The caffeine wars have heated up with McDonalds offering free samples of its coffee to its customers every morning for the next month. McDonald’s has long had its eye on the business of coffee chains such as Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts. To help promote the McDonald’s McCafe franchise the company is sponsoring a “McCafe Your Day” contest. The grand prize is a $50,000 Visa gift card and a $500 McDonald’s gift card. That’s a lot of cash, not to mention hamburgers.

To enter head on over to the McCafe mini site and let McDonald’s know who you think would benefit the most from winning the competition. You can upload your story along with photos to the site anytime before June 21st, 2009. All finalists will receive a $1,000 Visa gift card and a $50 McDonald’s gift card. Winners will be determined by an online vote held between July 13th and July 26th.

There are also weekly gift card draws available for users of the site. McDonald’s will be giving away 130 $1,000 Visa gift cards and $450 McDonalds Arch Card gift cards. The massive amounts of gift cards and money being given away make this the largest current gift card promotion happening online. With thousands of gift cards being given away there is a good chance you may be able to get your hands on a card. If you end up with one of the McDonald’s gift cards but would prefer cash, sell you gift card online with Giftah the online gift card marketplace.

Saks Fifth Avenue is offering a one day promotion that lets shoppers receive Saks Fifth Avenue gift cards in return for shopping at the store.  The offer is only available for one day, May 2oth, 2009. The offer can also be used online and in combination with free shipping (use code SHIPSPR9). Here is how the offer works;

Spend $250 to $499 and get a $25 Saks Fifth Avenue Gift Card.

Spend $500 to $999 and get a $50 Saks Fifth Avenue Gift Card.

Spend $1,000 to $1,999 get a $100 Saks Fifth Avenue Gift Card.

Spend $2,000 to $2,999 get a $300 Saks Fifth Avenue Gift Card.

Spend $3,000 or more and get a $450 Saks Fifth Avenue Gift Card.

The promotion is called spend$some get$ome and the code May9 must be used at checkout. Pre-order items are excluded and certain designer exclusions apply. Gift cards balances may also be deducted for returned merchandise. Since you need to drop ahuge amount of cash just to get one of the gift cards you may want to recover some of your loses and sell your gift card on Giftah.

Ikea Canada is having a promotion right now for customers looking to buy some new bedding. The Ikea Bedroom Event gives consumers 20% of their spending back on a Ikea gift card when they buy any Sultan mattresses or box-springs.  The promotion runs from May 11 – 31, 2009 which leaves a couple weeks to get in on this promo.

Many companies have been offering promotions involving gift cards this spring, Canadian Tire and Shoppers Drug Mart have similar gift card promotions happening now. However, Ikea gift cards are much more valuable then many of the other promotions. If you end up with a Ikea gift card you don’t plan on using sell the gift card on Giftah. Ikea gift cards are very popular and always command a high selling price.

Canadian pharmacy superstore Shoppers Drug Mart is offering free gift cards to restaurants, but only if you drop a significant amount of cash this weekend. The dinning gift cards will be given out to shoppers who spend fifty dollars or more on May 9th or 10th, 2009. Here is how the deal works;

- Spend $50 or more and get a free $10 restaurant gift card.
- Spend $75 or more and get a free $20 restaurant gift card.

The restaurant gift cards are good at Swiss Chalet, Montana’s (We recommend the Canadian Burger), Kelsey’s, Harvey’s or Milestones. The dinning gift cards are only good until May 31st, 2009 which should be plenty of time to have an evening out. If you don’t want the gift card or don’t plan on dinning out you can always sell your gift card online. Just set up a gift card auction on Giftah and get cash for your card.

If you are in the market for some new patio furniture Canadian Tires new promotion is for you. The company is offering Canadian Tire gift cards to any customer purchasing patio furniture before May 22nd, 2009. The amount of the gift card varies depending on the cost of your patio furniture. Basically the more you spend the larger your gift card will be;

- Spend $299.99-399.99 and receive a $75 Canadian Tire Gift Card
- Spend $400-499.99 and receive a $100 Canadian Tire Gift Card
- Spend $500-699.99 and receive a $150 Canadian Tire Gift Card
- Spend $700-899.99 and receive a $200 Canadian Tire Gift Card
- Spend $900 and receive a $300 Canadian Tire Gift Card.

The Canadian Tire gift card promotion for patio furniture is an attractive incentive. Actually getting the card is a bit of a hassle, but definitely worth the time and effort. To receive the rebate you must buy the patio furniture before the expiry date and send in a mail in rebate [PDF] before June 22nd, 2009. Not as easy as the cashier handing you your card, but if you are looking for patio furniture you may was well get a big Canadian Tire gift card with it. Even if you do not usually shop at Canadian Tire you can always get cash for your gift card by selling it on Giftah.