They say a week is a long time in politics, but deal-of-the-day website Groupon can go one better than that.

In a single, chaotic day it sold over 440,000 vouchers, had its server crash in the rush and was forced to post a FAQ section on its site to handle the barrage of questions relating to the 24 hour promotion that was the cause of the melee.

The day in question, Thursday 19 August, must have taken on the dimensions of a stampeding herd of cattle by the time it was over.

The promotion, which was launched nationally across the US, offered $50 vouchers redeemable at any Gap retail outlet for every $25 spent.

Not a bad offer really; 441,000 people must have decided it was worth it. It’s not yet known what Gap itself thinks of the offer, probably because all of its staff are still busy serving the 441,000 customers.

No doubt the promotion is all part of Groupon’s ever-expanding presence in the deal-of-the-day market.

Just be sure to have your credit card greased and ready for the next big juicy offer…

Do you have an upcoming anniversary, birthday, bridal shower, enagement, hen’s party or wedding that you’d like to delight someone with a romantic gift?
 
For a strictly limited time, you can buy an attractively boxed $99 LoveStars gift certificate for just $59 through Daily Deals!
 
Sign up with http://www.dynamicrewards.com.au/dailydeals/sydney (or enter your city) to receive this amazing Daily Deal.
 
Daily Deals work on group buying. A minimum number of people opt to buy the Daily Deal and once they reach that number, everyone gets the Daily Deal. Twittering, Facebooking, blogging or passing it on to your friends helps you reach that number.
 
After you buy your $59 boxed LoveStars gift certificate through the Daily Deal, Ill email you for your mailing address to send it to you (expiry 31 October 2010 or later).
 
You simply redeem your gift certificate at www.itsinthestarsonline.com for your own luxury hardcover 30-35 page LoveStars report delivered worldwide by Express Post.
 
Don’t delay – visit http://www.dynamicrewards.com.au/dailydeals/sydney now!

In the second part of this two-part post on baby shower gifts, here’s 25 more gift ideas when you don’t know the baby’s gender ahead of time. Some of these items are so reasonably priced, you could pick up a few to make a little gift hamper of your own…

1. If you don’t know whether your friend will be using cloth or disposable nappies, err on the side of caution and give her a wet bag (great for travelling) or swim nappies from Superior Posteriors
2. What mum doesn’t want to be like a movie star, with her tummy snapping back into shape mere seconds(OK, weeks!) after the birth? Help her along with a Bellyco belly wrap
3. Perfect for the handmade brigade, babies will love shaking the organic cotton owl-like “monster” rattle from Made It
4. Let them create a mug, mousepad or more from the tiny hand- and foot-prints of their newborn with BellyArt’s inkless printing system
5. Nudey!Rudey! in New Zealand makes a range of modern cloth nappies in cloth or organic cotton and bamboo velour designed to save families money and reduce their carbon footprint
6. While they’ll need to be a little older to use it, toddlers will love playing with the colourful wooden xylophone from EcoToys
7. Make your mum-to-be feel attractive in hospital with a striking jungle-print hospital gown from Designer Mamas
8. Mummah makes a range of clever packs for mothers-to-be, from Pregnancy through to Delivery and Hospital packs that contain everything a brand-new mum could need
9. If you want to pamper her a little, why not give her a designer gift box packed with goodies for mother and child from Pamper Boxes
10. Give her a voucher for an Inky Feet experience where her child’s footprints can be turned into a framed work of art
11. Lavender is well-known as a restful and calming essential oil. Spray the lavender water from Pure Earth Noosa in your baby’s room to give him or her a restful sleep
12. A Milkooler holder keeps milk cold or warm for longer and it’s easy for babies to hold, too
13. Snuggle Pods from Lila and May make it easy to bundle your baby up in his or her bassinette, cot or pram – my favourite gender-neutral print is Owl Friends Flannel
14. The Chickadee Bathtime Baby Gift Set from DigiGifts features a white hand towel and facewasher with “Baby” embroidered in yellow and a fun yellow duck bath glove, two vegetable baby soaps and a toy rubber ducky
15. Give her an Elm baby sling from Beep Beep Slings (see picture) made for Daddy to easily carry his baby around to give Mum a break
16. Aromababy has a clever Nappy Change Time pack which includes a toiletry bag, padded nappy change mat, clear zip bag, bath gel, moisturising nappy cream, barrier balm and baby lotion
17. If she’s going to use eco-friendly disposable nappies, she’ll still need to throw them away which is where Eco Disposal Bags from Naty come in handy – great for cleaning up your doggie’s doo-doos on your daily walk, too
18. At some point your favourite yummy mummy will want a night out with her baby daddy. If she’s arranging a babysitter, this laminated Babysitter Planner from Corporate Mums can be updated with your child’s routines and anything else you tend to scribble down on a piece of paper
19. Produced excess breast milk or pureed endless pumpkin – and don’t want it to go to waste? Qubies makes a clever ice-cube contained designed to separate liquids into 30ml baby-size portions.
20. A child who wants to put his or her clothes away? Any mother would kiss you for making that job so easy! And perhaps you can with these extremely cute wooden animal coat hangers from Twiggi in your choice of five bright colours (pick ‘em all, I say)
21. The beautiful illustrated stationery from Note Couture includes invitations, notepads, address labels, to do lists and and correspondence cards – so adorable!
22. Eventually, her baby will transition from a bottle to drinking from a cup (and oh, back to drinking out a bottle when he or she is at uni, but that’s another story). With a Sophie the Giraffe Non-Spill Sippy Cup from Your Cheeky Monkey, her little one will be intrigued to see a tiny Sophie the Giraffe at the bottom of her cup…
23. You might consider booking a babysitter for her from Expect A Star so she can enjoy a rare night out with her partner
24. Pamper your pretty mama with a hair, face or beauty package at Yummy Mummys – one of Sydney’s few beauty salons with a creche!
25. Make her baby’s nursery magical with a gift voucher for children’s bedroom decor from Treehouse

