One of my favorite holiday programs is Feed It Forward from Restaurant.com. This is the company that regularly sells $25 gift certificates for $10 plus promo codes that make them super cheap. Around this time of year they give millions of $10 certificates for free. 

How? Registered users can send certificates to their family, friends, etc. up to 40 daily. The recipient can either get them via Facebook or email and can redeem it for their choice of restaurant. Of course they may have to pay a little extra at the restaurant but its a nice gesture that didn't cost your family ANYTHING!