{$500 Plum District Holiday Shopping Challenge} Last-Minute Christmas Gifts + PLUM DOLLARS GIVEAWAY! *Updated with Winner*

Plum District, a fab daily deal site for moms, has challenged us at Mom Generations to see how many gifts we can purchase for family and friends with $500. The site offers deals from local and national merchants at prices 50% off or more, so we’re really going to be able to double our money with this challenge… and show you how each step of the way! See this post for a running tally of gifts purchased, for whom, and how much money we’ve spent in our $500 Plum District Holiday Shopping Challenge!

I hope you haven’t forgotten about gifts for your pets this holiday season! Our dogs are important members of our family, and they’re such good girls, so we always like to get them a few special things from Santa! I was psyched to get two $25 vouchers to GreenHome.com for $12 each at PlumDistrict.com! GreenHome.com has a ton of environmentally friendly products, including items for pets, so I was able to get this adorable set of 100% organic cotton Labrador stuffed animals for Ryder and Tansy!

Now, tell me… are you a last-minute shopper? You’re not alone! And Plum District can help you with last-minute gifts! It’s funny because this morning I wrote this as a status update on Facebook: Waiting until the gas gauge hits E before getting gas and waiting until December 23 to start Christmas shopping… two traits I inherited from Barry Couto. (Up to 3 calls already from him re: last-minute gift ideas. LOL!) Love you, Dad!

I have to admit that I do take after my dad in the wait-to-the-very-last-minute department for a number of things. This year I definitely got a huge jump on my Christmas shopping list, thanks to my $500 Plum District Holiday Challenge. I’ve already received (or heard that my gift recipients received) all the awesome gifts I’ve scored at great prices through Plum District in the last few weeks… but as of yesterday, there were still a few more people I had to buy gifts for – and I felt that oh-my-goodness-Christmas-is-three-days-away-what-am-I-going-to-do panic set in.

So I went to Plum District and luckily, but not surprisingly, the site had some great last-minute gift ideas.

Here’s what I got:

• $30 for $50 Worth of Hair Care Products on Folica.com Plus FREE SHIPPING – My friend Jen is very hard to shop for. She is that friend who has everything! I usually end up just getting her a gift card to a restaurant or something, which is fine, but I wanted to get something a little different for Christmas this year. She is a “product” fan – she has a collection of shampoos and conditioners, and loves lotions, face masks, manicure/pedicure items, etc. So when I saw this deal for Folica.com, I knew it would be awesome for her. And now she can spend $50 toward the products, tools and items she wants – plus get free shipping! It’s a great deal – and you can get it until 2:59am EST tonight, December 23!

• $29 for a Whitening Lightning Color Your Smile Lip Gloss 3 Pack with Mirror and Light- a $99 Value – Since I got such a great deal on the Folica.com offer, I decided to get one more thing for Jen. She loves lip gloss, and this Whitening Lightning lip gloss deal was too good to pass up. We usually spend about $50 on each other… by getting these two great deals, I was able to get her $149 worth of products for her for $59. She loves a good deal, so she will be SO psyched about this!

• $39 for $90 Worth of Canvas Prints (plus Free Shipping!) from CanvasLifestyle – I loved the canvas print that I got for Brian so much, so I was super excited to see another canvas print deal on Plum District! This time I was able to get two 10 x 8 prints from CanvasLifestyle, one for my parents and one for Brian’s mom. I know they’re not going to arrive by Christmas, so they will just be after-Christmas gifts. They’re going to love them! You can still grab this deal until 2:59am EST tonight, December 23!

• $12 for a One Year Subscription to O, The Oprah Magazine – a $54 Value – Who doesn’t love Oprah!? My grandma is a huge fan, so I knew she’d love this gift. And a whole year subscription for just $12!? Score! I have the magazines going right to my Grandma’s address, so I’m going to print out a copy of this deal, wrap it up and give it to her for Christmas, letting her know that she’ll be getting the gift of Oprah for the next year! You can grab this deal on Plum District until 2:59am EST on December 25!

• $12 for a 1-Year Subscription of National Geographic Kids Magazine plus World Ball – a $49 Value – I remember that the parents of 2 kids I used to babysit for as a teenager subscribed to National Geographic, and one of the things I looked forward to when the kids went to bed was reading the National Geographic magazines. I love that National Geographic now has a magazine for kids – I would have loved it when I was younger! My sister’s 4 boys are such curious little guys, so I know they will enjoy this gift – and I think I am going to have to go over to their house each month to read the magazine with them! With the money I’m saving on this Plum District deal, I will even bring snacks with me! Grab this awesome deal until 10:59 EST on December 27.

So, with these Plum District Deals, I was able to get $392 worth of gifts for $146. Can you believe that!?

**WIN IT: $146 Plum Dollars!**

Would you like to win $146 Plum Dollars to spend at PlumDistrict.com? You have 5 ways to enter to win:

1) Like Plum District on Facebook (1 entry)

2) Like Mom Generations on Facebook (1 entry)

3) Follow Plum District on Twitter (1 entry)

4) Follow me (@janehcouto) on Twitter (1 entry)

5) Tweet this: I entered the @PlumDistrict voucher giveaway that @janehcouto is running at @momgenerations! http://bit.ly/vGvYGF (1 entry)

Then comment here to let us know the way(s) in which you entered. If you already like the Plum District or Mom Generations Facebook pages, or if you already follow @PlumDistrict or @janehcouto on Twitter, just let us know in the comments so we can include those entries! (Please include your Twitter handle so we can easily find your tweet.)

**Contest ends at 9:00pm EST on Tuesday, December 27, 2011.

*Note: The contest winner will need to have (or set up) a Plum District account. It is free to sign up. The winner’s account will be credited with $146 Plum Dollars for use on PlumDistrict.com (not redeemable for cash).

Congrats to the winner – Jen @ One Moms World!

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Click here to read all of our $500 Plum District Holiday Shopping Challenge posts.

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Disclosure: Plum District has given us $500 in credits to purchase the gifts in this challenge. All opinions are our own, as is our excitement about the awesome deals we’re scoring!