Has one of your friends become pregnant but refuses to find out and/or tell you the baby’s gender? One of my good friends has so she’s getting red, lemon, lilac and green-coloured items – but I thought there had to be more to ambiguous gifts than colour…

Since you can’t rely on the old-standby of something blue or pink, you have to be more ingenious! Here’s the first in a two-part post on baby shower gifts when you don’t know if your friend is having a baby boy or girl.

1. Ergococoon – these neutral-coloured “cocoons” make it super-easy to wrap your baby up at night – no more having to learn origami!
2. Ninky Bear Honey Pots – an adorable neutral-coloured ”honey pot” made of a cloth nappy, washcloth, handtowel and bear
3. Babies don’t breast-feed forever, so when it’s time to start solids, your mum-to-be will need a Starting Solids Baby Feeding Kit
4. Start them on the path to literacy early with these handy Big Alphabet Wall Stickers
5. Add some fun to the never-ending chore of bottle-washing with the Boon Grass Drying Rack
6. Focus on mum with a boxed delivery of some sparkling pinot noir chardonnay, a teddy bear, Belgian chocolate and fruit
7.  Inspire the expecting couple with a delightful framed Family Rules print that can go in the nursery, hall, kitchen or loungeroom
8. Give a trio of the best-known nursery ryhmes – Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Mary Had a Little Lamb and Baa Baa Black Sheep as framed prints to learn by heart on those long nights ahead!
9. A classic gift for AC/DC fans, these instrumental lullabies will have Dad happily head-banging away when baby can’t sleep (check out The Beatles, Bob Marley, U2, Nirvana, Pink Floyd and about 10 other famous bands)
10. A gorgeous owl-print cot quilt and twin bibs in neutral colours makes a pretty baby shower gift
11. Wondering how to get them to eat their veggies once they start solids? Toddlers love Fred Food Face!
12. 30 brain-training ideas and life-changing steps make it easier for her to go from pregnancy to the baby’s first three months
13.  Give your new mum a cute baby rattle in the shape of a guitar to encourage her baby to be musically inclined 
14. Buy a teddy bear from OCF to ensure every child with cancer has the chance to grow up and enjoy life
15. They won’t be in it for long, but this vibrantly-coloured designer Land and Sea Bassinet Blanket is a keeper!
16. Protect their new baby’s delicate skin with a Beautiful Baby Gift Pack containing organic skincare products
17. Look after mum too with a Baby Concepts New Mum Pack containing organic lotion, belly oil, facewasher, body wash, and nappy bag
18. Keep track of when baby (or mum!) last slept or ate with a green Itzbeen timer (and you could use it for time-outs for older kids, too)
19. A Baby Bliss DVD helps new mothers to stimulate their baby’s digestive, respiratory and muscular systems through baby yoga
20. The fun survival pack from Giftboxology contains a Forgetmenot shopping list stationery set to combat “baby brain”, rum balls, macadamia nuts, and soap and botty butter for the baby
21. Let your new mum know all about her baby’s personality and potential. Give her a BabyStars gift certificate that she can redeem once the baby’s born for a luxury hardcover 45-50 page astrology report
22. Relieve her backache with a gift certificate for a wonderful Ripples Pregnancy Massage in northern NSW, QLD and VIC
23. Keep baby as snug as a bug in a rug with a Lambykins superfine pure merino cot blanket in an on-trend rich raspberry with winter white stripe
24. She will love you for making it so easy to get out and about with her Shopping Caddy that holds everything for a baby’s outing
25. If you’d like to give her something for herself, this stunning black wrap-around organic cotton maternity dress is incredibly flattering pre- and post-pregnancy!

