the Christmas cheer by sending the link of this article to your friends so they can enjoy them as well.
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Thank you for visiting WellConnectedMom.com and helping to make it grow by leaps and bounds. As a result of your enthusiasm for this site, WellConnectedMom.com now contributes articles to other great websites like ChinoHills.com, Cybertegic.com, and MomTechnology.com. In addition, because of the number of visitors visiting, we have been able to obtain a press pass at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in January. As a result, WellConnectedMom.com will offer even more exciting glimpses of current and upcoming technologies for moms as well as interviews with some of the companies making them. From my family to yours, have a wonderful Christmas Season and enjoy these precious times with your family.
Now, for the 12 Days of Christmas Freebies Countdown!
On the First Day ofChristmas…
Visit the Aveeno Tote Bag site to order your free Aveeno® Tote Bag. The bag has a retail value of $8. Perfect for toting around your children’s book, your ads for the Christmas sales, your reading while your children are in their ballet class, etc. Note that the tote bag pictured is an example of a previous Aveeno® Tote Bag giveaway. This year’s design is a surprise. Allow 6-8 weeks for delivery. All requests must be received by February 28, 2010. Supplies are limited.
On the Second Day of Christmas…
Hungry? Looking for a snack chip that’s a wee bit healthier? Click Stacy’s Pita Chips to get a coupon for a free bag of pita chips. Stacy’s Pita Chips are all natural pita and twice-baked. I’ve never had them before, but I love pita chips — especially with hummus! To obtain the coupon, you must first become a Fan of Stacy’s Pita Chips on Facebook. After you click on the “Become a Fan” button, you will see a form to fill out to let them know where to send your chips. This offer is good for 65,000 bags of chips and the coupon expires February 28, 2010. Coupons will be mailed within 2-4 weeks of registering.
On the Third Day of Christmas…
Amazon is offering “25 Days of Free” Christmas mp3”s this year. But even better, WellConnectedMom.com found their complete list of Free mp3’s which includes more than 50 Christmas songs- as well as many other types of music. There are Christmas favorites by artists like MercyMe, Casting Crowns, Jars of Clay, Tori Amos, Lady GaGa, and many more. Visit Amazon’s Free Music mp3’s for music to enjoy the whole season long.
On the Fourth Day of Christmas…
This is always one of my favorite Christmastime freebies on the web. Visit Elf Yourself to upload pictures of your family’s faces into their site. You don’t need to have a separate picture for each family member. You can upload one picture and just crop out the face you want to add. Unfortunately, you’ll need to keep uploading this same picture for every family member’s face. You have a choice to upload a picture from your computer or upload a picture from your Facebook account. The whole process takes about 15 minutes but it’s worth the effort. When you’re done, you’ll see your family dressed as elves dancing to a fun Christmas jingle. Watch dance moves you never knew you could do! Send your family elf dance to friends using the free e-mail button. Or post your family elf dance to Facebook. If you click on the “download this movie” – to add to your computer or to upload YouTube, the cost is $4.95.
On the Fifth Day of Christmas…
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is offering 2 free personalized luggage tags – complete with name, address, phone, e-mail address, and your own uploaded picture. Put as much or as little information on your luggage tag as you would like. I uploaded a family picture and when the tags arrive I plan on putting them on the luggage my kids tote over to their grandparents’ house. By signing up for the luggage tags, you will also receive KLM’s promotional eNews. You can unsubscribe anytime on KLM.com.
On the Sixth Day of Christmas…
Northpole.com is a fun Christmas destination website for your kids. Nowhere else on the Internet can your child find so much to do around the Christmas theme. Northpole.com is a free, family-oriented interactive site depicting Santa’s Secret Village at the North Pole. Northpole.com has been wowing parents !and children alike since 1996. Activities inlcude writing a letter to Santa — and getting a free “keepsake-quality” reply letter within just a few days, short stories about reindeers, elves and toys, personalized stories featuring your child to read or print, wallpaper for your computer screen, games to play, Christmas e-cards to send, a chance for your child to chat with elves, puzzles, and more! Your child will love this site – and so will you. Northpole.com provides a great safe learning environment for your child and provides for a good opportunity for you to spend quality time with your kids.
On the Seventh Day of Christmas…
Pillsbury is offering a free 2010 Pillsbury Calendar if you sign up for their Pillsbury or Cooking 4 Two Newsletters. When signing up for a newsletter you’ll be asked to provide your mailing address. Pillsbury will send out your calendar upon completion. The newsletter will be sent to you periodically, which includes coupons, recipes, and meal ideas. Allow for 6-8 weeks for delivery of the calendar. This offer expires 12/31/2009. Bon Appetit!
On the Eighth Day of Christmas…
Get a free 2 year Lego Magazine subscription for your kids. The Lego Magazine is a part of Lego’s free club which provides games, contests, comics, communication with members, and available products. The magazine is portrayed in comic-style and contains lego building ideas, games, and special offers. Lego Magazine has two versions – one for 6 and under and one for 7 and older. Elgibiliity for the proper Lego Magazine is dependent upon your child’s birthdate. My kids have been receiving the Lego magazine for a couple of years now and they love to look through it.
