February 4, 2011 Getting a good deal is top priority at Plastic Jungle, both for us and, of course, for our customers. When we find something good, we have to pass it on!

Every Friday we share our sweepstakes and gift card giveaway finds with you. There are many more giveaways posted in earlier Friday Giveaways listings still open to enter: just go to the Give Card Giveaways category in the right-hand menu and check out posts from 2011 – there are many sweepstakes and giveaways that are still open.

Our latest sweep of online sweepstakes and gift card giveaways is definitely relevant for the romantic and wintry month of February. Let’s get to it:

Victoria’s Secret Love Me, Make Me, Send Me is a giveaway with a chance to win a $250 Victoria’s Secret Gift Card or a romantic getaway to Napa Valley. It’s a fun way to enter a sweepstakes: create and send a Victoria’s Secret Valentine’s Day eCard. After you send the Victoria’s Secret eCard, you will have the opportunity to enter the sweepstakes. No purchase necessary; contest ends 2/14/11; check Victoria’s Secret’s Love Me, Make Me, Send Me official rules for details.

Photo taken with a GoPro Camera

GoPro: One Person Wins Everything We Make. Daily. Sweepstakes If you’re into filming crazy stuff, say extreme sports, extreme kids, or you’re just looking for an amazing camera that can mount just about anywhere (surf board? helmet? car hood?), check out GoPro’s hot Hero camera. This is next-gen video recording at its affordable best – and you can win it. Ends 1/18/12; check out official rules for details.

>>>Get a GoPro camera at Best Buy (get a discount with a Best Buy Gift Card from Plastic Jungle)

>>>Get a GoPro camera at Amazon.com (trade in an unused gift card and get an Amazon.com Gift Card).

100 Sunny Days Facebook Contest: Win A Prize A Day Giveaway SunnyD really will stand for “Sunny Day” if you win one of their daily drawings. This is a giveaway you can enter to win a prize a day (for 100 days, starting on January 29, 2011), on Facebook or outside of Facebook. You’ll need a code which you get on SunnyD products, or to receive a free code, go to the site and click “Need a code? Click here.” and follow the directions to enter. Prizes include: iPods+iTunes Gift Cards, flat screen TVs, YMCA memberships, Nintendo Wii gaming consoles, $10,000 CASH! Wow. Contest ends May 7, 2011; check official rules (see link on the page) for details.

>>>Get SunnyD at Target or Walmart with discounted gift cards from Plastic Jungle.

If you’re looking forward to a proposal on Valentine’s Day, it works in your favor that February is National Wedding Month (according to the National Association of Bridal Consultants). Honeymoon and Romantic Getaways Blogger Susan Breslow Sardone (Honeymoons.About.com) shares information on the hottest honeymoon destinations and the most amazing Getaway Giveaways with four pages of contests you can enter to win and more. It might be a surer way to get to your honeymoon destination by biting the bullet and buying a ticket: you can get discounted American Airlines gift cards and  discounted JetBlue gift cards. Right now on Plastic Jungle is a (ONE!) discounted Four Seasons Resort Gift Card available at 10% off face value. Act fast to snap it up.

Skimp.org’s page of Giveaways has tons of gift card giveaways and gift card sweepstakes for you to enter by following them on Twitter and retweeting the prize you want. Right now in separate giveaways, win a Walmart Gift Card, a Best Buy Gift Card, a Target Gift Card, Cheesecake Factory Gift Card and much more, including iPod Shuffles, iPads and an iPhone 4! You win when they get to their desired number of Tweets for the prize – the more you enter, the faster they get to giving away the prizes. Fun idea, plus Skimp.org collects and posts tons of hot coupons for everything from CafePress to Coach, so for deal lovers like us, it’s a good pit-stop before any online shopping venture.

If you’ve got a gift card and you need to check the balance, you can easily look up our “How to Check Balance” posts — just click on the category in our blog listing (on the right-hand side of the site page). Usually, you can find gift card balances by calling the number on the back of the card, or going to the merchant’s website and searching “Gift Card”.

