UPDATED! Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: Free Gifts from the 2021 Valentine’s Shop and Hop Event

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The annual Second Life Valentine’s Shop & Hop event officially opens tomorrow, February 5th, and runs until February 17th, 2021. Almost all of the participating merchants in the eight-sim-wide shopping mall have a free gift set out for their customers, over one hundred gifts in total, and the following are my picks for the most fabulous fashion freebies from the event!

All SLURLs in this blogpost should take you directly to the location of the freebie in the Shop & Hop mall, so let’s get started…on your mark, get set, go!

Women’s Apparel and Footwear

Here Vanity Fair is wearing the cute, playful Adore You dress from Candy Kitten, which features a broad, laced-up belt, and comes with a HUD to change the colour and pattern of every part, with six texture options for both the top and skirt! it’s sized to fit Maitreya regular and petite, Belleza Freya, and Legacy female mesh bodies.

The gift from Glitzz is this three-piece set called Woke Up, a lacy pink bra and matching panties and a loose white shirt to wear over top, which comes in the following sizes: Maitreya, Freya, Hourglass, and Legacy.

This fun and fuzzy bodycon dress called Mary is the Valentine’s Shop and Hop present from Rosary (sizes: Maitreya, Freya Perky, Hourglass, Legacy, and Kupra). This curve-hugging dress comes with a HUD as shown below, to change the colour of the dress to any of eleven different shades!

Celestina’s Weddings has an opulent, beautiful jewelry set as a gift, which includes the earrings, necklace, and ring as shown, as well as a matching bejeweled purse!

The gift from Valentina E. is the aptly-named Slinky Dress in lavender (which comes in a Maitreya Lara size only):

From ALTER Clothing & Accessories comes the Berry bare-shouldered ruched dress, in a complete fatpack of 29 colours as shown below (sizes: Maitreya Lara; Belleza Venus, Isis, and Freya; Slink Physique and Hourglass; Tonic Curvy and Fine).

From Envious comes this cute Kisses Love outfit, which includes the cropped sweater, the polka-dot miniskirt with garters, and the lace-up platform boots!

This next casual outfit Vanity Fair is wearing consists of two separate gifts from the 2021 Valentine’s Shop and Hop! The lovely ruffled floral top is the present from the Pixicat booth (sizes: Maitreya, Freya, Hourglass, and Legacy), and the embroidered denim skirt with the optional chain belt is the gift from Tachinni Clothing (sizes: Maitreya, Isis, Freya, Hourglass, and Legacy).

This sexy black top, skirt, and harness (all in one piece) is the gift from Asteria (sizes: Maitreya and Petite; Legacy and Perky; Belleza Isis and Freya; Signature Hourglass).

From the swan pond in the middle of the Deep Static booth, you can pick up a gift box with these Delia Valentine’s glasses, which include a HUD with 8 textures for the frames, and 9 different lens tints:

Now let’s take a look at some of the footwear gifts at the Valentine’s Shop and Hop.

ISON‘s gift are a complete fatpack (21 colours, plus 9 bonus colours) of these mid-heel height strappy leather shoes called Kenya, which come in sizes to fit Maitreya, Slink, Legacy, and Belleza Freya mesh feet. (Note that I had to adjust Vanity’s foot size under the body sliders, to get these to look right on her feet.)

From Gabrielle Hamelin come these black floral platform boots, perfect for stomping on someone’s heart for (Anti-)Valentine’s Day! They come in a mid-heel height, for Maitreya, Belleza, Slink, and Legacy mesh feet, plus an unrigged version for all other feet, so they should fit you!

Baiastice always gives such wonderful gifts at every Shop and Hop event, and this round is no exception! At the Baistice booth, you can pick up these deep red, drop-dead, thigh-high Gio stretch boots (sizes: mid-heel height for Maitreya, Belleza Freya, Slink Hourglass, Singature Alice, and Legacy mesh feet).

The gift from the FashionNatic booth are these Uma boots, to fit Maitreya, Belleza Freya, and Legacy female feet (note: not Slink, but you can always alpha out your feet for these boots). You can tint each of four different parts of this boot separately to one of no less than fifty different colours using the HUD, to match literally any outfit! Very versatile!

Finally, from the Son!a Edge booth comes yet another stunning ballgown gift for which they have become renowned, the Athena gown in lilac, which comes in sizes to fit Maitreya (and Petite), Legacy (and Perky), Freya Perky, and Hourglass mesh bodies. You’re sure to turn some heads in this at your next fancy soirée in Second Life!

Women’s Hair

The gift from Vanity Hair is this fun, piled-high, über-teased Miss Lu updo, which comes in a fatpack of colours:

Men’s Apparel and Unisex Accessories

Etham is giving away a men’s wardrobe staple, a plain T-shirt with a 3/4-length sleeve, which includes a HUD with 8 different shades of black, red, and pink for Valentine’s Day. The shirt comes in in sizes to fit Belleza Jake, Legacy, Slink, and Signature Gianni and Geralt male bodies, and a “classic” fit if your body isn’t one of the aforementioned models.

A&D Clothing has a gift on some John Lennon-style sunglasses with round lenses, with a choice of eight different images for the reflections; these glasses are unisex and resizable.

Kungler’s Jewelry has a rather interesting gift: a set of two Valentine’s rings that can be worn together by one person, or split up, to be worn by two lovers! The rings come with a texture-change HUD, and the sign states that they are “highly editable and Bento friendly” (which means that you’ll probably need to do a bit of work to get them to fit you properly). These rings come in two sizes (regular and large) for either the right or the left hand.

