Update: There are actually 3 new Happy Holidays Swap gift card brands, making a total of 6 new brands overall.
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6 new Happy gift card brands have been introduced in time for the 2020 holidays – all of them being swap brands (more on that below).
Here are their names and the retailers they can be redeemed at.
Happy Just Because Swap Gift Card
Eligible Retailers
- Lowe’s
- BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse
- Ulta Beauty
- Fanatics
- Subway
Happy Holidays Swap Gift Card – 1
Eligible Retailers
- Domino’s
- Outback Steakhouse
- Dollar Shave Club
- Wayfair
- GameStop
Happy Holidays Swap Gift Card – 2
Eligible Retailers
- Wayfair
- Spafinder
- Hard Rock Cafe
- H&M
- Fanatics
- BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse
Happy Holidays Swap Gift Card – 3
Eligible Retailers
- Regal Cinemas
- Cinemark Theatres
- Cold Stone Creamery
- Red Lobster
- GameStop
- Riot Games
Happy Birthday Swap Gift Card
Eligible Retailers
- The Cheesecake Factory
- Ulta Beauty
- Dave & Buster’s
- Subway
- Macy’s
Happy To Say Thanks Swap Gift Card
Eligible Retailers
- Lowe’s
- BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse
- Ulta Beauty
- Fanatics
- Subway
How Happy Swap Gift Cards Work
Most Happy gift cards can be used in-store at the retailers listed on each card. As you might notice on these three new brands though, there’s a note stating ‘Online Redemption Required’.
That’s what makes these ‘Swap’ cards. Rather than being able to go in-store and redeem them immediately, you have to go to redeem.giftcards.com and choose how which retailers you want to redeem the gift card at and for how much. You then receive a store-brand eGift card which can be used both online and in-store in most cases. The good thing is that you don’t have to redeem the full value of the Happy Swap gift card in one go, nor do you have to redeem the full value for the same brand.
For example, let’s say you buy/receive a $200 Happy Just Because Swap gift card. You could redeem $50 of the value for a Lowe’s eGift card. The next day you could redeem $25 of the value for Subway, then a week later you could redeem $75 for an Ulta Beauty eGift card. That would leave $50 on the Happy Just Because Swap gift card which won’t expire, nor incur any fees.
These Happy Swap gift cards can be loaded with up to $500 of value, although the different eligible retailers have different minimum and maximum redemption options. I’m not sure what those are, but you might find that the Happy Holidays Swap gift card only lets you redeem $100 at a time for Domino’s. If that’s the case, you can simply redeem for the maximum amount multiple times if your card has a large enough balance and you want to redeem for the same retailer/restaurant gift card.
Where Can I Buy Happy Swap Gift Cards?
You’ll likely start seeing these new Happy Swap gift card brands in grocery stores, but if you’re wanting to buy them online immediately, you can buy all five from Kroger and earn fuel points.
Somewhat strangely, HappyCards.com doesn’t have these new cards listed yet despite being the official site for them. The cards are issued by Blackhawk Network which also owns GiftCardMall and GiftCards.com, but only some of these brands are available on their sites. The benefit of buying from GiftCardMall and GiftCards.com is that you can click through from a shopping portal to earn additional cashback. GiftCards.com also offers G-Money Rewards to make it slightly more rewarding, but portal rewards might make GiftCardMall the better overall choice.
What’s the difference between Happy just because and Happy to say thanks? They have same brands but one of them is swap and other is not?
I don’t think there is a difference – both of them are Swap cards. I just realized that I didn’t include the word ‘Swap’ after the To Say Thanks card, so I’ll add that in.
I’ve no idea why they’ve created identical cards but with a different name though.
Seems like the main negative for these new cards (and it’s a pretty big one) is that you can’t use them at the store to purchase other physical gift cards (like Amazon, for example).
Yep, that’s true.
Yeah . . .these things suck
The good thing is that these are additional options rather than replacements of existing cards. However, it does mean that there don’t appear to be any Happy gift cards that can be used in-store at Lowe’s right now. Happy Father’s Day and the old Happy Holidays card were physical cards, but they’ve both been retired for now, unless the physical Happy Holidays card makes a reappearance.
These online-only options have the potential to be good though – check out the Giving Good cards to see why. https://gcgalore.com/5-new-giving-good-gift-cards-buy-gift-cards-to-give-3-to-select-charities/
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Nothing but a pile of poo for me.
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