Ice Cream Lovers Unite – July is National Ice Cream Month!

Ice cream has a long (and flavorful!) history that dates back to 200 BC when ancient Chinese civilizations used a frozen mixture of milk and rice. Since then, the popular cold treat has expanded to include frozen custard, frozen yogurt, sorbet, gelato and just good old-fashioned ice cream.

Vanilla tops the list, with Chocolate, Butter Pecan, Strawberry and Neapolitan rounding out the Top 5. And new wacky flavors have recently made their debut, including French Toast, Buttered Popcorn, Strawberry Basil and Mojito Sorbet.

We sure do love our ice cream here in America. The U.S. enjoys an average of 48 pints of ice cream, per person, per year – more than any other country! Our friends in Portland, OR, St. Louis, MO and Seattle, WA have a particular sweet tooth – they rank as the top three cities that purchase the most ice cream on a per capita basis.

Any guess on the average number of licks it takes to polish off a single scoop ice cream cone? 50!

So now that your mouth is watering, check out these cool deals from Plastic Jungle’s ice cream merchants. Saving money never tasted so sweet!

Cold Stone Creamery

If you join their My Cold Stone Club, you can get TWO  CREATIONS™ FOR THE PRICE OF ONE plus:

• Regular emails  with exclusive member-only coupons and a sneak peek of new products and  promotions
• A BUY ONE GET ONE CREATION coupon  delivered to your email inbox for your birthday
• Opportunities to receive fantastic prizes throughout the year

PinkBerry

Swirl on in to PinkBerry to receive 50% off any one  Pinkberry item! Just visit them (and bring your receipt!) within 24 hours of your original purchase. This swirly offer includes yogurt, smoothies, parfaits and Take Home sizes on purchases of $4.95 or higher and is valid until July 17, 2011.

Dairy Queen – Join their Blizzard Fan Club and get TWO Buy One, Get One  Free Blizzard Treat coupons in July!

TCBY – Join myTCBY’s eClub and receive special offers and promotions every month.

Sonic Drive-In – Enjoy a Sonic Blast, Ice Cream Shakes, Sundae Shakes,  Floats, Cream Slush Treats, Java Chillers or a banana split off their Frozen Zone menu.

Celebrate National Ice Cream Month with Plastic Jungle! Temperatures rise, but prices drop when you buy our discounted gift cards.

You scream, we scream, we all scream for ice cream!

References: International Ice Cream Association, 888 16th St., Washington, D.C., 20006, MakeIceCream.com, IceCream.com

A Collection of Travel Blog Highlights, Airfare Sale Sites, and Insider Travel Tips that Will Get You Traveling Faster and Smarter.

Spring break travel, honeymoon travel, summer travel. There’s always time to get a good tip, score a fresh deal, or take down an insider restaurant recommendation.

Hip Travel

For the hyper-conscious urban millennial, travel tends to wax experiential, and the magazine ReadyMade is on the trend. You probably have no idea what I’m referring to. Regardless, any demographic can appreciate ReadyMade’s travel-related blog posts, from destination listings (hotels in Berlin, details on art traveling to you, Chattanooga, Pittsburgh, Kansas City), to an actual worthwhile travel project. Check out the instructions for how to create a Multipurpose Picnic Blanket for about $26. Srsly! Right?!

For the ReadyMade crowd, I see a discounted Michael’s Gift Card getting you a deal on fabrics for your picnic blankets.

Travel Savings To-Go (without the Kayak windows)

Families love and share the website TravelZoo.com, but it’s a hot bargain-price aggregation site for just about anybody. Check out their Top 20 Deals, which at time of writing advertises a $60 nationwide airfare sale and a 4-star Scottsdale resort for $99 per night. Yowza.

Find a bargain link on TravelZoo for American Airlines, and use a discounted American Airlines Gift Card for purchase to sweeten the deal.

High-End Travel Guides

Perhaps you’re done with dusty road trips and bourgeois mid-scale hotels and it’s time to indulge in the niceties that a lot of cash can afford you. Whether it’s a one-time honeymoon or a once-in-a-lifetime getaway or even better, the way you’ve always meant to travel, find camaraderie and like-minded recommendations in Luxe City Guides, which cover the high-end luxury dining and accommodations. Book your room via Luxe Hotels & Villas online, which is an exclusive collection of elite hotels, villas, boutiques, and B&B’s around the world. Afraid it’s out of your budget? Check out the “More Dash Than Cash” page.

Pay $1,000 a night, but save on the Prada sunglasses you’ve got your eye on with a discounted Sunglass Hut Gift Card  >>>

Ready to Go, See, and Do

Have you heard about a destination, read about it, researched it, and still have questions that can only be answered by someone who’s just been there? Off-the-beaten path Lonely Planet travel guides maintain an online, ready-to-assemble army of travelers on their Thorn Tree who can answer travelers questions ranging from “Can I drink the water, really?” to “Must travel despite government warning. Any tips?”

Lonely Planeteers might not admit they love a chain restaurant, but between you and me, Cracker Barrel is a secret favorite. What you save on a discounted Cracker Barrel Gift Card you can use for gas on your LP Deep South road trip.

But Where Should We Go?

Need to do some quick research to plan a family vacation, or a weekend getaway, or a romantic night? Time to visit Uptake.com, where you can plan travel by genre, not destination.

Get a discounted Borders Gift Card, discounted Barnes & Noble Gift Card, or trade in a gift card on Plastic Jungle to get an Amazon.com Gift Card and purchase a travel guide to complete your destination research.

It Can and Will Be Done: Travel with Children

When they’re only eating chicken nuggets made in the shape of dinosaurs and no other variety will do, any regular mom resorts to thinking a vacation only offers more hassles than downtime. Check out the award-winning site WeJustGotBack.com, where advice abounds on avoiding having to choose your battles on the road. Start with their handy, printable Packing Lists, and read on from there and your anxiety will be soothed.

Moms and Dads: before you go, get discounted Loews Cineplex Gift Cards for rainy days at the beach, Cold Stone Creamery Gift Cards, Jamba Juice Gift Cards, and Starbucks Gift Cards and maybe you can send the older ones off with the younger ones and get some rest!

Let us know how these work for you. And, if you’ve got a travel tip you’re willing to share, let us know in your comment!

As a follow up to our previous post (We Want Your Gift Cards! 70+ New Merchants on Plastic Jungle)…

Thanks to all of our savvy shoppers’ feedback, we now accept an additional 164 merchants (see below), bringing our total list to more than 400 merchants.  This means you can exchange more of the gift cards you have tucked away in your sock drawers for cash (we pay up to 92% of the verified balance), or an Amazon.com gift card.

As always, Plastic Jungle provides FREE shipping for all gift card transactions. Find those hidden treasures and sell gift cards you are not planning to use so you can get extra cash for your summer vacation!

Are there other gift cards you would like to see on our list? Enter the brand in the comments field below, and we will do our best to add them to our list of accepted merchants.

Full list of recently added merchants

Plastic Jungle is now paying:

(note, prices can vary so please check the site for the most current offers)