To Give or Not to Give…
Gift cards!
There’s a whole thread here I could focus on. Who to give presents to over the holidays, who not to. How much do you spend, etc. Maybe those are blogs for another day…
Today I want to talk about gift cards, giving and receiving.
Personally, I love them. Love, love, love.
I can hear the naysayers already. Gift cards are impersonal, cold, uncaring, and scream “you don’t care enough about me to get to know what I really want.”
Not true, I say!
Gift cards can be personal. For example, I have a friend who loves Starbucks. A Starbucks gift card will buy her a lot of coffee—and every time she has a cup she’ll think of me.
Just because the gift is easy to buy doesn’t mean there isn’t some thought behind its purchase.
Does buying gift cards as presents take away some of the joy of shopping? For me, no. I’m not a huge fan of shopping, and I tend to stress over the holidays about what to give people. Is it the right color? Size? Do they have one already? Did I already send Theo this Elvis mug? Will so-and-so actually use this item or will it become a dust collector? Things like that. Plus, I’m always careful to buy gift cards that I know the recipient will use—and like. And I usually send a smaller gift to go along with it—something more personalized (like a mug with the Starbucks card).
And with gift cards, I know for certain the recipient will get what they want. A few years ago I bought a friend a rather expensive gift that I thought was perfect for her. She didn’t like it, but kept it because I gave it to her. In hindsight, I wish I’d have given her a gift card so I wouldn’t feel like I wasted my money.
As for *getting* gift cards, I’m all for it. I’m picky. Too picky, perhaps. With a gift card, I can choose exactly what I want, or pick something I wouldn’t normally buy because of budget restraints. And I feel as though people who give the cards to me choose ones with me in mind (Panera’s, Macy’s, book stores, etc), so there is *some* thought that goes into the present.
I will confess that I won’t buy the Visa/MasterCard cards. I do like to be more personal than that. And I’ve yet to purchase practical cards (grocery, gas) for gifts.
Oh, and another plus: saving on shipping costs! Gotta love that.
I think the important thing here is to remember that gift-giving is about the spirit of the season and not the gift (or what form it comes in).
~heather
