For most of us, Christmas is a time for giving. But not everyone feels that way. For some, Christmas spirit signals a time of easy pickings and a chance to help themselves to our hard earned cash.
It’s a sad fact that the Internet is not just a way to get the Christmas shopping done without fighting through the crowds – it is also home to the majority of Christmas money scams:
1. Fake charity appeals:
If you get an email asking for donations, apparently from a recognised charity, proceed with caution. Reputable charities never ask for money via email, so any website you are directed to will probably be designed to collect your personal and banking details – which will then be used to steal your money.
2. Holiday e-cards:
It’s great to be green of course, and e-cards are one way of cutting down on Christmas waste. But beware, some e-cards are not what they seem – people receiving them are directed to website designed to, you guessed it, steal their personal information and, ultimately their money. So, if you receive an e-card, or an email promoting e-cards, be careful what you click on.
3. Be careful what you Google:
Scammers are nothing if not resourceful. Research has found that results from a wide range of seasonal searches can be peppered with dodgy sites – searches ranging from Free Santa Screensaver to Free Santa Music can be risky. Read the rest of this entry »
Jessica Smith is Chief Mom Advisor of MomForce.com and Chief Mom Officer for Wishpot.com. She chronicles her experiences as a mom and virtual executive at JessicaKnows.com. As Thanksgiving nears many may notice the holiday decorations going up at malls, shopping centers, and around neighborhoods everywhere. And with that comes thoughts of gift exchanges, Secret Santas, and Yankee swaps sweeping over the office cubicles, playgroups, and book clubs.
Gone are the days of yore when the person in charge of the said gift exchange had to keep meticulous records and notes carefully hidden from all the participants. Just like Fantasy Football, Secret Santas can now be organized online, too.
Gift exchanges used to be purely for fun, but now those pinching their pennies are using the Secret Santa as a way to save money. Rather than get a gift for everyone in your family, which for some people can be in the double digits, a gift exchange retains the spirit of giving on a much smaller scale. An added bonus? If you only have one person to shop for and therefore spend less overall, you can spend more time and thought on the actual gift itself.
With so many in need around the world, another great way to leverage the Secret Santa concept while giving back is to donate money to a charity in the gift recipient’s name. But don’t just pick a random charity, think about the gift recipient’s interests and passions and let that guide your charity choice. Read the rest of this entry »
HalloThanksmas II
by moroka323
The intention and initiative for this blog post was pretty simple. We are about a month away (as this article was posted) from Christmas. As the holiday is getting nearer, we thought it’s about time to decorate the desktop while counting down.
Let’s leave the recession drama aside, and celebrate this holiday season with true Christmas spirit. But first, you might want to dress up the desktop a little bit. Here are some really Beautiful Christmas Wallpapers for your desktop. Full list after jump.
One of the largest homes in Boston with 250,000 lights. Homeowner Luberto hopes the lights will serve as a reminder to some 47,000 people who drive by his home each day that Christmas should be celebrated in style. Photo Paul Keleher
While the earliest origins of celebratory lighting during winter festivals predate Christianity, it’s the European, and later North American partly secularized traditions associated with Christmas which are now commonly recognized and enjoyed as festive Christmas Lights. Read the rest of this entry »
Tissue Rectangles with Cutaway Label Reveal
Combining bits of papers lends a personal artistic touch with surprisingly incredible results. Anything goes — from pieces of foam rubber to paper bags and even fake credit cards!
All you need are fragments of paper, tape, glue sticks, hot glue or double sided tape. For added interest, try making use of unusual materials not typically used for wrapping such as twigs. Go ‘green’ by using colored paper shopping bags that you receive while buying gifts and recycling pieces of ribbon.
The center of attention is the front of the package, so don’t worry about the back which only plays backstage — it’s perfectly OK for the back to be a little untidy. The wrapping usually gets ripped off in a frenzy anyway! Read the rest of this entry »
I received an email from a woman that was depressed that she couldn’t afford a $100 for a Christmas tree at the local tree lot.
I remember seeing a number of creative Christmas trees that people had made using only the stuff they happened to have and did a search to give some examples to her.
After sending them off, I thought it would also be worthwhile sharing them here in the blog. You don’t need to buy a “typical” Christmas tree to get into the Christmas spirit.
Here are 10 Christmasmas trees that aren’t typical, but certainly a lot of fun and show how a bit of creativity can brighten up the holidays no matter where you may be: Read the rest of this entry »
If I were a candle on the advent wreath, I’d be the second purple one. When you light the first one, you still have people complaining that it’s too early for holiday cheer, and when you light the pink one after it, you suddenly realize oh crap I need to get my shopping done.
Week Two? It’s fairly relaxing, and you can briefly soak in the actual peace that Christmas is supposed to be about without so much distraction. And what better way than by turning on your television and letting it shove commercialism down your throat?
Without question, my favorite part about Christmas is the way it takes over all of mass communication. So much, in fact, that I have decided to put together this list of some of the most memorable … and some of most underrated holiday specials and Christmas-related movies of all time. “Yeah, but a hundred?” you ask, bewildered. Read the rest of this entry »
Little known fact about cats: They love Christmas!
But what they love more than anything is to get into the spirit of the season and wear their Christmas hats.
from flickr, by mo ba ca na Read the rest of this entry »
Today I begrudgingly wandered around the overheated department stores of Tokyo looking for stuff to buy my family and friends, and stumbled upon some rather original gifts. So, if you’re at a loss for Christmas present ideas, look no further.
Tokyu Hands is always a good place for frivolously blowing money on meaningless novelty tat like fluffy dog-turds and Mexican wrestler masks, as I learned the stupid way a few months ago, after drunkenly stumbling in there, post-pub, and buying a Japanese version of the classic game, “Pop-Up Pirate,” with the pirate inexplicably wearing black leather bondage gear.
The mind-boggling array of moderately amusing plastic trash in Tokyu Hands makes it the last resort for the totally desperate shopper, who really can’t think of a present to buy that difficult relative. I went there first, to save time. Inside, I spotted some characteristically odd seasonal gifts, like this startlingly realistic roast-turkey-hat. Read the rest of this entry »
