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

Well, only 15 days until the taxes are due. Better enter some giveaways and sweepstakes to lift your spirits!

Coupons and Freebies Mom $250 Target Gift Card Giveaway – Just sign up for Coupons & Freebies Mom free email updates or updates via RSS feed & then fill out the entry form on the giveaway’s main page. Gain additional entries with the directions on the contest’s main page. The giveaway will end on April 27 at 11:59 pm Pacific Time.

Get discounted Target Gift Cards on Plastic Jungle   >>

Cha Cha “What Kind of Car Are You?” Sweepstakes – Well? Take the Cha Cha quiz to find out and you’re entered to win one of two cars they’re giving away. You can enter up to once a day. Invite your friends to take the quiz, and if they take the quiz, you just got yourself another entry. The more friends you invite, the more entries you get! (See official rules here.) NOTE: If one of your invited friends wins a car, then so do you! Winners will be announced 11/11/11 at 11:11pm.

Get discounted Sonic Drive-In Gift Cards on Plastic Jungle   >>

Olive Garden’s Tour of Italy Sweepstakes 2011 (or instantly win a $20 Olive Garden Gift Card!) – Four grand prize winners will enjoy an eight-day Italy trip for two and take cooking lessons in Tuscany and also visit Rome and Florence, including a winery tour. Instant winners score a $20 Olive Garden restaurant gift card. Sweepstakes ends May 9, 2011. You can enter once per day! See official rules for details.

Get discounted Olive Garden Gift Cards on Plastic Jungle   >>

Jimmy Fallon “Band Bench” Sweepstakes – Attention music lovers! If you’ve been setting notifications for Ticketmaster and iTunes Gift Cards, then you’ll relish the chance to see one of your favorite musical performers or bands up close and personal at a Late Night with Jimmy Fallon musical guest taping in New York City. You could win two tickets to Jimmy F’s “Band Bench” (the location of which is outlined on the sweepstakes page). The prize does not include transportation to the evening of the taping, and you will have an opportunity to enter for many different bands through June 30, 2011. Today, you could enter to win tickets to see Paul Simon, Wire, The Strokes, or Duran Duran play on the Jimmy Fallon Show. See Band Bench official rules for details. For an idea of what the experience is like, check out the Alex Suskind Spinner Blog post.

Get discounted Ticketmaster Gift Cards on Plastic Jungle   >>

Get discounted iTunes Gift Cards on Plastic Jungle   >>

Congratulations to all the $50 Gift Card winners in Plastic Jungle’s Spring Cleaning Sweepstakes. Check the Plastic Jungle Facebook Sweepstakes page for a list of winners as they are confirmed! Stay tuned for more Plastic Jungle offers and sweepstakes coming your way.

Who’s got a sweepstakes they would like to share? We’d love to highlight your sweepstakes or giveaway — just email me at blog@plasticjungle.net. Have a great weekend!

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)