DENVER – That’s not mistletoe.

From new marijuana strains for the holidays to gift sets and pot-and-pumpkin pies, the burgeoning marijuana industry in Colorado is scrambling to get a piece of the holiday shopping dollar. Dispensaries in many states have been offering holiday specials for medical customers for years – but this first season of open-to-all-adults marijuana sales in some states means pot shops are using more of the tricks used by traditional retailers to attract holiday shoppers.

Here’s a look at how the new recreational marijuana industry is trying to attract holiday shoppers:

Loss leaders

Traditional retailers sell some items below cost to drive traffic and attract sales. Recreational marijuana retailers are doing the same.

The Grass Station in Denver is selling an ounce of marijuana for $50 – about a fifth of the cost of the next-cheapest strain at the Colorado dispensary – to the first 16 customers in line Friday, Saturday and Sunday. That works out to less than $1 a joint for the ambitious early-rising pot shopper. Owner Ryan Fox says his Black Friday pot is decent quality and says he’s selling below cost to attract attention and pick up some new customers.

Pot shops are using old and new media to tout the sales. One dispensary is taking out a full-page “Happy Danksgiving” ad in The Denver Post and is inviting shoppers to text a code for extra savings.

Holiday strains

Some shops are angling for high-end holiday shoppers, not an increase in foot traffic. Colorado Harvest and Evergreen Apothecary timed the release of some top-shelf strains of potent pot for the holiday season. Spokeswoman Ann Dickerson says they’re “sort of like the best bourbon or Scotch that will be competing on quality, rather than price.”

Gift cards

For the shopper who wants to give pot but doesn’t know how the recipient likes to get high, Colorado’s 300 or so recreational dispensaries so far have been able to issue only handwritten gift certificates. That’s because banking regulations prohibit major credit-card companies from being able to back marijuana-related gift cards the way they do for other retailers.

Just this month, a Colorado company started offering pot shops a branded gift card they can sell just like other retailers. The cards are in eight Denver dispensaries so far and coming soon will be loyalty cards similar to grocery-store loyalty cards that track purchases and can be used to suggest sales or new products to frequent shoppers.

Gifts for snail mail

Just because marijuana can’t legally leave Colorado doesn’t mean dispensaries don’t have items for out-of-state friends and family. Some dispensaries are highlighting some noncannabis gift items – things like T-shirts, rolling papers and lotions made with legal herbs. The sets are for shoppers who want to give a taste of Colorado’s new marijuana industry without breaking federal law by mailing it or taking it out of state.