Store Gift Cards
One of the best time to stock up on gift cards to stores you frequent on a regular basis to buy your everyday goods is post Christmas. Gift cards are a common Christmas gift, but many times the recipient, for whatever reason, won’t use the gift card they are given. This results in a large number of gift cards hitting secondary markets, like eBay, all at the same time, thus driving down the prices to lower than what these cards usually sell for. Look for gift cards to your favorite retailers and you can likely score some better than average discounts on them.
Holiday Gift Sets
Gift sets are usually a good bargain, because the manufacturer, when putting the items together as a gift set, usually lowers the price of each individual item within the set. In other words, they are already a bargain. The thing is, gift sets don’t sell nearly as well after Christmas, so they get discounted even more. If the items in a gift set are things you will use, you can pick up some great bargains during after Christmas sales.
Wine
When it comes to wine, Christmas-themed wine is still considered by most to be a novelty item. The wine industry has figured out that by simply putting a Christmas, holiday or winter theme on the label, they can sell the wine at a slight premium over a standard label. While this is great for their profits, the other side of the coin is once the holidays are over, that same wine gets discounted more than a standard wine. If there is a Christmas wine you enjoyed, and you don’t care what your wine bottles look like, buying Christmas-themed wines after December 25 can save you a lot of money. It’s also great time to pick up a themed holiday gift for 2015. Wine keeps well, and those same bottles will make great gifts next year.
Beer
For those looking for ways to save money on beer, after Christmas sales are a great opportunity to do so. While Christmas-themed wine may still be a novelty, the same isn’t true with beer. Christmas beer has become quite common as a way for beer makers to target consumers and charge a premium price. Just like the wine, however, as soon as Christmas is over, this beer gets discounted more than non-themed beer. If you like beer, the Christmas editions can be a great time to pick up a bunch at a discounted price. The beer still tastes the same as it did on the 25th, it just happens to be a day or two older.
Baby’s First Items
If there is anyone in your family or among your friend who is expecting a baby in 2015, now is the time to get their first Christmas gifts. No matter when they are born in 2015, when Christmas rolls around, it’s going to be their first Christmas. Getting “first Christmas” gifts now will save a lot of money over getting them before Christmas in 2015.
It does make sense to get all your wrapping paper and cards for next year, but there are a lot of other places you can save money at after Christmas sales if you use your creativity. Anything with a Christmas or holiday theme is fair game, and should be greatly discounted for the next few weeks.