How to get Christmas for free

Blagging Christmas 2008

In this economy everyone wants to find ways to save money here and there and that one big expense is looming on the horizon once again: Christmas. To aid this festive woe we’re going to attempt for the second year in the row to get our entire Christmas for free. That means the tree, hamper, gifts, food everything!

But before I get started I want to arm you with the tools to get your Christmas for free as well. Every week from now until Christmas you’ll see me blagging festive products to give you the confidence to prove these tools and tricks work and in turn I hope that shapes your own belief in these techniques:

These tools aren’t limited to any country, or any one company. They build on having something unique to show companies that makes you attractive to them. There’s no scams at any stage and the principles are based on my book Blagman: Don’t Buy It, Blag It.

Free Christmas Tree
This is one of the trickiest products to get for free as it’s the one so many businesses make a lot of money from. There are however a few options.

a) Get started early: Approach companies in November and ask for any spare trees they have. In return offer to promote their product by putting it in your front room window with a sign for that company, promising to tell 100 friends in return or offering to hand out flyers about the company. Use good old fashioned bartering and think about what you can offer to get the deal.

b) Get a different tree: With Christmas tree sales at an all time high, that means other trees are at an all time low. Build on this by offering to take away old trees for free. Companies need to clear space for the festive trees so you’ll be doing them a favour removing any October trees they no longer need.

c) Give a reject a home: Not every Christmas tree is born perfect and like the October stock some can’t be sold and need clearing. Again offer to take these off the sellers hands, take the tree home and love it all the same.

Why Companies Should Embrace It: Free promotion and the ability to clear a lot of space that would get in the way of Christmas selling.

Proof that it works: Christmas Tree 2007

Free Christmas Meal / Free Corporate Get Together

There are several ways to get the corporate team together and get yourself something in the process:

a) Christmas Dinner: At most companies no one wants the job of organising a Christmas get together. It’s time consuming and causes major headaches BUT it is also a great way to get a free meal for yourself. Depending on your size of office you could be booking a meal for 20 or 200 and for any restaurant this is a going to generate them huge revenue. So approach businesses asking for deals, can they give you a free meal for your family if you book the office there? Can you get a free sample meal to test the quality? Will they throw in a free DJ if you book X amount of people? Remember that they want your business and your money, but they have to earn it.

b) Christmas get together: At work everyone has clients, or businesses that do work for them and the festive time is the perfect opportunity to build on these relationships. If you send a lot of money one company’s way, offer to meet for a Christmas outing and it’s likely they’ll pick up the bill (they’d be mad not to). On the other hand, ask your boss if you can take your biggest client out for a bonding exercise. Even if you don’t have an expense account the company should pick up the tab on the basis that you can build stronger links with your client.

Why companies should embrace it: Everyone wants to be on as friendly terms as possible with as many companies as possible. Showing them you are willing to reduce prices or give added bonuses will only strengthen these relationships.

Proof that it works: Paintballing day worth £600, Christmas Dinner

Free Family Entertainment
That’s the business, now for the pleasure. The family needn’t sit at home just because you can’t guarantee a booking for 200 people. There options will blag you a free day out for the family:

a) See a show: Those shows you see on TV with live audiences? Most of the people there got in for free, and what better way to amaze the family than with a day to see their favourite show for nothing? BBC Tickets, Applause Store, TV Recordings.com and Hollywood Tickets have got you covered for pretty much any show, any where. Or if you simply want to meet your favourite celebrities for free in New York visit Freenyc.net.

b) See the sights: Those random signs you see in your local neighbourhood for Salt Works, Museums, Galleries and Glass Making? Lots of them are free, and if you visit A Free Day Out.co.uk you’ll be able to discover them all.

c) See a (different) show: Free TV shows not enough for you? Check out Nec Group.co.uk to browse every show on at the NEC and discover hundreds you never knew existed that are all free in Birmingham. Likewise ECO.co.uk has you covered for the Earls Court in London: Take the kids to a toy fairs, the teenagers to a fashion show and the other half to an interior design event all for free.

Why Companies Should Embrace It: The more people you have at your show/ event the busier and better it will look to outsiders, which equals more people in the future.

Proof it works: The many examples above!

Free Gifts
What is Christmas without presents? Boring but cheap! So why not make it exciting and cheap with these freebies below:

a) Browse the web: You’ll be amazed what you can find by simply typing in a product name followed by the words “free sample”, “free product” or even just “free”. Cosmetics are the classic example andStyle for free.com lists hundreds of free samples. What’s more you can bundle the samples you get in a nice box, and it’ll look like a real sampler box worth £30. You can also find DVD’s, books, cinema tickets and more by joining our Facebook group or following me on Twitter.

b) Join a group: Like my Facebook group above there are ways to get products for free, by simply starting a group around a particular product. For example, starting a movie club is a great way to get free movies. If you can persuade a few of your friends to meet and discuss movies, you become attractive to a company. Why? Because if they give you a DVD for free, it encourages the rest of the group to buy it, plus any sequels or other movies by the director/ actor/ best boy etc. For a sample that costs them 50p to produce, they get a lot of potential revenue. Start a group, have fun with it and contact companies directly explaining the benefits of them sending you a product.

c) Be a savvy consumer: Christmas gives stores a lot of customers and little time to manage them. So you have a good opportunity to haggle, ask for free samples and extra offers on the basis that they really need to serve that customer over there… Keep asking questions, sound interested and if they have samples you will get them. (If you tie this in to your group, or an offer to market the product you’ll be even better at this.

Why Companies Should Embrace It: Giving gifts or samples away is a sure fire way to make a customer happy, beat the competition and get them coming back for more when the sample runs out. Every product should be given away in some small form and augmented with extra bits that can be purchased later.

Proof that it works: The 250 products I’ve blagged so far…

Christmas is an expensive time, but there are ways around it. I hope this helps those of you who wanted to save a few pound this Christmas, and I also hope this shows businesses more ways to embrace freebies and samples. Drop me an email using the link below to discuss your findings, I’ll discuss my Christmas journey soon too.

Good Luck.

Related Links:
Contact Me - mike @ blagman .co .uk
Blagman: Don’t Buy It, Blag It – The Book.
10 Tips to Blagging Success