If your family is like mine, chances are you have a few relatives who prefer to receive gift cards for their favorite restaurants as their holiday gifts. To stretch your budget, take advantage of a holiday gift card bonus cash deal. Restaurants generally start offering gift card bonuses in November, and the deals are often available through Christmas Eve.
Be advised: The type of bonus may vary—they may add it to the value of the gift card, give you an extra gift card, or give you a restricted-use coupon. Check with the restaurant before you buy.
No guarantees that they’ll repeat in 2012, but here’s a sampling of 2011′s deals. I’ll link to 2012′s offers closer to the date:
- Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen, Pappasito’s Cantina, Pappas Seafood House, Pappas Bar-B-Q, Pappas Burger, Pappa Bros. Steak House & Yia Yia Mary’s: Buy $50 worth of gift cards by December 24, 2011, get a $10 reward card free. Reward card valid January 1-February 29, 2012.
- Carrabba’s Italian Grill, Outback Steakhouse, Bonefish Grill, Fleming’s Steakhouse & Wine Bar, and Roy’s: Buy $100 worth of gift cards by December 31, 2011, get a $20 bonus card free. Bonus card valid January 1-February 10, 2012.
- California Pizza Kitchen: Buy $100 worth of gift cards by December 24, 2011, get a $20 rewards card free. Rewards card is valid from January 3-March 6, 2012.
- Maggiano’s: Buy $100 worth of gift cards by December 31, 2011, get a $20 bonus card + a one-year subscription to Food & Wine magazine free. Bonus card is valid from January 1-February 29, 2012.
- Stoney River: Buy $100 worth of holiday gift cards, get a $25 rewards card free. Rewards card is valid from January-March 2012.
- Chili’s: Buy $100 worth of gift cards, save 10%.
- Ted’s Montana Grill: Buy $100 worth of gift cards, get a $20 bonus card free.
- RA Sushi: Through December 31, 2011, buy $50 worth of gift cards, get a $10 bonus card free. The bonus card is valid from January 2-March 31, 2012.
- Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar: Through December 31, 2011, for every $100 worth of gift cards you buy, get a $20 bonus card free. The bonus card is valid from January 2-February 10, 2012.
- Macaroni Grill: Through January 1, 2012, when you buy $25 worth of gift cards, you’ll get a $5 bonus card free. The bonus card is valid from January 2-February 29, 2012.
- Smashburger: Through December 31, 2011, when you buy $25 worth of gift cards, you’ll get a $5 Smashbucks bonus card free. The bonus card expires on January 31, 2012.
- Haagen-Dazs: Through December 31, 2011, if you buy a Dazzler at participating Haagen-Dazs locations, you’ll receive a free gift that’s redeemable in January 2012.
- Half Price Books: Through December 24, 2011, when you buy $25 worth of gift cards in-store or online, you’ll get a $5 coupon free.
- Morton’s the Steakhouse: Through December 31, 2011, when you buy $300 worth of gift cards in one order, you’ll get a $50 Morton’s Reward card free. Want a bigger bonus? You’ll get a $100 Morton’s Reward card when you buy $500 worth of gift cards in one order. The Morton’s Reward card is valid from January 1-March 31, 2012.
- McCormick & Schmick’s: For a limited time, when you buy $100 worth of gift cards in one order, you’ll get a $10 dining certificate free. If you buy more, you’ll get more: $100 = $25 dining certificate. The dining certificate is valid from January 1-March 31, 2012.
- Gordon Biersch: Through December 24, 2011, when you buy $50 worth of gift cards in one order, you’ll get a $5 gift certificate free. If you buy more, you’ll get more: $100 = $15 gift certificate, $200 = $40 gift certificate, $500 = $100 gift certificate.
- Benihana: Through December 31, 2011, when you buy $50 worth of gift cards in one order, you’ll get a $10 promotional card free (FYI–Be the Chef gift card purchases do not earn promotional cards). The promotional card is valid from January 2-March 31, 2012.
- Ruby Tuesday: Through December 31, 2011, when you buy $50 worth of gift cards in one order, you’ll get a $15 bonus card free. Though the gift cards can be used with coupons & never expire, the bonus card is valid from January 2-February 28, 2012.
- T.G.I. Friday’s: Through December 24, 2011, when you buy $25 worth of gift cards in one order, you’ll get a $5 Bonus Bites card free. Both online & in-restaurant gift card purchases qualify for the Bonus Bites promo. The Bonus Bites card is valid from January 2-March 31, 2012.
- IHOP: Through January 2, 2012, when you buy $25 worth of gift cards in one order, you’ll get a $5 bonus card free. The bonus card expires on January 31, 2012.
- Applebee’s: Through December 31, 2011, when you buy $50 worth of gift cards in one order, you’ll get a $10 bonus card free. The bonus card expires on February 29, 2012.
- AMC: For a limited time, get a free $5 concession bonus card when you purchase $30 worth of gift cards. The bonus card is valid through February 29, 2012, and you can begin using it 24 hours after receipt.
- Through December 25, 2011, you can Feed it Forward and give up to 40 free $10 Restaurant.com eGift Cards per day.
One other thing: I like to dine out at familiar spots & try new-to-me places. Though I prefer an unrestricted bonus card, I’ll buy gift cards from restaurants that are my short list of places to go & the keep the bonus card to cut my bill.
Other freebies pop up throughout the year, so be sure to subscribe to email updates, follow @citiescheap on Twitter, like Cities on the Cheap on Facebook, or add us to a Google+ circle to save even more.
