# Good Present to send by email? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 6, 2010, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-present-to-send-by-email/527916 "2010-02-06T13:18:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-present-to-send-by-email/527916/1 "2010-02-06T13:18:24Z")
My sister’s 30th birthday is coming up; however she is touring South America and I don’t have an address for her. I don’t really just want to wire her cash through PayPal and I don’t want to wait until she gets back in June. Anybody got any other ideas that just require an email and not a physical address? ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-present-to-send-by-email/527916/2 "2010-02-06T13:41:00Z")
An amazon gift card or barnes and noble gift card. I believe both have digital gift cards that can then be redeemed online. ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-present-to-send-by-email/527916/3 "2010-02-06T13:48:32Z")
Just send her an ecard. Everybody loves those and they are free! ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-present-to-send-by-email/527916/4 "2010-02-06T15:05:48Z")
Does she have an iPod? You could send her a gift certificate to iTunes. ---
**Author:** ![sugar\_and\_spice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e8c25b/32.png) [@sugar\_and\_spice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugar_and_spice)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-present-to-send-by-email/527916/5 "2010-02-06T16:32:33Z")
In this case I would send her money and tell her it’s a gift card to the restaurant of her choice. Or come up with some other condition to make it personal, if she likes jewelry then tell her you hope she’ll find a nice necklace for herself, something like that. Normally I’m not in favor of cash as a gift, but if she’s traveling for months on end then I think it would be a thoughtful choice. ---
**Author:** ![SurrenderDorothy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/surrenderdorothy/32/1221_2.png) [@SurrenderDorothy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SurrenderDorothy)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-present-to-send-by-email/527916/6 "2010-02-06T17:27:29Z")
You can send specific albums and probably books on tape, movies, etc. on itunes if you want to send her something more specific than a gift card. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-present-to-send-by-email/527916/7 "2010-02-06T17:39:27Z")
> [@Cubsfan](#): > > Just send her an ecard. Everybody loves those and they are free! I hate them. Some of those companies, maybe most of them, collect email addresses and send them to spammers. I know that more than once, I’ve been put on spam lists because my mother WILL send me an ecard. I’ve sent Amazon gift certificates, and I’ve also sent links to various webcomics or other humorous websites. Check out my sig for a funny and safe link to send. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-present-to-send-by-email/527916/8 "2010-02-06T19:52:11Z")
A giftcard from [Kiva.org](http://Kiva.org). She gets to pick out a recepient for a micro loan online, and after a while she gets the money back to spend on whatever she wants. A horoscope from sites like [astro.com](http://astro.com). Credit at Sony playstation so she can download or paly all sorts of games online. Credit for her pre-paid mobile phone? Flowers, delivered to het real adress? FWIW, I hate getting e-cards, for the reasons mentioned by Lynn. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-present-to-send-by-email/527916/9 "2010-02-06T19:54:54Z")
I vote Amazon gift card. I love getting them and they’re super easy to give. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-present-to-send-by-email/527916/10 "2010-02-06T20:44:22Z")
If she’s traveling, though, an Amazon or B&N gift card isn’t something she can use right away, and the OP indicated a preference for a gift _now_ rather than after her return. ---
**Author:** ![pudytat72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@pudytat72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pudytat72)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-present-to-send-by-email/527916/11 "2010-02-06T22:41:25Z")
I just Googled Santiago, Chile (picked a place in South America) found a link for [chile-travel.com/Santiago](http://chile-travel.com/Santiago) clicked on Restaurants and found a link for “Oty’s family dinners” and they have an e-mail address. So maybe you could find a restaurant in a city she is going to and arrange to pay for a birthday dinner for her. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-present-to-send-by-email/527916/12 "2010-02-08T14:10:21Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > If she’s traveling, though, an Amazon or B&N gift card isn’t something she can use right away, and the OP indicated a preference for a gift _now_ rather than after her return. If she has access to e-mail and the internet, one of these giftcards can most certainly used right away. ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-present-to-send-by-email/527916/13 "2010-02-08T14:19:57Z")
> [@Wilbo523](#): > > If she has access to e-mail and the internet, one of these giftcards can most certainly used right away. Right, but it may not be feasible for her to order something online if she can’t get it shipped to her. If she’s traveling and in a different place every week, shipping could be a real chore. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-present-to-send-by-email/527916/14 "2010-02-08T14:21:55Z")
> [@Wilbo523](#): > > If she has access to e-mail and the internet, one of these giftcards can most certainly used right away. I think the point was that, if she’s on the move, she can’t really order things to be sent to her. I think Amazon gift cards can still be used for things like music downloads, though. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-present-to-send-by-email/527916/15 "2010-02-08T15:14:56Z")
Since you guys crapped on the B&N and Amazon gift card idea. Here’s a new one. If she will be flying back home after the end of her touring of South America, and if you know what airline she’s flying on, buy her an upgrade to business or first class for her return trip.