I have posted here about my love of Amazon.com before (see THIS post for a long tutorial on how to get bang for your buck on Amazon). But I feel that I must share again about Amazon.com because this time of year is the absolute BEST time to use it for Christmas shopping and bargain hunting.
First of all, they will have pretty much continuous "lightning deals" and hot Gold Box deals now through the rest of the year. These are deals that are only good for a day or even just for a few hours, but they are typically really deep markdowns. Yesterday they had Melissa & Doug toys for 50% off. Today it's a Swiss Army Knife for 60% off. You have to check in often to grab the best deals...some sell out in minutes! You will find daily and hourly deals in the Gold Box and also here in their Holiday Deals page.
There may be some of you who don't shop online because you don't like to pay for shipping. Well, you are in luck! Amazon.com has free shipping on qualifying items when you spend $25 or more every day. However, you can do better! Right now you can get a free trial of Amazon Prime, which will give you free 2-day shipping, or you can join Amazon Mom for free, which also give you free 2-day shipping for a trial period and also will score you deals on items in their Baby/Kid stores. So not only do these programs give you free shipping, but you get free TWO DAY shipping, so you don't have to worry about your gifts not arriving on time.
A couple of important notes about those programs. First, if you sign up for the Amazon Prime trial, you MUST remember to cancel your membership before your trial is over. I recommend putting it on your calendar so that you don't forget. Otherwise they will charge you for a year's subscription, which is about $80. With Amazon Mom you don't have to cancel your membership, but the free two-day shipping option will run out after the first 3 months unless you spend at least $25 in the baby store.
The next reason I love Amazon at this time of year is because they usually begin a big toy clearance BEFORE Christmas! The last two years this has allowed me to get an easel for my kids for $25 (reg $60) and a dollhouse for my daughter for $40 (regularly over $100!). They have not started this yet, but watch the Toys Outlet for deals in the coming weeks, and you can always check the Movers & Shakers list to see what toys have jumped up in popularity, which often is because of a big price markdown.
The bottom line is that Amazon is awesome because they have just about everything and usually they have the best price, even if items aren't on sale (though not always...do your homework before buying!). You can shop at home, you don't have to fight the crowds, and you can get exactly what you want without having to search high and low. So that is why most of my Christmas gifts will be coming in Amazon.com boxes this year!