We (wife and I) have gotten restaurant gift cards for some relatives. As opposed to a gift card for Wal-Mart or Amazon, a restaurant gift card to some unique, local restaurant directs them to a new (and potentially pleasant) experience. We’ve gotten good feedback from the recipients.
Around Christmas time, we’ve also been buying restaurant gift cards for ourselves because there’s often a bonus deal, e.g. buy a $100 gift card, get a $20 or $25 bonus gift card. Given that these are restaurants we eat at anyway, it functions as a 17-20% discount. (If you’re a Costco member, they often sell restaurant gift cards at a discount, e.g. $100 worth of gift cards for $80.)
A while back we gave a gift card for a local restaurant to my parents; when they came to visit us, it served as our checkmate move in the “who-gets-to-pay-for-the-group-dinner” chess match.
I use gift cards for the kids for different reasons. The girls wanted to go clothes shopping and Dad is not gonna be a good resource for picking out young twenties fashion. Gift cards were perfect for them to shop in store and online.
My son wanted some books from his local gaming place. They were sold out when I went to get them and was loathe to give the money to a big box chain. I gave him a Visa gift card and told him when they get restocked and you are there. get them.
Personally, I love getting gift cards for the reason that it gives me permission to splurge on my self for something impulsive that I would normally not.
Better than a bad gift, worse than a well-chosen gift. As long as the gift card is from a store I want/need something from they are fine, if a bit lazy.
It’s easy to keep a gift card separate from cash and such. E.g., when I purchase something on Amazon, it defaults to using my gift cert. first. But with a click I can use a CC instead if it’s something practical/for us/etc. If it’s a nice little thing for myself I stick with using the gift cert. It also shows me how much I have left. Something that is surprisingly hard to impossible with some others. E.g., MicroCenter has no mechanism to check a gift card balance online (they also drain it very quickly with “fees”.)
“It’s the thought that counts.” also applies to later spending of a gift card balance. It helps you think “Oh, this is a gift. Sweet.”
But again, it only applies for useful cards. It is hard to re-gift something like an Applebees gift card when the only person you know who would want it is the person who gave it to you.
For example, I’m an avid reader and do the vast majority of my reading on my Kindle these days. Amazon gift cards are high on my list of “presents I really would enjoy and appreciate”. Similarly, my oldest niece is big into music, but generally uses her iPod for her music-listening - iTunes gift cards are high on her list. Gifting my niece or I with iTunes or Amazon gift cards (respectively) is a well-thought-out gift.
I would much rather get a gift card than some lousy item someone else thinks I need or will like. Examples of things that should have been gift cards are ties, sweaters, belts, robes, and clothes in general. Gimme the card and let me get some tools, dammit!
Pretty much this. For me a gift card is only useful if it encourages me to go someplace I like but seldom get to. For instance Rasputin, our used music/video store. Or a restaurant card for a nice place my kids pick out.
But pretty much anyplace else I can afford to shop myself if I want to, and my problem is too much stuff, not too little.
Gift cards from work or from something like answering surveys are fine as a kind of bonus, not as a real gift - and the money goes into a different bucket which lets me buy something useless but fun.
This Christmas no gift cards from or to anyone.