It has happened twice in less than six months. This Grandma was one of the first intrepid on line shoppers. This Grandma was one of the first to sign up on PayPal, which allows additional security for on line purchases. In the process, I signed up on the various on line version of retailers that made it easier to shop on line and began receiving daily emails from them on specials. All of a sudden, recently, there has been a roar of one day sales and “flash sales,” sales that last just a few hours, that have been extraordinary for a grandma who loves to spoil grandchildren, and best of all, loves getting a bargain at the same time. The best are last minute sale offers before major and minor holidays that include free shipping with no minimum purchase!
In this era where Hallmark cards have attached bracelets or charms or other items and charge upwards of seven dollars for the enhanced card plus shipping, twice this year’s grandma found that it was cheaper to send candy or a large cookie than to send a card.
For Halloween, this Grandma typically sends cards with a five dollar bill inside for the grandchildren to buy even more candy than they get by going trick-or-treating. This year, a week or so before Halloween, Williams Sonoma had a flash sale where are they allowed free shipping for any purchase, without a minimum for the purchase! I was able to send individual giant ghost icing and trimmed cookies to each grandchild for less than the price of a Hallmark card and money inside.
For Valentine’s Day, even earlier than Williams Sonoma’s last minute sale, Godiva offered free shipping with no minimum purchase involved. For seven dollars, this Grandma was able to send an adorable heart box with six pieces of delicious Godiva chocolate in it, individually to each grandchild! They allowed Grandma to select a date for the grandchildren to receive the chocolates just two days before Valentine’s Day. When I showed Grandpa the bargains on the Godiva website for Valentine’s Day, he noticed that there was a sale on three bags of Godiva truffles (yes, three bags of Godiva truffles) for ten dollars with free shipping and had me send those to the parents of our grandchildren and son and his fiancé instead of cards this year too.
It is now cheaper to send sweets to our sweetest grandchildren for the holidays throughout the year than it is for us to send a card with the prices of cards these days. That is why we must sign up on every single website that allows us to do so, especially those websites such as Godiva and Williams Sonoma.
In addition, for every major and minor holiday throughout the year, Shutterfly enables us to send little photo books for bargain prices, so sign up on Shutterfly too. If you are not creative or do not want to be bothered, if you just upload the pictures you want in the little book, they will put the book together for you. Target, Walmart, and other discount retailers on line also have sales for major and minor holidays, also many times with free shipping, allowing you to buy your baby grandchild a small Sassy gift for less than a Hallmark card. If the website does not have free shipping, go to Retail Me Not, and see if there is a coupon code. Every time before you buy on the internet, go to Retailmenot. You will be surprised to find extra percentage coupon codes you can add to any purchase.
Yes, every grandma will be surprised at what you can find and, you don’t have to wait for a holiday. If a flash sale comes up, you can always send a little gift for no reason at all. And, now, also remember when “Friends and Family,” 20-30% off comes around each year and save some of your gifts, and stocking up for yourself too, for those annual discount times.
Today, one day and flash sales make it easier for grandma to spoil grandchildren on holidays and have become similar in price or even cheaper than sending a Hallmark card. For twice in six months, the benefits of signing up on websites for email notifications has shown in that it is the best thing one can do when one is a grandma who is intent on spoiling grandchildren. Such
Joy,
Mema
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