Shutterfly Surprise: Some Fun, Free Christmas Gifts

So, I was walking down the sidewalk and I saw a plastic red bottle cap.  I picked it up, and yes, it was a Coke cap - one with the Coke Reward Points code underneath.  I put it in my pocket and continued on my way.

When I got home, I signed into Coke Rewards to enter said cap code.  I received 3 points. At Hip2Save they had mentioned a wall calendar offer for 3 points.  So I went to Rewards, and sure enough, there was an offer for a free 8.5"x11" wall calendar from Shutterfly, one per user.  I thought - a photo calendar is the perfect gift for mom!  So I called up my big sister and told her to start sending me some photos to put it in.

Paying postage on the calendar was the only cost, as well as the time to use their impressive little program to assemble great photos into the calendar format .  I got a one-of-a-kind gift for mom that is both practical and sentimental. As a new Shutterfly member, I also scored 50 free 4x6 prints and a free magnet photo and address labels! I plan to use my band's logo over some snapshots of us and our web info to turn the prints into free promo materials!  

The magnet I selected a photo of family so I can see them with every food raid.  The labels I put Big D and my name on, so we can use them for cards, rent checks, etc.  It was so cool to see our names together (getting engaged, this is becoming more and more common, but it still is a reminder of how we are joining our lives together.)

Also, they are running a promo on Shutterfly for a free photo card (CARD4U). The card I found a nice snapshot of me and I plan to send it to mom next time she calls and says she misses me.

Want to try Shutterfly for yourself?  

Here's a step-by-step to score the free stuff I did.  Score these goodies before December 28, 2015 (though some promotions go longer). By the time you get them all, you can make a really good decision on Shutterfly's quality and products and decide if you want to use them for future printing.

1. Go find a Coke 20oz bottle cap (or Powerade still has codes on them, as well, I believe.) 3 points is all you need, so you just need one cap. You know SOMEONE who drinks Coke, right?

2. Go to MyCokeRewards and Sign in. If you don't have an account yet, SIGN UP here. Once you are in, click on the text box where it says "Enter Code" and put in the long string of letter and numbers under your cap to get your 3 points. Make sure to enter codes in all lowercase letters, and anything round like a 'zero' enter as "zero" and not the letter "o". Hit enter, and you should now have at least 3 points.

3. Still on the MyCokeRewards site, go to "Rewards." At the left side of the window, select the 1-49 point range and the page will refresh - the fourth or fifth item to pop up should be the Shutterfly Print Calendar. Select it and click on "Claim Reward". Make sure before you do this you can access
the email your Coke Rewards goes through. They will send you a promo code right away via email.




4. Check your email and copy the promo code for the calendar. You can click on the link or just go to Shutterfly and set up/sign in to your account.

5. If you don't have a Shutterfly create a new account: CREATE ONE HERE. If you have an account already, skip to step 6.

You automatically get the promo - Get 50 free 4x6 prints, one free magnet and one free set of address labels - when you sign up for Shutterfly.   (This is just for new customers.) Offer ends 1/3/2016. Must be all redeemed by 1/4/2016.

6. While logged into your Shutterfly account go to "My Account". There will be a text box under the heading "Promos / Gift Certificates / Gift Cards"  where it says "Enter code" - paste  the code from MyCokeRewards here.  Hit enter, or click on the orange arrow after the text box, and it will apply your code to your account.  You should now have a calendar showing up in your list of promotions. The calendar must be ordered by 1/31/2016 to be free.

7. While you are there on the promo page, enter the Promo code "CARD4U" into the Redeem Promo box, You will have free card added to your list of promotional freebies. This code is valid until 12/28/2015. Put your picture on this and have a card ready to mail to a distant loved one who may like to see your face!

Using Shutterfly:

The hardest part of all these goodies is gathering up and uploading your photos to the Shutterfly site and setting up how you want your products to look.

The actual uploading of photos is dead simple - you can upload from various online sources or your computer, and you can upload multiple all at once. I recommend gathering all the photos you want to use in one place, and uploading them all at once, as the program lets you drag and drop photos to where you want them.

The editing/designing tool shutterfly offers is actually impressive while staying simple.  For the calendar you can change sizes of pictures, text, borders, 'stickers' and backgrounds. You can drop photos or text into the squares of the days on the calendar to mark birthdays (pretty sweet) or anniversaries of people. Really, how much time you put into is up to you. You can be pretty creative. Just be careful which stickers and other options you choose, as some will charge you for the use (e.g. for certain special 'stickers' there is a $0.25 fee to use it as much as you like.)

When you finish your masterpiece design, go and check out your cart with your final products all selected, and the promo codes will automatically apply. You should just have to pay shipping and handling for your goodies (though all but the 50 free prints appear to qualify to be 'available for pick up' if you'd rather.)

Bonus Freebie Round:

And for any mom's with babies or those planning on having a baby (or anyone wanting info on Similac products and promotions, I suppose!), you can sign up with Similac "Strong Moms" Rewards and receive a free 8x8 Photo Book from Shutterfly when you register your email! They send you an email with the promo code, and you enter as you did the CokeReward promo code.