Next post – 25 more baby shower gift ideas, part 2

Retailers are always keen to know what they call “consumer spending intentions”.

And if you know what these intentions are, they can give you interesting gift ideas for birthdays – but also for anniversaries, Christmas, engagement and wedding gifts – in fact, any sort of gift occasion where you’re treating someone to a product or service they might buy for themself if they had the extra money. They are in fact, a public gift wishlist.

In a new survey of 1,200 consumers by eBillme which looks at what people would spend their money on once the economy improves (read: when they have some extra money), travel won out as the top way to blow cash, with 52% voting for it. I’d be on a plane too if I had some spare room on my Visa!

So if you’ve got an important gift occasion that you’d like to surprise someone, you probably can’t go wrong with a plane ticket (has anyone actually ever received one as a present?), a gift certificate for a hotel, resort or bed-and-breakfast stay, vouchers toward a cruise, island or spa vacation, or even a gift card for the car rental for the weekend. 

Dining out is right behind at 51%. Restaurant gift certificates offer your gift recipient a lot of freedom and a wonderful memory, but most people – especially women – just want a break from cooking. Did you know you can also get gift vouchers for chefs to cook up up a storm at your home – whether for an event, or to help you stock up your freezer?

Third-most popular choice for people to spend their money is clothes and accessories (41%). You’ve probably seen what they wear often enough to give them gift cards for the right sort of retailers. During winter you probably can’t go wrong with fine leather or suede gloves, a soft lambswool sweater, or a pashmina. Summer? Clothes are harder to guess although groovy t-shirts are always fun. I’d think about giving them a huge plush beach towel, a beach bag, a weekend bag or beach umbrella. Who should you buy these for? In the This Should Be No Surprise Department: Almost twice as many women as men (52% vs 30%) want new clothes and accessories.

Just over a third (34%) want to buy electronics. I’d hate to know where to start with that one. Knowing whether they’re Mac or “i” people (iPhone, iPod, iPad) makes life easier. For example, they could be completely stoked to have their favourite image or their business logo turned into a mobile phone cover. And yes, men are twice as likely as women to want to spend their money on electronics.

In fifth place (29%) are concert and movie tickets. You can buy books of 10 vouchers for the movies or shout them a night at the Gold Class/La Premiere cinemas. Concerts provide sooooooo much room for error – do they prefer the sounds of Sinatra or Slipknot? The cost of these can run into hundreds of dollars if the show also happens to be intrastate (eg like when they play at the Hunter Valley vineyards) so if money is an issue you may have to play it safe but dull with iTunes gift cards. A quarter of men and women equally want movies and music so you can’t really go wrong here if you can’t spring for a plane ticket…

If you love the movies AND it’s your birthday between now and 31 July 2010, you can go to the movies for free!