Have you won anything yet? Definitely let us know what you win – and feel free to comment below on which sweepstakes and giveaways are your favorites.

Getting a gift card from Pottery Barn is like getting a free pass to spiff up your space. I always find décor I didn’t even know I needed at Pottery Barn; once it’s in my hands, I’m sure I can’t live without it.

Interior Designer Gold: the Pottery Barn Gift Card

The ubiquitous Pottery Barn catalog: everyone seems to have something from it! But maybe you’re more modern and clean in your tastes (west elm) or are expecting a child (Pottery Barn Kids) or are looking to outfit a recently remodeled kitchen (lucky! Williams Sonoma for you).

In a fantastic arrangement among the sister retailers, Pottery Barn Gift Cards or Pottery Barn eGift Cards are good at Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, PBteen, west elm, Williams-Sonoma, and Williams-Sonoma Home. They may be also be used for making purchases at stores (even in Puerto Rico), by phone (catalog purchases) or online (see the links below).

Ways to Check Your Pottery Barn Gift Card or eGift Card Balance

PHONE: 1.888.779.5176 Pottery Barn Customer Service

ONLINE: Check the remaining balance on my Pottery Barn gift card

IN-STORE: Check for Pottery Barn store locations

CONNECT: Look into the other stores affiliated with Pottery Barn: Pottery Barn Kids, PBteen, west elm, Williams-Sonoma, and Williams-Sonoma Home

A Note on Paper Gift Certificates: Pottery Barn paper gift certificate balances cannot be checked online and are only redeemable in stores or by calling customer service at 1.888.779.5176.

How to Sell or Swap Your Gift Cards on Plastic Jungle

Once you’ve acquired your Pottery Barn Gift Card or eGift Card balance, you can sell your Pottery Barn gift card to Plastic Jungle, and select a payout method: cash (via check), Amazon.com Gift Card, or even a direct deposit into your PayPal account. If you’re an avid gamer, check out the option of swapping out the card for Facebook game credits (you’ll need to be logged in to Facebook to take a look). In any case, check the options to maximize the value of your exchange.

To know how much your Pottery Barn Gift Card is worth in exchange on Plastic Jungle, on the main page you click “Sell Gift Cards” at the top of the page. Look up Pottery Barn, enter the gift card balance you’ve just acquired, and you’ll see instantly what your gift card balance is worth in cash or trade.

And, for all the Pottery Barn enthusiasts out there…  don’t forget to set up an email notification on Plastic Jungle, so you can be alerted whenever discounted Pottery Barn gift cards are available.  They’re 14% off right now!

Check other blog posts for the same “Check Your Gift Card Balance” information for other stores, including Sears, Land’s End, Macy’s, Best Buy, Lowe’s, and more.

One of the best things about having a gift card is the ease with which you can purchase items, both online and offline, from the retailer who issued the gift card. But what if you don’t spend the full amount of the gift card at the time of purchase? Here at Plastic Jungle one of the most frequently asked questions we receive from members is how to check their gift card balance, especially for Ikea Gift Cards.

Most gift cards let you check your balance on the retailer’s website, but for an Ikea gift card you must call the number on the back of the card. To check the balance, call the following number 1-800-558-5961, then press #2, then #1, to check your balance. Ikea will email your gift card balance within 48 hours of requesting your gift card balance information.  The fastest way to check the balance on your gift card is by visiting any Ikea location.

This search query from Ask.com includes the Ikea phone number above and also returned helpful questions and answers about how to learn your gift card balance for other retailer’s gift cards.

If this post was helpful, leave us a comment and let us know. Or if you have other questions about how to check your gift card balance for your Ikea gift card or other gift cards don’t hesitate to ask.

Also, if you don’t plan to use your Ikea Gift Card. The best way to get what you want is through selling your Ikea Gift Card to Plastic Jungle, we pay up to 80% of the value. It is quick, easy, and a win-win situation!