Encourage Gift Giving with U.S. Savings Bonds this Holiday Season

Newly designed certificates celebrate the time-honored gift

With the holidays around the corner, now is a great time to remind those you serve about a great gift that reinforces the value of saving–U.S. Savings Bonds. For more than 75 years, savings bonds have made perfect gifts because they are affordable, safe and convenient. Savings bonds can be bought for as little as $25, and they are trusted savings options that protect the original principal while earning interest.

To enhance the gift giving experience, the U.S. Department of the Treasury has developed a new printable set of savings bond certificates featuring historical and patriotic themes. These certificates can be tucked in a card or envelope after purchasing digital savings bonds as a gift.

To help spread the word about giving savings bonds as gifts, check out these tips and tools:

• First, encourage people to set up a TreasuryDirect account: Both the person buying the gift and the person receiving the savings bond will need to have an account in TreasuryDirect – the Treasury Department's secure, online system for managing digital savings bonds and other Treasury securities conveniently, 24/7. Parents will need to set up TreasuryDirect accounts under their own primary account for children under the age of 18. For help on establishing an account in TreasuryDirect, share this tip sheet and this guided tour.
• Share resources that explain how to buy digital bonds as gifts: Once you have a TreasuryDirect account, you can buy a digital bond as a gift. To demonstrate the benefits of buying a bond as a gift and to see a preview of the gift buying process, share this video on your website, in e-newsletters or through your social media channels. If people are looking for step-by-step instructions on buying a digital savings bond as a gift, provide them with this instructional demo. You may also print this tip sheet that provides detailed instructions on how to give a digital savings bond as a gift, and distribute it at your facility or during events.

Learn more about the new certificates and purchasing savings bonds as gifts by visiting the gift giving section of the Ready.Save.Grow. website.

Partner Spotlight: Council for Economic Education

Ready.Save.Grow. is excited to add the Council for Economic Education (CEE) to its expanding list of partners who are spreading the word about how Treasury savings options can help people save and take control of their future.

To help reach young savers, CEE President and CEO Nan Morrison is serving as a judge for the "Save Out Loud" photo & video contest. The CEE is also helping to promote the contest to its network of more than 50,000 teachers and other education professionals across the U.S.

Over the past 60 years, the CEE has been leading the charge for economic education through the development of comprehensive K-12 learning materials and the delivery of valued instruction to help teachers effectively utilize the content in their classrooms. In 2011, CEE trained more than 55,000 teachers, including 5,000 in some of the nation’s lowest-performing high schools.

In addition, the CEE holds an annual Financial Literacy and Economic Education Conference and conducts "Survey of States," a biennial report that brings attention to the critical importance of economics and personal finance education by documenting its status in the fifty states and the District of Columbia.

Visit the partner section of the Ready.Save.Grow. website for more information and tools to spread the word about Ready.Save.Grow. and help people take control of their future.