One random doodad store at my parents’ local mall does. As I most often get certificates to my parents’ local mall, I just buy a random thing at that store and then immediately return it. Plus, I can then say that I briefly bought the tackiest doodad in a store. 
I give gift cards to my sister’s children and their families, mostly because they are many miles away and a card is less trouble to mail than a package. Also because if I sent money, I’d worry that a certain one of the family members would take his cash, his wife’s cash and the kids’ cash and go out and buy beer with it. This way at least the kids HAVE to be taken to Toys R Us to pick out their present.
Hopefully I’m just being cynical (is that a contradiction?) but perhaps your brother is hinting that maybe it’d be nice if you had some alcohol in your house for guests?
I drink only the teensiest amounts of alcohol if I ‘drink’ at all (interestingly, for the same reason as your SO - a near fatal liver disease about…oh, must be 12 years ago now) but I always have a selection on hand for anyone who drops by. If you’ve decided to do away with anything other than your beer in your house, maybe he’s hinting he’d like to see something else in the inventory?
Of course, if that’s the case he should carry it through properly and supply a bottle or two to go in it. 
I like gift cards. I can justify buying books with them instead of squirreling the money away. And all of you should buy gift cards at Walden books from me so my sales numbers will look real good and I might get a real job there instead of seasonal. Just kidding.
My nephews and nieces live in Africa. They get either cash, amazon cards or Visabuxx from both my Mom (in California) and myself. My brother’s kids get cash because the road around their house was being worked on and their internet connection was cut and won’t be back up until next year. My sister’s kids will get Visabuxx if we can figure out a way to get their cards filled - Visabuxx unfortunately disabled the ability of a third party adding $$ to accounts, so we’re scrambling right now as the kids are going from Kinshasa to South Africa and are looking forward to do some serious shopping.
If they are in the states, I’d still get them the same, but I’d also add a physical gift (I love to shop). But when they’re overseas, I’d have to shop at the end of October to get their gifts to them in time. Exchanges are a bit difficult.
Yep…pretty much the same as everyone else. I love gift cards because it gives me the opportunity to spend money on me, which is something I rarely do. I have gotten one too many tacky sweaters from well-meaning relatives over the years. Now, when people ask me what I want, I say “a gift card to either Kohl’s or Fashion Bug”. This way I can get what *I * want.
Send it to me?
DMark, you should regift it to a young newlywed who would like to start a nice wetbar setup. Someone like me or Dr.J, perhaps.
Another advantage to gift cards is that they’re portable. I live in Florida but will be celebrating Christmas in RI and NJ. It’s easy to take gift cards home on the plane.
Gift cards are great for acquaintances or distant relatives. But if I tried to give a gift card as a Christmas or birthday gift for a close friend, family member or (gasp!) my wife, I 'm pretty sure they’d feel insulted, just as they would if I gave them cash.
The one exception: I think a gift card to someplace like Babies R Us is a great baby shower gift, MUCH better than the cutesie stuff people tend to register for. A few months down the road, when a new parent needs something practical (but unglamorous) like diapers/formula/whatever, he or she will be glad to have a Babies R Us card, rather than that pink fuzzy bunny doll on the registry.
for us it’s the cheapness. I want to give my sibling something heavy and needed but i don’t want to pay twice its cost in shipping. so I’m giving a gift card for stores it can be purchased at, and they can do their own hauling. (Amex gift card that can be used at most places they would buy said item)
My hub gave me one for a dayspa. I still need to use it … 
I love getting gift cards. I usually get Wal-Mart gift cards from my in-laws. Voila! New DVDs or CDs.
But here’s a problem I encountered a few years ago. I used to give gift cards to my friends for birthdays & Christmas. One year I gave a $50 gift card to a friend for X-mas. She gave me a $25 gift card for the same store. She felt bad and asked if I wanted more. Of course I said no, but I realized I had just set a price for gift giving between us. She felt that her gift to me was inadequate and felt she needed to give me an equal amount that I gave her. I felt like crap.
I now try to give my friends personal gifts for X-mas where there is probably going to be an exchange of gifts. I’ll still get my nieces, nephews and godchildren gift cards because don’t feel like they have to give me something of equal value (or anything at all) since I’m Rich Uncle Turd (not really).
We have crates of the stuff we drag out for the Christmas party and other events at home…we ain’t no prudes and actually would like it if people would drink it so I wouldn’t have to schlepp it out every year. Plus, my brother lives about 3000 miles away, so I don’t think he’ll be dropping by for a shot.
Besides, that thing is so damn ugly.
Who wants a big, metallic, booze-dispensing octopus sitting on their counter?
Actually. . .that makes it sound kind of cool. . .
If they made a Doc Ock figurine booze dispenser, I might buy one.
I love the idea of gift certificates! I got one from my MIL this year for Mother’s Day. It was for a 30 minute massage–something I’d never had, but wanted to very much. (It just so happened that the masseuse ran a special a month or so after I got the gift, but before I used it, giving one hour massage treatments for only $10 more than the 30 minute ones. She allowed us to pay the $10 difference along with the certificate for the one hour TREATment, so that was a gift with a bonus!)
That was one of the best gifts I’ve ever gotten!
I’m a huge fan of gift cards - both giving and receiving. I’m sending one to a friend who’s kid is turning six next month. I have no idea what he likes to play with so a Toys R Us gift card will be perfect.
On one hand, getting a gift card says “Here, get yourself a nice [something that other people can’t pick for you]”; on the other, “Yeah, I don’t know what the hell to get you, this is as generic as it gets.”
I give gift cards when hard-to-buy-for people say annoying things like “Oh, I don’t really know what I want…anything’s fine!” Grmph. In which case I feel really bad about not trying to find a surprisingly nice quirky thing that suits them well, but hey, they get what they ask for.
I buy them for some people like my brother who I hardly ever see, but I don’t really like them. This year it seemed like most of the family wanted gift cards. Well, why don’t we all just exchange cash around the Christmas tree? It will be about as much fun. I badgered them until they came up with actual gifts. Now I’m sorry I asked because my BIL wants gun parts. Yep, nothing says Christmas like high capacity magazines. :eek:
If someone gives me cash, I will spend it on bills, not a gift, because I’d feel guilty for buying myself something when we could use the money to, say, go ahead and get the car serviced.
If they give me a gift card, then I’m forced to buy something for myself.