UPDATED! Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: Gifts from the 2020 Winter Shop and Hop

The Second Life Winter Shop & Hop event opened today, and runs until January 3rd, 2021. Almost all of the 180 participating merchants in the nine-sim shopping mall have a free gift for their customers, and today I blitzed through the entire mall from one end to the other, to bring you my picks for the most fabulous freebies from the event!

Please note that there are a lot more home and garden vendors than in previous years, which I will not be covering here. Today, I will be focusing on women’s apparel and footwear gifts. (If I have time, I may make a second run and focus on the non-apparel items you can pick up for your virtual homestead in Second Life.)

All SLURLs in this blogpost should take you directly to the location of the freebie in the Shop & Hop mall, so let’s just jump in, shall we?

Free Gifts of Women’s Apparel and Footwear

First up we have two gifts that don’t quite match, but what the hell…as soon as I found these items, I immediately put them on and wore them on the rest of my perambulations through the Winter Shop & Hop mall! The frilly magenta Fondle dress is the gift from Toksik, and the strappy red shoes are a present from the Enchanté store:

Vanity Fair models this truly sexy black lace Raelin slip dress from Baiastice (the black panties are included), which comes in sizes to fit Maitreya Lara, Perky, and Petite, Meshbody Legacy, Belleza Freya, and Slink Hourglass female mesh bodies:

Next we have this warm, wearable red blanket from Belle Epoque (you will need to alpha out your arms and hands!), plus these wonderful powder blue women’s patrol boots with a snowflake pattern, the gift from Lapointe and Bastchild’s brand SWEAR:

The detail on the patrol boots is amazing! These are keepers for sure! I may even design a whole winter outfit around them…

Here, Vanity Fair is wearing a green top and matching skirt, the gift from Entice, plus a pair of Storyteller glasses, the present from BONDI (which come with a HUD to change the colour of the frames and the tint of the lenses):

This tartan December minidress from Faida comes in sizes to fit Meshbody Legacy, and three versions of the Maitreya Lara body: regular, petite, and flat-chested.

The gift from Pixicat is this red-and-black Aspen cardigan, shown here with the Christmas ball earrings from Aleutia, which come in silver and gold versions in a full fatpack of colours, to match any seasonal outfit!

The Adita Santa dress from Luas comes in a fatpack of colours, shown here with the Aster boots from Eudora, which come in your choice of brown or red leather:

This year, several stores are offering more than one gift! AlaFolie has four gifts for you to unpack, including this Christine sweater and skirt outfit (which comes with a HUD with six different colours and patterns), and the knitted woolen Bonnet hat:

From Flower Dreams comes this bold, floral mesh dress called Kim, which comes with a five-colour HUD as shown. In addition, there are four other free gifts for women, all of which are applier/system/Bakes on Mesh outfits, some including wraps or shawls for various versions of female mesh bodies!

And Neve is giving you ELEVEN gifts in total this year: this year’s gift of the Lumos scarf with tiny Christmas lights (which includes a HUD with four options for both the colour of the scarf and the Christmas lights), plus ten gifts from previous years, all in one package! Below, Vanity Fair wears the Lumos scarf with one of those ten gifts, this festive sweater outfit from 2016, which comes with a HUD to change the colour of the top, skirt, sweater and belt separately to make numerous combinations!

Another festive outfit is this cropped sweater and skirt from 2019, each of which comes with a four-colour HUD, so you can mix and match:

And there are still eight more gifts from Neve to unpack! Hands down, Neve is the most generous vendor this Christmas at the Shop and Hop! Even if you have picked up one or two of these gifts in your earlier visits to SL, it is so thoughtful of Neve to make all of them available in one package!

Free Store Credit or Gift Cards

This year, quite a few stores are offering the gift of free store credit or gift cards (once again, all links are SLURLs to take you directly to the store locations in the Shop & Hop mall where you can slap the boards to obtain these offers):

  • Bumblebee‘s gift is L$500 gift card, to spend as you wish in their store;
  • EscalateD Hair is also offering L$500 free store credit;
  • Glitzz is giving away L$500 in free store credit, too;
  • Salt & Pepper is giving you L$250 in free store credit, plus a rather funny outfit;
  • Tachinni Clothing is offering L$150 in free store credit to everybody, and an additional L$350 store credit if you join their group (the group join fee is L$15);
  • and ViSion is giving away a fatpack of women’s leggings, plus L$500 in store credit to anyone who joins the ViSion group (the group join fee is only L$18).

And that’s it for me today! Happy freebie shopping! Remember that you have until January 3rd to scoop up all of these items, plus many more fabulous freebies.

UPDATE Dec. 15th, 2020: I forgot to mention yet another free gift card offer at the 2020 Winter Shop and Hop! The Annex womenswear store is giving away a L$500 if you join their free group here:

Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: Gifts from the Valentine’s Shop and Hop Event

(“We now return you to our regularly scheduled programming…”  If you are looking for my blogposts about the Wuhan coronavirus/2019-nCoV, please click here. I am taking a one-day mental-health break from covering the situation, but I expect to be back at it tomorrow.)


This evening I wandered through the four-sim shopping mall set up for the Second Life Valentine’s Day Shop and Hop event, which runs from today, February 6th, through to February 23rd. Every one of the 80 stores participating has a free gift for visitors, of which I will show you some of my favourites.

