Restaurants looking to snatch at least a sliver of  your holiday budget are taking their sales pitches straight to your stomach.

Buy one of their gift cards and they'll give you a free meal on the spot.

So far, I've spotted these deals:

Note: This is the latest installment in an occasional series of posts focusing on ways to celebrate the holidays without spending a lot of money.

I wanted to share with you one of my most favorite gifts for the holidays: the Whole Planet Foundation calendar sold at Whole Foods.

For just $3, you get a beautiful calendar filled with coupons for products sold at Whole Foods stores. And, every penny of your $3 goes to support micro-lending programs to help women in countries across the globe lift their families out of poverty.

Note: This is the latest installment in an occasional series of posts focusing on ways to celebrate the holidays without spending a lot of money.

Here's a fantastic gift idea for the holidays and it won't cost you a penny: a FREE photo book from Ritz and Wolf Camera stores.

No strings attached!

Note: This is the latest installment in an occasional series of posts focusing on ways to celebrate the holidays without spending a lot of money.

If you've got kids on your Christmas or Hanukah shopping lists this year, you'll want to take a look at a new set of coupons on Hasbro toys and games.

Toys "R" Us plans to hire 45,000 workers for the holidays.

The New Jersey-based toy retailer announced the hiring effort today, adding that the initiative will double its domestic workforce — albeit temporarily.

About 10,000 of those jobs will be in the 600 temporary stores — Toys "R" Us Express — the company is putting up at malls across the country.

Of course, that doesn't necessarily translate into lots of local jobs. Toys "R" Us has just one traditional big box store in the Triangle — at Cary's Crossroads Plaza — and two Babies "R" Us stores — on Capital Boulevard in Raleigh and on Fayetteville Road in Durham. It has opened an Express store at Northgate Mall. That store will close in January.