'Alternative' Gifts Give More Than Presents  --  and Save on Shopping Frenzy
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Once again the holiday season is here, and frenzied shoppers have begun scrambling to find interesting and meaningful gifts for the friends and family on their lists.
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Retailers &#151; eager to piggyback off the increasing popularity of gift cards during the holiday season &#151; are giving the old-fashioned gift card another makeover with new gimmicks.
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Merchants who spent the past few weeks hoping shoppers would splurge on gifts opened their doors Sunday with high hopes the same people would now spend on themselves.
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Feeling light in the wallet but  generous of heart this holiday season? You can still benefit  your favorite cause -- without spending a dime -- via a host of  fun and easy Web sites.
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If you don&#39;t plan to join the thundering herd trampling into stores to return holiday gifts today, well, you&#39;re not alone.
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Scored a gift card for Christmas? Maybe cool, maybe not.
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As post-Christmas retail results began trickling in yesterday, this much became clear about the 2004 holiday shopping season: Consumers procrastinated; they gobbled up gift cards; they defected, in greater numbers, from stores to the Web; and, overall, they appeared to spend more this year than last.
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From the pages of The Times, holiday gift suggestions from CDs to books to mail-order eats and more.
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A traditional day of feasting with family could turn into a day of early holiday shopping for some, as retailers plan to offer more options &#151; both online and in stores &#151; than ever this Thanksgiving.
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When you've run out of ideas, take a close look at the ins and outs of cash-like gifts.
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Tech types, send your folks to MAKEzine to find something you can improve on this Christmas. From cool toys with a high hackability quotient to endless electronic projects, this gift list for the nerds in the family is a winner. In Gear Factor.
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Gift cards are the perfect gift - they always fit and never cost a fortune to send, right? But consumer advocates are cautioning that we need to be slightly more careful when it comes to such gifts.
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Internet and mail-order sellers offer a misleading benefit.
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The holiday shopping season is ending on a better note than it began, and most retailers are on track to meet humble sales goals. Still, retailers hope for a boost the week after Christmas as consumers cash in gift cards.
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Children would like expensive hi-tech gifts for Christmas, but few parents are happy to buy these, research suggests.
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The holidays may be over, but the shopping hasn't stopped.
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The aisles are stocked with goodies that don't involve MySpace.