The grandparents live 1300 miles away and only see the kids for 2 weeks over the summer (which by all parties’ accounts is too long). Long ago, and with much prompting from me, birthdays and holiday season brought forth gift cards. I really couldn’t explain the crap they got prior to that. My mother was always quantity over quality. We have moved from Toys R Us to Walmart (that’d be the grammas’ doing) to Best Buy/Circuit City (now that both grammas have moved on from this world, the pops get to pick). We no longer have to worry about gramps giving us that singing fish.
However, I tend to give gifts over gift cards (this year handmade quilts) to the family, after obsessing on color choices individual to each person. For work folks, it’ll be a small gift.
I don’t give many gift certificates as gifts because I fear the type of reaction that some of the posters (and Ms. Pulliam-Weston) have, but I LOVE receiving them. I have a few hardcore hobbies: baseball, bowling, reading and eating. People who know me know that getting me ANYTHING in those four areas is guaranteed to make me really, really happy. I can’t think of a single time I’ve gotten a gift certificate and found myself disappointed or thinking less of the giver (except for my friend who intentionally got me a Denny’s gift certificate to piss me off, but that was payback for a similar gag I’d pulled on him, and I used the damn card just to spite him).
I think I would probably be a little miffed if I got, say, a grocery store gift certificate from a friend or family member. Although, as I’m trying to learn to cook right now, assuming the gift-giver knew that, even THAT would be appropriate for me, and very much appreciated. The idea, as has been pointed out several times already, is in recognizing what my interests are and getting me a gift card in that arena.
By the way, I corresponded with Ms. Pulliam-Weston (obligatory photo link) a few years ago on an unrelated topic and thought she was a really nice lady. Had I only known…
A gift card can be a thoughtful, personal gift. Or, it can be a generic, boring one. I suppose it could even be an insulting one.
Buying Bricker a gift card to The Scotch Store is thoughtful, as is buying brewha a gift card to The Not Quite Mainstream Hobby Store. Why? Because, although it’s a ‘mere’ gift card, it still takes their personalities and preferences into consideration, just as a thoughtful, personal gift should.
Now, if you bought somebody a $15 gift card from WalMart, that’s be generic and boring, but no more so than a scarf/hat combo, or a boxed bath set, or a box of chocolates, or a bottle of wine or any of the other generic, boring gifts we see for sale this time of year.
A gift card from The Scotch Store for your teetotelling Southern Baptist neighbor, or a gift card from The Taxidermy Shoppe for your PETA-card carrying sister-in-law? Insulting. But no more so than an actual bottle of hootch or stuffed coyote with a bird in it’s mouth would have been.
I think we’ve covered the ground here, but I have to say my thinking about gift cards was changed the year my mom gave my daughter a gift card to Crown Books. Kid was about 10 or 11. We went to the store with her $15 card and she browsed for about 45 minutes. She picked up books and carried them around, occasionally putting one back and selecting another. At some point she said to me, “Can I spend the whole thing?” I told her she could use the whole amount if she wanted to, and the smile on her face just lit up my day. She ended up with $14.50 worth of books and 50 cents in her hand. Almost an hour of fun in the book store and several hours of enjoyment at home. It turned out to be one of the best presents she’s ever gotten.
I told Mom about it and she was happy, too, so good things all around.
I have to go with gift cards can be lazy and not ideal gifts, but it’s all about context–pretty much like any other gift, really. Ideally, I’d say a well-thought-out gift always beats a gift card, but an appropriate and personalized gift card is a perfectly good gift, too.
But, in the end, hell, a gift is a gift. I’ve never been upset because somebody gave me a “lazy gift” like a bottle of whisky. Any and all gifts are appreciated.
Really? How about the gift I got from a former boss (bitch-lady)? Because of politics and a rabbi I had at work who had plans for my career, she was pressured into hiring me. There wasn’t any other better candidate, she just resented being pressured to hire me and always let me know it.
For Christmas, she gave me what was obviously a 99-cent-store candle stand. No candle, obviously dirt-cheap, a regift or something she found in the back of the kitchen cabinet. Not even a candle to go with it or any indication from me whatsoever that I liked or ever owned any candles.
Now clearly this was more about her sending me a message, but it belies your statement above. As I’ve posted previously, if you’re going to make the effort at all and know nothing about my tastes a giftcard or gift certificate is the way to go. I’d rather she’d’ve given me nothing.
And she’d have saved the janitor the extra weight in his garbage bag that night.
I happen to like wandering around in bookstores, looking for new and interesting things to read. For me, part of the enjoyment is taking time to ponder and select something. So a gift card to a book store really is a great thing for ME.
Also - in the past I have been short on funds and a book gift card (or gift certificate on paper - remember those?) is a way to acquire new books over time without impacting a tight budget. I mean, sure I use the library, too, but frequently they’re missing volumes from series and that’s really annoying.
