Caesars and the Great Gift Wrap Up

I just took a look at the items available at the Great Gift Wrap Up that Caesars Entertainment will host soon in Las Vegas.

This is one of the better perks that Caesars has. At many of its casino properties including all of them in Nevada, Caesars gives additional "points" for casino play that can be used to purchase various prizes at their Great Gift Wrap Up events. They have two of them before Christmas.

It's a better perk because the points you use to get these items is not deducted from other Total Rewards credits. Unfortunately, you can only redeem these points in Vegas during the two events and if you don't have a lot of points to redeem and a trip is not already scheduled, it may not be worth making a special trip.

Their catalog of items and points needed to get them is www.greatgiftwrapup.com and you can check your point balance using your TR account number and entering your PIN used to check your TR account.

In years past they were adding catalog items right up to the days of the events. I just checked and there really aren't many selections on the website today.

In the past I was able to do a lot of holiday gift shopping there, and because I'm in LA my son and I drove up in the morning, did our shopping in the casino ballroom, and drove right back. In most cases, the items are shipped to your address in about two weeks.

Last year most of my points were redeemed for Shell gas cards, and that's what I'll probably do again this year. But my wife always reminds me that she needs a few things.

Anyway, I posted this just as a reminder that the Great Gift Wrap Up is coming up and if you need an extra reason to visit Vegas before the holidays this might be it.

Don't forget about the wonderful calculator you get on the way in. AP's attach any value they like to it so they can claim to have had a winning year.

Just checked, Oct. 27th, and more items are being added. I'm particularly interested in getting a new computer and there are Sony Vaio laptops and Apple iPads now listed.

As I wrote above, they will probably be adding items right up to the day it starts.

There were Tiffany and David Yurman in years past and I expect them this year. David Yurman is always on my wife's list.

Did I tell you that two years ago I went to the shopping spree and got.... nothing for myself? LOL

It's Saturday night and Jason and I are driving back from LV from a day tripper to go to the Great Gift Wrap Up. There were no surprises at the event meaning no last minute additions. Tiffany was not there nor was David Yurman jewelry and that was a disappointment for my wife who gave me a shopping list.

I got the computer I wanted. Jason and I made a deal to maximize our points: I bought some things that he wanted and he bought some things that I wanted so that the fewest number of gift points would be unused. They still do not allow pooling of points.

As in years past you could redeem gift points for free play and the exchangge was the same as for gift cards.

There were plenty of vendor reps at the event to help answer questions. Whwn I was looking at the computers I vendor rep showed me all three Vaio medels that were available and asked me what my needs were.

You might not know this but vendor reps staff the floor and those aren't employees of the casino. In previous years I got to chat with some of the vendor reps who are from LA and work the event but there were no familiar faces this year.

The event appeared to be smaller than last year and the year before. Fewer items. Smaller selection.

My host from Caesars called me today and asked me what I thought about the Great Gift Wrap Up? I told her that we were disappointed that items from Tiffany and David Yurman were not included. She told me she would try to find out why. When I hear something I will post it.

There is a second session of the Great Gift Wrap Up Dec. 1-5 at Caesars. I doubt any new items will be added.

Today, in the mail, the gift cards that we ordered arrived. These were the Shell gas cards. That was fast. They arrived by first class mail.

Play in Reno and Lake Tahoe plus Laughlin does not contribute towards points for the Great Gift Wrapup. Just LV play. When I played heavy at Harrahs properties I was always very pleased with what they offered as well as how quickly everything always came.

Rob, the rules have changed in recent years and play at other properties outside of Vegas now count towards "points" and here is the current list from the website:

Rincon Band of Luiseno Indians d/b/a Harrah's Rincon (San Diego)
Ak-Chin Indian Community d/b/a Harrah's Ak-Chin Casino Resort (Arizona)
Caesars Entertainment Operating Company, Inc. d/b/a Harrah's Casino Hotel Reno
Harrah's Laughlin, LLC d/b/a Harrah's Laughlin
Harveys Tahoe Management Company, Inc. d/b/a Harrah's Casino Hotel Lake Tahoe

and here's the link to their rules: http://greatgiftwrapup.com/greatgiftwrapup/rules.htm

Ha, then I missed out on a lot of gifts over the years because I put in a LOT of play up in Reno & Lake Tahoe.

Did they give you another calculator just for showing up?

Funny thing about the calculator this year... it's a large, but light weight calculator and easy to carry around, but more fitting for a desk top. It's definitely too big to put into your pocket and I think they came up with the larger "desk top" size so people would not put it into their pocket or handbag to take home. One benefit of the larger calculator was that it is larger -- big buttons, big display -- but it didn't fit in any of my pockets. We don't carry handbags! So they got to keep our calculator... we left it at the "check out."

And don't forget one more Wrap Up is coming Dec. 1-5 at Caesars.

We're less than a week away from Christmas and I'm happy to report that almost everything ordered at the first Great Gift Wrap Up in November arrived. Missing: a bracelet ordered from John Hardy. But a week ago, John Hardy sent an email offering a replacement for immediate delivery or we would have to wait for our first choice which could not be shipped until January. We checked the picture of the replacement and while attractive it was not what my wife wanted... so we declined the replacement offer and will wait.

How did everybody else do? All of the items ordered by other family members arrived in plenty of time, and some arrived very quickly.

Meanwhile, Caesars is now sending out promotional offers for February that include Great Gift Wrap Up points for the 2012 event. The offer I got had the equivalent of about a $300 cash value if I used the points to buy gift cards such as Shell gas cards.

See update: bracelet arrived.

If you are on the mailing list for promotions from the Caesars Entertainment properties check the offers because some of them also offer "bonus points" towards the 2012 Great Gift Wrap Up. Some of the promotions are linked so that the more you attend during the year, the more "bonus" points you get towards the 2012 Great Gift Wrap Up.

Those of you who consider these bonuses as part of your "edge" should also add in the potential of extra points for the Great Gift Wrap Up. But be careful-- if the bonus for the Great Gift Wrap Up is something like 5,000 points, keep in mind that 5,000 Great Gift Wrap Up points is enough only for about $30 of gift cards or similarly priced merchandise.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Alan Mendelson

We're less than a week away from Christmas and I'm happy to report that almost everything ordered at the first Great Gift Wrap Up in November arrived. Missing: a bracelet ordered from John Hardy. But a week ago, John Hardy sent an email offering a replacement for immediate delivery or we would have to wait for our first choice which could not be shipped until January. We checked the picture of the replacement and while attractive it was not what my wife wanted... so we declined the replacement offer and will wait.

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The John Hardy bracelet that I originally ordered finally arrived today -- on lucky Friday the 13th of all dates. Everything else arrived in plenty of time for Christmas giving. And we were happy to wait for the bracelet that I ordered instead of taking the replacement that was offered.