Free Store Credit and Gift Cards

Once again, several stores are offering free store credit and gift cards! Among them are:

  • Addams: L$500 in free store credit (with no expiry date!)
  • Blueberry: L$400 in free store credit (expires in two weeks)
  • Bumblebee: a L$500 store gift card
  • EscalateD: L$250 in free store credit
  • Tachinni Clothing: L$500 in free store credit if you join their group (there’s a L$15 group join fee; the free credit expires February 24th, 2021), plus a gift of an embroidered denim miniskirt with an optional chain belt (sizes: Maitreya Lara; Belleza Isis and Freya; Slink Hourglass, Legacy)
  • ViSion: L$450 in free store credit if you join their group (there’s a L$18 group join fee; the free credit expires February 23rd, 2021), plus a fatpack of panties (sizes: Maitreya Lara; Belleza Isis and Freya; Slink Hourglass; Legacy; Kupra)

UPDATE Feb. 5th, 2021: Daisy Haven told me about yet another store that is offering free store credit. Go to the Mangula booth, and click the sign indicated by the green arrow below to receive L$300 in free store credit (expires February 20th, 2021):

Above the credit gift sign are two free gifts of women’s footwear, no group needed! And on the other side of the wall, there are three gifts especially for people who subscribe to the Mangula group—and it doesn’t take up one of your precious free group slots! The subscribe panel is located right at the centre of the booth, below the red Mangula logo, and it is free to subscribe (and there are many other subscriber-only gifts located at the Mangula mainstore location).

Thanks for the tip, Daisy!

Happy freebie shopping!


In these pictures, Vanity Fair is also wearing:

Photo by Laura Ockel on Unsplash

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 Hallowe’en Shop and Hop: Pick Up L$1,000 in Free Store Credit at Addams and Bumblebee

Because I will be working all weekend of various work projects for my full-time paying job at my university library system, I regret that I will not have time to browse through the Second Life Hallowe’en Shop and Hop event, which runs from October 2nd to November 1st, 2020. (Sorry, guys!)

However, thanks to the fast-working Russians over at Second Life – FREE (which is a little-known-about Russian-language group on Vkontakte, the Russian version of Facebook; use the Russian-to-English translator in your Chrome browser), I have seen pictures of most of the gifts available from the participating vendors. Using this handy list of SLURLs to take you directly to the vendor booth by name, I wanted to highlight three gifts which you might be interested in, which are not necessarily Hallowe’en-themed.

Baiastice

First up is the Baiastice booth, which offers the following low-cut, slinky gold minidress, with a HUD allowing you to change the gold to any of eleven other colours. Very versatile, and wearable in all seasons, not just Hallowe’en!

Bumblebee

Bumblebee has a panel in their booth which, when clicked, gives you a L$500 gift card, which you can use to buy anything in the Bumblebee store. (You can also combine it with the free gift card available in the store, if you have not already picked that up; more details here.)

Addams

Addams is another store offering L$500 in free store credit at the Hallowe’en Shop and Hop! Just click the sign at their booth, and the credits will automatically be added to your Addams account, for use on your next shopping trip!

There are eight sims for you to scratch that shopping itch at the Shop and Hop, and each participating vendor has a gift for you in their booth! Happy freebie shopping!

Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: How to Get L$600 in Free Store Credit at Bumblebee!

Did you know that you can obtain L$600 worth of free store credit at Bumblebee? Today I will explain, step by step, how to do it.

First, visit the Bumblebee booth at the Second Life 17th Birthday Shop and Hop event (here’s the exact SLURL) before it ends on July 12th, 2020, and click on the panel shown here:

You will receive a folder containing a HUD which you have to attach. Once attached, click on the red button on the bottom left-hand corner of the HUD to receive L$300 in Bumblebee store credit.

Then, teleport over to the Bumblebee main store, and head towards the group join panel, which looks like this:

Click the panel the first time to get a message in chat with a link to join the Bumblebee store group (which is free to join). Once you have joined the group, click the panel a second time to receive a second HUD. Attach the HUD and click the button on it, and you will receive another L$300 in free store credit as a welcome gift!

Most clothing items at Bumblebee cost L$199 each, so L$600 in free store credit lets you pick up three items! (To buy an item using your store credit, just right click on the item and select Menu, then Buy on the blue pop-up window, then Gift Card. You will be asked to confirm your purchase before the amount is deducted from your balance.)

Here my newly-renamed Afro-Canadian avatar Moesha Heartsong is wearing the Xiomara knotted long-sleeve top paired with the Gretel high-waisted suede pants:

(The black Wales pumps were the June group gift from Essenz; there is a L$350 fee to join the Essenz store group. These wonderful pumps come in four different styles and 26 different colours.)

In addition to the free store credit, your membership in the Bumblebee group allows you to play the lucky boards located to the left of the store entrance. There’s usually a small crowd gathered and the letters change over quickly, so you are almost certain to pick up a few more free items!

Here Coupon Clip is wearing three of those lucky board prizes: the Sophie knitted top, with the Cecilia sweater over top, plus the Cecilia rolled-cuff jeans in light blue:

The Jumpov sneakers are a free group gift from VERSOV (exact SLURL); the VERSOV group is free to join, and there are five other group gifts you can pick up there.

Happy freebie shopping!