And now that I’m unemployed I would LOVE someone to give me money - because that’s what a I need most right now. That, or buy me and the spouse a meal at a nice restaurant.
Well, I didn’t exactly have all possible scenarios in mind when I made my statement–I thought the general sentiment behind my statement was clear–but, hey, what the hell: to me free shit is free shit. Bring on the 99 cent candle stand. If you actually act like you genuinely appreciate the gift, that completely screws her “sending a message” motive.
I don’t understand this “locked into a store thing.” Obviously these people don’t know you enough to get you good gift cards and you are all bitter about it. Me, I love Barnes and Nobles gift cards, and don’t feel “locked in” at all.
Also, I think it is funny how people say “I hate gift cards, I want some personalized and perfect present” and when you get a generic gift, you complain just as loud. A semi-thought out gift card is infinitely better than a terrible gift.
That’s the crux of it, really. There can be thoughtful and thoughtless gift cards, just as there can be thoughtful and thoughtless gifts. I could get a Wal-Mart gift card or a scarf, or I could get a Suncoast Movies gift card or the Firefly DVD box set.
I suppose there could be some case made that specific gifts are inherently superior to gift cards in that, should you be perceptive enough to get someone the one gift that they really want, they achieve a greater degree of happiness than if you merely get them a gift card to the store in which the desired thing is sold. But there are always exceptions; witness those in the thread who like finding their own books, or yarn, or what have you. It depends on the person, and sometimes the thing that makes them most happy really is just a gift card.
All this of course presumes that the end goal is that the gift receiver gets something they want. I’ve seen sentiments expressed that gift giving should be about giving someone something they may not have thought to get themselves, something the gift giver wants them to have. Even then, gift cards have their uses; what better way to package a service you’d like someone to try that they might not otherwise, like perhaps a day spa or something similar?
We are giving our almost 5 year old a bookstore gift card this year (among other things) for this reason. She’s just starting to understand the concept of money; she gets a tiny allowance and I’m very proud that the first thing she bought with her saved allowance was a book. She will love being able to choose another one.
Other than that, we use gift cards (bookstore ones again) for teacher gifts - because I never know what else to get, and do want to show appreciation.
I freakin’ love gift cards. I’m an avid gamer, and my family finds me hard to shop for. Hell, give me a gift card from GameStop or Border’s (love to read too) and get out of my way, I’ve got shoppin’ to do.
God forbid I have to spend five minutes browsing the store to find something I want.
I might be getting one for my cousin to shop at Old Navy. I dunno what she likes/dislikes, especially in clothes, and although I would love to get her something more ‘personal’, I’d not want to get her something she hates.
Another thought - some people are talented in the gift-selecting department, and others are not. I aways used to look forward to gifts from my late SIL - no gift cards from her! She had the very rare talent of being able to find something unique or unusual that her receipent would absolutely love. I don’t have this talent.
Also - some people are easier to buy for than others. For example - we know Bricker likes fine Scotch. So you can get him an inferior bottle and he gets the pleasure of turning his nose up at it, or an expensive bottle which he might enjoy. If you personally don’t know anything about Scotch, well, you can hope the empty-eyed stockboy at the liquor store knows what he is talking about.
Other people are more difficult to choose a gift for. My Librarian Friend has many interests - but she lives a clutter-free life. I would be crazy to buy her some “thing” because she deliberately doesn’t have a lot of “things” in her home. I would never buy her a gift card - it just wouldn’t seem right - but I will be wondering if she likes the cookbook I got her until she tells me she made a receipe from it.
If you have the time and talent (and I do think it is a talent) to search out the perfect gift, I think that is the best choice. But a gift card that shows some consideration of the receipents interests is much better than a quickly chosen “thing” picked out just for the sake of giving something.
Personally, my sister aside, I like gift cards. I’m more of a “give me 1 BIG thing instead of 20 small things” kinda gift-receiver, so this year I’m looking to get me a Stratocaster.
But I sure as hell don’t want anybody to actually buy me a Stratocaster - that would be so wrong on so many levels I can’t even begin to list them. Just have the family pitch in as much as possible and purchase me a gift card to Guitar Center or its like (“To JohnT, from Us” kinda thing). I’ll select and buy the guitar, thank you very much.
We still do birthday parties and exchange Christmas presents for the kids, but we adults quit exchanging “mandatory” gifts years ago when it was obvious that it had turned into a gift card exchange. We still buy gifts (incl. gift cards) for the kids in the family because we remember being young and poor. And it’s not a chore giving presents to someone who you know will appreciate it. But exchanging gift cards because tradition has dictated that you buy a gift on that day demeans the true meaning of the holiday, IMO.
Each December, I pick out two or three families who I personally know are struggling to get by. And I’ll send them each a few hundred dollars in gift cards along with a Christmas card signed, “Love, Santa.” I never get to witness them opening the card or spending it, but I can honestly say that I get more pleasure imagining them opening up that card than I get watching my own children opening up their gifts.