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Here’s How To Get Free (or Cheap) Greeting Cards at CVS. Hint: Act Fast

Mike Brassfield

by Mike Brassfield

Senior Writer

cheap greeting cards
Open Grid Scheduler / Grid Engine under Creative Commons

Need a few greeting cards? This week you can get them for free at CVS.

All you need is a CVS ExtraCare card, which is readily available at any of the nearly 10,000 CVS locations. This deal is good through Saturday, Dec. 24.

You can either get three Hallmark cards for free, or you can get three American Greetings cards for 66 cents apiece.

An important note here: CVS stores typically stock either Hallmark or American Greetings cards, but not both brands. If you don’t know which brand your local store carries, call and ask. Here’s a store locator.

Here’s How It Works

Hallmark: Print out the clipped coupon in the upper left corner of this page. With this, you get $3 off when you buy three Hallmark cards priced at $1.99 or more. Buying three $1.99 cards, you’d pay $2.97 at the register after coupons. But you’ll earn $3 in ExtraCare Bucks in CVS’ customer rewards program.

Net price: Free.

Natch, if you buy cards more expensive than $1.99, they won’t be free. But they’ll still be cheap.

American Greetings: Print out the clipped coupon in the upper left corner of this page. This is similar to the Hallmark deal but slightly less generous.

You’ll get $2 off when you buy three American Greetings cards priced at $1.99 or more. The price at the register will be $3.97. But you’ll get $2 in ExtraCare Bucks, so the net price will end up being $1.97, or 66 cents per card.

A tip of the hat to the folks at Wild For CVS for spotting this deal.

What the Heck are ExtraCare Bucks?

Here at The Penny Hoarder, we’ve found the CVS ExtraCare Rewards Program quite useful for saving money.

ExtraCare Bucks, or ECBs, are essentially CVS gift certificates ranging from $1 to $10 that print on the bottom of your receipt. They usually expire in 30 days, but you can use them right away. In fact, you can even divide your purchases into two transactions and use ECBs from the first purchase — like your greeting cards — to bring the price down in your second purchase, whatever that happens to be.

Now go browse the greeting card racks.

Your Turn: What occasions do you buy greeting cards for?

Mike Brassfield ([email protected]) is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder. He always forgets to send greeting cards.