Australian movie chain Hoyts is celebrating 100 years in cinema and giving you the present!

Simply register at http://celebrate.hoyts.com.au/ to receive a free movie ticket on your birthday which you can use to see any movie at any cinema, including the fancy ones at La Premiere, Directors Suite, IMAX, Xtremescreen and thehalfpipe which is a bean bag cinema, in NSW, ACT, VIC, SA and WA. 

Note: you will have to supply photo ID at the box office to collect your ticket.

Great birthday present for anyone who happens to be a Gemini, Cancer or in the first week of Leo!

If you’re like the millions of people with an iPod, more recently an iPhone, and just perhaps, one of the lucky few with an iPad, you may have been surprised to receive an email telling you you’ve won a $50 gift certificate from iTunes.

 I have received two in the past week.

If you’re new enough you may wonder if it’s some clever marketing ploy from Apple to get you shopping at the Apps Store, but no.

It’s yet another dastardly scam from cyber criminals.

The email subject will say something like “Thank  you for buying iTune Gift Certificate”. Which is the first clue as you probably know you HAVEN’T bought a $50 gift certificate and as if Apple is handing them out for free. Harder to judge however if it’s your birthday.

You had me at “Hello”. Or rather, you didn’t as most market-leading online retailers can manage to use your name in the salutation.

Then it’s rather sparse copy, not warm and friendly like Apple tends to write which is the third clue.

Another clue it’s a scam is that it’s in text format, not HTML, with no logos or links to all the other Apple products or services.

And finally, if it is NOT the email you sign up to receive your latest iTunes announcements, it’s a scam…

Have you ever bought a gift basket (or contributed towards one) for a family member, friend, colleague, client or employee?

Perhaps you bought a gift basket for Christmas, the arrival of a new baby, to express your sympathy, or your congratulations?

Please take part in a quick survey at www.surveymonkey.com/s/GiftBasketsSurvey to let us know your experiences and opinions regarding gift baskets.

To thank you for your time, you’ll receive via email (within 24 hours of filling out the survey) a $20 gift certificate code to spend towards astrology reports at http://www.itsinthestarsonline.com with our thanks!

It’s always fascinating to see who buys them, when, and for how much!

The survey should take no more than 2 minutes to complete and it’s completely anonymous. Thanks in advance for your help!

www.surveymonkey.com/s/GiftBasketsSurvey

Got invited to a wedding? Check. Got the wedding gift list? Check. Or Cash. And MasterCard or Visa or American Express will do nicely too, thanks.

A new survey by UK wedding magazine Wedding found that 45% of engaged couples want cold, hard cash from their guests as wedding gifts while 26% want gift vouchers and certificates to pay towards their honeymoon.

That leaves only 29% who actually want old-fashioned gifts they can keep.

Apart from a general decline in good manners which is one reason for asking so brazenly for money, the other is 55% of the couples say they will pay for the wedding themselves, while 26% of parents are footing the bill, of which the average is GBP20,000.

Unless they have rich grandparents or mysterious Great Expectations-like benefactors, the other 19% of funds to pay for the wedding seems to be from the guests themselves…

As we all know, most couples getting married these days have already been living together, they may have already been married; they certainly have all the kitchen accoutrements you can poke a meat thermometer at, but you can never have enough date nights once you’re married!

One very clever Chicago couple who lurrrves to eat out realised that they too, didn’t want any more traditional department store registry “stuff”, but were busting (hopefully not out of their pants) to try some of the latest and greatest restaurants to hit Oprah’s hometown city.

They’ve created Foodie Registry which allows couples to select restaurants they’d love to try, for their guests to give them a gift certificate towards dining there, and it’s a wonderful idea actually for anyone else who’d love a special night out for say, their anniversary or birthday.

It also makes it soooooo much easier for couples to have something to write about in their wedding gift thank you cards. They’re going to be much more genuinely excited about dining at say, French restaurant Marche, than say, a pair of white hand towels.

Foodie Registry plans to expand into other American cities, too. Expect a queue of Taureans, Leos, Librans and Capricorns…