On the Ninth Day of Christmas…
Google offers a free Book Search that searches over 10 million books. Google and a few of its publishing partners have scanned many of these books into Google’s Book database. One million of these books are fully available to view. Another one million are public domain. Most of the scanned books are no longer in print or available for sale. Google has spent over $5 million in scanning the books using optical character recognition. In fact, Google allows many of these out of print books to be downloaded by users in PDF format. Google plans to continue to scan in as many books as possible so one day you will be able to search almost any book pertaining to a particular subject.
By clicking on the “contents” link, you can tell right away whether a book has been scanned with all of it’s chapters or just a few. You’ll find all sorts of books available including romance novels, science fiction, fairy tales, business books, economics, philosophy, chemistry, humor, women’s rights, and many more. If you see some books you like, you can save them to your own personal Google Books Library so it’s easy to find them again. In addition, Google has scanned in numerous magazines – with many of issues scanned in.
Remember Google Books on your smartphone – the next time you’re waiting to see the doctor, pick up a good novel through Google Books to catch up on one of your favorite past-times – reading.
On the Tenth Day of Christmas…
Who isn’t excited to know when Santa will arrive at your home Christmas Eve? NoradSanta.org takes all the guesswork out. Now you and your kids can track Santa as he delivers toys all around the world. Norad has been tracking Santa for over 50 years. The homepage of NoradSanta.org will show you on Christmas Eve where Santa is headed. Or, you can also track Santa by downloading Google Earth.
If you haven’t experienced Google Earth before (another freebie from Google), this is a must have. Google Earth takes pictures of the Earth from sattelite cameras and pieces them all together. You can find your house (even see your pool if you have one), Disneyland, the Eiffel Tower, the Pyramids -whatever in the world you’re interested in. Note, if you decide to download Google Earth, Google packages along Google Chrome, which is an internet browser, similar to Internet Explorer. The two internet browsers can co-exist on your computer.
On the Eleventh Day of Christmas…
Ok, I have to admit, this is one of my favorite Freebies! Microsoft is offering to anyone who is interested, a free beta copy of the new Office Suite, called Office 2010. Office 2010 includes Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, Excel, OneNote, Access, Publisher, and a few other programs. If you have the most current Microsoft Office version, you have Office 2007. Microsoft updates their software every 3-4 years to offer new functionality and of course, pursuade their current users to upgrade. By downloading the beta version of Office 2010, you will receive the full version of all of the programs I mentioned. Score! But you’re probably thining, what’s the catch?
There are a few things to keep in mind before you download:
1. Since it’s a beta version, there could be bugs (errors) in the software. Microsoft is still working out the bugs. However, most of the reports I have read conclude that Microsoft has already done a great job at minimizing the bugs.
2. Beta also means that this is a trial version. Microsoft states that Office 2010 will work on your computer until the end of October 2010. Then you will need to buy an access code to continue using the software.
3. Office 2010 and your current Microsoft Office suite coexist on your computer. However, if you use Outlook 2010, it will overwrite your current version of Outlook. So, either don’t use Outlook 2010 if you want to use your current Office suite after the beta trial or use Outlook 2010 if you plan to upgrade after the trial.
I will be writing more about Office 2010 in the coming months.
On the Twelth Day of Christmas…
The HP Learning Center is a great way to get up to speed on some of the programs you use often (PowerPoint, Excel, Word, PowerPoint), learn more about social networking (Facebook, Twitter, MySpace), work your camera better, how to scan your pictures and documents, even lower your energy usage in your home! I love this site and have been impressed with the quality of the classes HP offers. Some classes are quick lessons – where you can review the material immediately. Others are actual online classes where new material is presented each week and you have reading assignments and even a little homework. One of the benefits is that other students are enrolled in the class too, so you can ask questions or chat online with other students as well as the teacher.
HP offers some great free classes you can take online to learn more about your hobbies. Here is a sampling of the many classes that are available to you 24/7:
Digital photography: take great people shots (quick lesson)
Scanning basics
Create and print your own high-quality marketing materials
Improve your personal networking skills
Laptop PCs: basic troubleshooting and repair (quick lesson)
Microsoft® Windows® 7 preview (quick lesson)
Online social networking (quick lesson)
Technology and your elementary school student (quick lesson)
Save money, be energy efficient
Stress, sanity and survival NEW!
I hope you enjoyed the 12 Days of Christmas Freebies. Watch out for the next post on the Top 10 Christmas Gadgets for Moms.
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Those are all amazing freebies!! Some of them I didn't even know and others I completely forgot. Thanks for the reminder 🙂
Lori, thanks for the freebie tips! I'm starting to read your Windows 7 review. It's very informative. Thanks I appreciate all of your input!