thoughts needed on setting up special

[afo]

The woman who owns the Holzheimer's site in my sig wants to run a special for the month of October. Free shipping in the US and half off internationally. Any good ideas on how to go about setting up something like that without touching the current shipping setup?

[Ajeh]

What shipping module(s) are being used now?

[afo]

Zones and flat rate.

I think she wants to limit the free shipping to certain items, so I'm thinking about linking the items to a special category and figuring out how to discount the shipping based on the category. I'd really like to find a way to do this so I don't have to touch the settings already in place, since the special should run the month of October and then expire.

I'm also considering putting those items on special and leaving it at that. The price would be reduced, but not the shipping. I'd really like to figure out how to put them on special and have it effect only the shipping charges. I realize this is no easy task.