Bounty Bags (Parent-To-Be and New Parent bags)

What's in the box: A free bag of brand samples, trial size baby and parent products, coupons and parenting information, matched to either pregnancy or the newborn stage.

Bounty Bags are one of the best known freebies for Australian families. They come from Bounty Parents, a large parenting website. You can get a Parent-To-Be bag during pregnancy and a New Parent bag after your baby arrives. You register through the site, and the bags are free. Participating brands decide what goes inside, so you can't choose the contents. Expect a mix of product samples, trial sizes, coupons and information booklets on things like nappies, skin care, feeding and baby health.

The appeal is simple: it costs nothing, and you get to try products before buying full sizes. The website adds value too. It has a large library of pregnancy, baby and toddler articles, product reviews, trial teams, competitions and the Bounty Baby Awards, which rank products by parent votes.

The catch is that this is a marketing channel. Signing up means sharing your details and due date, and you should expect emails and offers from Bounty and its partners. Contents vary from bag to bag and aren't personalised, and some items will be leaflets rather than useful products. The site doesn't list bag contents in advance, so treat the bags as a pleasant bonus rather than something to plan around. Since registration is free, it's still worth doing for most expecting parents.