Years ago, when I used to live in Tooele, UT the town did this really neat event around Christmas time.

About the first part of November or so, there were about 20 or so different stores from around town that had boxes where you could enter the drawing for a shopping spree.  The shopping spree was hosted by the town- I think the Chamber of Commerce.
A few days before Christmas they took all the boxes of entries and combined them at the C of C office.  Then they drew out 3 winners- $200, $500, and $1,000.
The winners were called and given a certificate stating how much they had won.  Then the winners could go to any of the 20 or so participating stores (the ones that had the entry boxes) and buy whatever they want.  The store then stapled the receipt of the purchase total on to the certificate and deducted it off the total shopping spree winnings on the back.  The winner didn’t pay anything at the stores.  But what happened was when the winner had used up all of their shopping spree they returned the certificate to the C of C office and the C of C then mailed checks out to all the businesses who had receipts on the certificate for he amount owed.

It was a really fun Christmas event for the town!  ok, so it was especially fun for me because I was one of the winners!  My friend at the C of C said they drew my name out first and had it in their hand (hadn’t opened it yet) and were going to start with the $1,000 winner, but then chose to start with the $200 winner instead. 🙁 I was THAT close to winning a $1000 shopping spree!! but still, I won $200 so I can’t complain! It was really nice too because just a few days before Christmas when things were tight I was able to get some last minute gifts, and go on a date with my husband.  And I went to stores I might not have ever gone in before.