Giveaway: $25 Build-A-Bear Workshop Gift Card!

I'm not going to lie. I fell in love with Build-A-Bear Workshop last summer during the blogger conference they invited me to here in St. Louis. It was a really awesome experience. Whenever I get an email asking me if I want to do another review and giveaway with them, I always jump at the chance.

So here I am, jumping at the chance again. This time they want you to know about their Valentine's Day collection of Love Bugs and Bears. Take a look at these three cuties:

We opted to make the Sweet Dreams Love Bear to bring home with us today. Here you can see her peeking out of her cute Valentine's Day box:

 

And here she is out of the box:

Cute, huh? Just in time for Valentine's Day, Build-A-Bear Workshop wants to give one of you a $25 gift card to give to the love bug in your life! Here's how you can enter:

• Simply leave any comment on this post. Who would you give a Build-A-Bear Workshop gift card to?  That's an automatic entry. 

•  For a second entry, check out Build-A-Bear Workshop and let me know which bear or other animal you might pick out.

• For a third entry, follow @BuildaBear on Twitter and tweet this: #Win a $25 @BuildaBear gift card via @MeganDunham right here: http://bit.ly/g4IXpG - Come back and leave an extra comment letting me know you did that.

• For a forth entry, mention this contest on your facebook wall and include the link to this giveaway: http://bit.ly/g4IXpG. Come back and leave another comment for that one too.

• For a fifth entry, "like" Build-A-Bear Workshop on Facebook and mention you entered this contest on their wall, including this link to the giveaway: http://bit.ly/g4IXpG Come back and let me know you did that.

• For a sixth entry, subscribe to the blog, Half-Pint House Handouts or follow it via Google Friend Connect in the right sidebar of that blog.  Note: This is a different blog than the one you are on right now. I'm in the process of switching my reviews and giveaways over there. Sorry for the temporary confusion! Come back and let me know that you did it!   

• Go back to my landing page for this week's giveaways and reviews. Choose one of my "review only" posts to leave a comment on and then come back saying you did that. Presto! A 7th entry!

Open to US residents only. The winner will be selected by Random.org. This contest will close on Friday, February 4. The winner will be notified that weekend and will need to respond within 48 hours or risk forfeiting the prize to the next in line.  IMPORTANT: You must make sure your Blogger Profile has your email address available for me to contact you. If it is set to private or otherwise not visible, you will need to add it in with your comment. If I can't contact you, I will choose another winner. It's happened before.

Congrats to:

Yay! I'm contacting you now!

Click here to see the rest of this week's giveaways and reviews.

Disclosure: We were given our own $25 gift card to make the cute bear you see in the photos above. If you are in St. Louis, let me suggest you NOT go to the store at the Holy Spirit (aka: West County) Mall on a Saturday afternoon to redeem your card as you will have to get in line behind everyone else in the city who will also probably be there on that day. I speak from experience. Ahem. But the staff were really nice, so do go there another time, just not on Saturday afternoon.  I keep a proper disclosure statement available right here.

Giveaway: $75 Plastic Jungle Gift Card!

Once upon a time I wrote a blog post over here on saving money. The hope was that my post was one of the first 50 that fit the bill and I would receive a $50 Staples gift card as a thank you gift. Long story short, mine was chosen and a couple of weeks later I had a $50 Staples gift card in my hot little hands.

Then I sadly realized there is no Staples in St. Louis. I know. I've been here since 2005 now and still sometimes have trouble remembering which stores are in Colorado Springs and which are here in St. Louis. Colorado Springs had a Staples, St. Louis does not.

Not too big of a problem, right? Just use it online? PROBLEM: Staples doesn't accept their own gift cards online. Weird, huh? When I called, they told me to place my order using my regular payment method, then MAIL them the gift card in the mail and they would retroactively apply it to my already paid order.

Not. Going. To. Happen.

So my Staples gift card sat on my desk for five months, untouched.

This is more than a sad little story about Staples and their insane policy of not accepting their own gift cards on their own website. No, it's instead a story of a genius who came up with a way for people to trade in gift cards they've received that they either can't or don't want to use, for one they will.  There is a catch - they take a cut. But I find that $44 of money to a place I DO want a gift card to is much more valuable to me than $50 to a place where I can't use it.

So I took my Staples gift card and registered it at Plastic Jungle. From there they gave me options. I could exchange it for $44.10 at Amazon, get $42 through Paypal (who then takes another cut), or get $42 cash directly from Plastic Jungle.

I went to the $44.10 to Amazon. I made my decision, printed off the appropriate packing slip (which included pre-paid shipping), and mailed my Staples card off to Plastic Jungle. A few days later I had a gift code to Amazon sent directly to my email.

YAY! I guarantee I will use this and, unlike Staples, Amazon DOES allow the use of their own gift cards on their own website. *grin*

I just bought myself a copy of Half Broke Horses: A True-Life Novel by Jeannette Walls using part of my gift card stash because I just finished The Glass Castle and must. read. more.

Anyway. Plastic Jungle wants you to experience them for yourself. They are willing to give one of you a $75 gift card for their site which I'm assuming you can trade in for a gift card to some place you want a gift card for. Sweet! And I don't even get anything out of this giveaway other than the pleasure of sharing this resource with you and offering one of you the chance at $75.

Here's how to enter:

• Simply leave any comment on this post. Do you have an unused gift card sitting just aching for a chance to be used? Do tell.  That's an automatic entry.
•  
• For a second entry, Check out the Plastic Jungle website and discover something you didn't know before. Come back and let me know what you found.
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• For a third entry, follow Plastic Jungle on Twitter and tweet this: Win a $75 gift card to @PlasticJungle via @MeganDunham right here: http://bit.ly/fC5Okq - Come back and leave an extra comment letting me know you did that.
•  
• For a fourth entry, mention this contest on your facebook wall and include the link to this giveaway: http://bit.ly/fC5Okq. Come back and leave another comment for that one too.
•  
• For a fifth entry, "like" Plastic Jungle on Facebook and mention you entered this contest on their wall, including this link to the giveaway: http://bit.ly/fC5Okq Come back and let me know you did that.
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• For a sixth entry, subscribe to this blog, St. Louis, Seminary Style. Come back and let me know that you did it! 
•  
• Go back to my landing page for this week's giveaways and reviews. Choose one of my "review only" posts to leave a comment on and then come back saying you did that. Presto! A 7th entry!

The winner will be selected by Random.org. This contest will close on Friday, January 21. The winner will be notified over the weekend and will need to respond within 48 hours or risk forfeiting the prize to the next in line.  IMPORTANT: You must make your email address available for me to contact you. If I can't contact you, I will choose another winner. It's happened before.

Congrats to:

Awesome! I'm emailing you right now!

Disclosure: There is nothing to disclose on this post. I'm not receiving any kind of compensation from Plastic Jungle in exchange for this post. They are offering the gift card directly to you, but did not offer me one as well. So ENJOY! I do keep a proper disclosure statement available right here.