Yeah I just saw this. It's 3000 points right now for a $10 gas card. So that's a small improvement over last year's 3500.

Anyway, that makes the value of each Gift Point $0.00333 (that is, one third of a cent) per point. So basically every 3 gift points is worth a penny.

Many people didn't realize that you could exchange gift points for free play. I am forgetting the exchange rate, and I think you had to buy the freeplay in $50 increments, but it was the best deal. Last year, I got an iPad, a single $10 Shell card, and got the rest (about $650) in freeplay.

Perhaps this year the gas cards will be worth more than the freeplay, thanks to the reduction in point price.

Here are some tips for the Great Gift Wrap Up:

- Avoid electronics, as many of them were priced months ago, and will be poor value by the time you get there. iPads are sometimes the exception, as their prices are fixed by Apple.

- Bring a smartphone or iPad with you to the event (or do all of your research beforehand) for the best online price (including shipping/tax) of each item. Then compare it to the number of points it costs, and figure out how much you're really getting per point. So, for example, if you want an item that is 90000 points, but you see it is going for $300 at the cheapest place online (tax & shipping included), that means you're only getting 0.296 cents per point. That's not a good deal when you can get 0.333 cents per point buying gas cards. So stay away from items like that.

- You can transfer points! Many don't realize this. Almost everyone ends up with some kind of "remainder" of points, and assume they just lose them! Not true! You can only do this in person, and both people need to be present. Just both go to the checkout area, and they can transfer any amount of points WITH NO PENALTY from one person to another.