Pixy Sticks are like power-ups for grown-ups, and you'll need them for this.

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Gift Card Weekend for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Is that a rumbling in your stomach I hear?

No, wait, it’s mine.  Sorry about that.  It’s just that I’m getting hungry and I’ve got no options left for a snack here.  I ate my lunch already, I ate my extra lunch already, and while, yeah, I have some Pixy Sticks in a coffee cup on my desk, have you ever tried to fill up on Pixy Sticks?

I have. It wasn’t pretty.  Although the sugar rush did make that the most productive fifteen minutes of my life.

If – if—I was on Facebook, I’d have another option: A $25 gift card to Applebee’s, just for going to Facebook and liking “Gift Card Weekend.”

You’ve heard about Gift Card Weekend, no doubt – Gift Card Weekend happens once a year, according to legend (well, and according to fact), and during the Gift Card Weekend, retailers give featured offered for gift cards redeemed that weekend.

The next “Gift Card Weekend” is January 6-8, 2012, so you’ve got to act quickly to get that $25 Applebee’s Gift Card. (Remember? That’s what I was talking about.)

The Gift Card Weekend fan page will let you win a free $25 Applebee’s Gift Card daily from December 10-18, with fans of the Gift Card Weekend Page being eligible to win one.  All you have to do is “like” Gift Card Weekend on Facebook and you’re in.

Want more chances to win? Share the page with your Facebook friends and for every “like” you influence, you’ll get an extra entry.

And that’s not all: There’s more giveaways, so you should definitely look around the page to familiarize yourself with all of them and check back often.  (Check every day for new giveaways.  Seriously.  Check a couple of times a day.  Keep that page open on your desktop.)

This is perfect for you gift-givers, too – you could get yourself some free gift cards to help stretch the holiday budget this year, either by providing you with money to go out, or (yep, you figured it out already) giving one of these cards as a gift, and then reminding the recipient of the Gift Card Weekend offers.

And a lot of retailers are in on the Gift Card Weekend.  Look at them all:

JCPenny, Regal Cinema, Subway, Sephora, Applebee's, Bass Pro Shops, Adidas, Buca di Beppo, Lowe's, Spa Finder, Marriot, and Giant Eagle!

You’ll need some energy for all this, so help yourself to my Pixy Sticks.