Bumblebee

Bumblebee gives you these heart-patterned leggings, plus a L$300 credit for their store if you join their store group for free.

Trompe L’Oeil

Trompe L’Oeil offers you this stylish suede chair, with a variety of sitting animations.

Supernatural

The gift from Supernatural is this lovely Kyary necklace, which comes in gold or silver with a HUD to change the colour of the heart to six different colours: red, purple, pink, blue, black and white.

Son!a Edge

There are two delightful gifts from Son!a Edge, this gorgeous full-length pink Cannes ballgown and the Fairytale braclets, which come with a HUD with many options to change the metals, the gemstones, etc. The gown comes with a matching pink fur stole to complete the look.

Lapointe & Bastchild Swear

The gift from L&B Swear is this unisex charm bracelet.

G&D

G&D’s gift is this pair of Tisha shoes in red with gold or silver accents.

Gabrielle Hamelin

This pretty Spring Bliss dress is the present from Gabrielle Hamelin.

Lassitude & Ennui

The sexy Date Night Dress by Lassitude & Ennui comes in pink and red.

Addams

Addams has two versions of this crochet top as presents: the bright pink one is a free gift, and the light pink one is a group gift (you can join the Addams group for free).

Baiastice

Baiastice offers up this Valentine’s headpiece with a six-option HUD.

Pixicat

Pixicat’s gift is this cute tied top and matching shorts.

spectacledchic

This Hailey top and matching skirt has a 1970s feel to it!

Silvan Moon

The gift from Silvan Moon is this Ain’t Misbehavin’ pink 1920s flapper-style dress with optional beads. This dress also comes with a headband.

Altair

Altair offers a much-needed anti-Valentine’s-Day sentiment with this black sweatshirt.

Neve

This is the soft pink knit Love dress, the beautifully designed gift from Neve.

Miss Chelsea

The Mira top from Miss Chelsea comes in a trio of shades.

Ingenue

Ingenue offers the Tavi leggings in two shades of pink.

Faida

Faida offers a second dose of anti-Valentine’s sentiment with this “It’s not me, it’s you” crop top!

Aluetia

The gift from Aleutia is this pretty Eileen dress.

UC (United Colors)

UC offers this daring red Cupid dress with a semi-transparent lace skirt!

HolliPocket

HolliPocket offers up the daring Spring Fling minidress in mint green.

Valentina E

Valentina E’s gift is the Andi bodysuit in two different patterns.

Candy Kitten

Finally, we have the Valentine Badass Babygirl boots by Candy Kitten, in three different colours.

UPDATED: Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: FaMESHed 7th Anniversary Gifts!

One tip I always share with avid Second Life freebie hunters is to check when the various monthly shopping events celebrate a yearly anniversary. This is often a time when you can pick up dozens of free gifts from the many content creators participating. One of the best-known and longest-running shopping events is FaMESHed, and it just so happens that they are celebrating their 7th anniversary this month!

You can join the FaMESHed Update Group for free, and with that group active, you can visit the FaMESHed sim and pick up over 60 different gifts from many talented, well-known designers, all for free!

However, I would caution you that the current round of FaMESHed runs from May 1st until May 27th, so you have plenty of time to vacuum up all the freebies. Today the sim is almost impossible to get into (unless you are a Premium member), and the lag is absolutely horrific. You’ll be clicking and reclicking several times in vain on each giftbox to get your presents, and only after a delay of 5 to 10 minutes each! If I were you, I would wait until later in the month when it’s less busy. Just mark it in your calendar so you don’t forget!

What I can do is show you just a sampling of the sixty free gifts available, so you can decide for yourself whether or not it’s worth the hassle to get into the sim and brave the lag. In all these pictures Vanity Fair is wearing:

First up is with a mint green minidress by Neve (which comes with a HUD with four colour and pattern choices), paired with the Camila hair by Limerance (which you can tint as you desire using the included HUD), along with sunglasses by Minimal and the So Feng heels by BREATHE:

Next up is the Soho dress in olive by Junbug, paired with the Misha hairstyle by Elikatria (which comes in four sizes, with a HUD with 20 different colours):

For a completely different look, here’s a blue top by Giz Soern, worn with high-waisted cargo pants in camel by COCO Designs, the Jessie Anime hair set by Ayashi (which you can tint any colour you like), and as the finishing touch the Savannah fringed bag by Aleutia:

Vanity Fair’s second-last look is the daring, skin-baring Vivien dress in nude by Kaithleen’s, paired with a pastel beads necklace by Meva and resizable Nina silver hoop earrings by Miu (they also come in bronze, gold, and pink). The finishing touch is a pair of vintage peep-toe heels from Eudora3D, and a round wicker Africa purse by Belle Epoque. (The hairstyle in these pictures is Lady by Truth Hair and it is not a free gift.)

The final look features the Hush bra and panties in eggshell by Dead Dollz, paired with the Bahia blue fishnet heels by Essenz, to which I added the Annoushka silver earrings by Ilaya and the Nicky crystal bracelet by Kunglers:

So, if you like what you see, head on down to the FaMESHed event before May 27th! These and many other freebies await you.

UPDATE May 3rd: Naria Panthar has done an hour-long YouTube video where she shows off all the FaMESHed 7th anniversary gifts. (For some reason I could not embed that video here on my blog.) Note that in addition to many items of clothing, jewelry and hair, there are many gifts of household items like books and pillows for your home.