If Charles Dickens’ Ebenezer Scrooge character could be here for the doom and gloom that the pending recession has pulled over the holiday season and spending, he would be giggling like a Miley Cyrus-aged school girl in delight.

In keeping with Ebenezer Scrooge’s holiday budget, a number of brands have taken advantage of viral gifts for the upcoming holiday season that are similar to Office Max’s Elf Yourself.

For UPS, re-gifting has been taken to a whole new level with a viral campaign that allows users to upload images of unwanted gifts or choose gifts from the existing UPS gallery to re-gift via email or Facebook.

Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Mobile has also hooked into the holiday season with mygingerhead.com which allows users to send holiday e-cards with their face inserted on a gingerbread cookie.

Lexus has also jumped on the band wagon targeting those untouched or denying the recession who are still hoping for a Lexus car as their holiday gift. The Lexus website has a hint card that allows users to upload their face onto an animated dancing character alongside the car of their choice/dreams.

All of these options provide us with an opportunity to save money, save time and avoid venturing out into the freezing outdoors – a great combo of you ask me!