FarmVille: Second free Birthday Gift offers Birthday Ewe, fireworks and more

While we previously saw a one-day-only Birthday Gift available on the FarmVille free gifts page to celebrate the game's second birthday, that box has been replaced with a second Birthday Gift - a seemingly more permanent one at that. While there's no reason to expect that this gift will be available after the birthday celebration is over, it doesn't currently have a time limit, so you can stock up on as many as you wish.

Unfortunately, all of this extra time won't let you earn more than the standard four items possibly found inside each gift, but at least you'll have time to open enough gifts that you'll likely receive at least one of each. Here's what to expect:

Durian Tree
Arborists
Birthday Ewe
B-Day Fireworks

While the Birthday Ewe is an actual, functional animal, the B-Day Fireworks are unfortunately a one-time-use item that will vanish from your farm after displaying a show of brightly colored shimmers and stars in your farm's sky. Still, Fireworks normally cost Farm Cash in the game, so I'm definitely happy to see a free option that I won't feel so bad about actually launching. Make sure to send these Birthday Gifts while we know they're still available - you won't want to miss out on these special items!

Check out the rest of our FarmVille Second Birthday coverage right here. >

Which of these four prizes is your favorite? Will you use the B-Day Fireworks, or will you save them and make a larger show by launching multiples at once?

FarmVille: Parisian Bench free gift will let you sit in style

While there may not have been a large update added to FarmVille this evening, a new free gift did appear on the game's free gifts page, with this item going hand-in-hand with the recent Parisian limited edition item theme that some of you may have used to decorate your farms. The Parisian Bench II (not to be confused with the original Parisian Bench, which was released just a few days ago) is an ornate, dark brown bench with a mustard-colored pattern, and it can be sent yo your friends just as any other free gift: just pick the friends you'd like to give one to from a list and send away. On a side note, am I the only one that can see a face in the design of the bench and pattern? The back-rest contains the eyes and the curve in the seat is the mouth... oh, nevermind.

Where was I? Oh yes. If you'd like to make sure you receive one or more of these benches back, remember that you can always use the game's Wishlist feature to share a news feed item alerting your friends to your wishes, or you can just contact friends directly if you feel more comfortable. Either way, it's likely that this item won't stay around on the free gifts page forever; likely, once the Parisian theme expires from the store, so too will this item leave the game. Of course, stranger things have happened, but do you really want to rely on chance when these benches are so easy to earn as it is?

If you're looking for an intricately themed final touch to your Parisian area on your farm, make sure to take advantage of this freebie while you still can.

Do you like the look of the Parisian Bench II, or did you prefer the original Parisian Bench more? How many of the game's Parisian-themed items have you splurged on?

FarmVille Capital One Free Gift: What's inside?

If you've played FarmVille at all in the last 24 hours, you're likely aware that a Capital One cross-promotional farm has appeared in the game, giving you a chance to earn a free Capital One Goat and some "Capital One" instant grow. What you might have missed, however, is the release of a Capital One Gift on the game's free gifts page. This box can be thought of as a mystery box, as you'll never know which item you'll receive when opening one.

There are quite a few items that can be found inside each Capital One Gift, but unfortunately only a few are really "exciting." Here's a list of items that we've received from those boxes so far:

Pygmy Goat
Animal Feed
Passion Fruit Tree
Flower Sheep
Farmhand

While the Pygmy Goat and Farm Sheep are cute little animals, we've easily received an overwhelming amount of Passion Fruit Trees, and little of everything else. Whether that means those are the most common prizes, or we're just "unlucky" remains to be seen. This Capital One gift will only be available to send for the next nine days, so make sure to send some now while you still can (and ask for some in return!).