Gift Cards: 3 Gift Giving Situations That Help You Shine

Every time you give a gift, you want it to be perfect. But despite your best intentions, it can sometimes be difficult to select the right thing. Here are three occasions we should find at some point in our lives where gift cards can help us shine.

The new romantic interest: Have you ever had a partner that you met at the “wrong” time, say just before your birthday or right around the holidays or right around Valentine’s Day?

Wrong is in quotes because these are occasions that call for a gift, but you may not know enough about them to select the correct one. After all, what if she’s allergic to sterling silver or her last girlfriend bought her that same cashmere sweater? Oh!

This is one occasion where gift cards definitely save the day. They can choose what they want, and you can collect information about their likes and dislikes for future gift-giving occasions. Double score!

Pleasing the new in-laws: Although you and your partner have been together for a few years, this is the first year you are giving a gift as a daughter-in-law or son-in-law. And, since it’s for your mother-in-law’s birthday, you want to keep it fair.

So while you can copy and add your name to your husband/wife’s gift card, this will never work. You hit the stores, trying to find just the right thing to impress your new mother-in-law. But, nothing seems quite right for her.

Then she remembers that she likes to work with her hands and she recently took a home improvement class. That’s all! A home improvement gift card. It will not only show that you admire his hobby, but that you are intuitive enough to know that he would appreciate a gift that highlights his interest.

Shopping for coworkers: You had a name draw at the office for Secret Santa. And you have the new guy. You don’t know anything about him other than that he is an excellent worker who tends to stick to himself. Is it because he is shy or because he is aloof? You haven’t made up your mind at all. So how are you supposed to select the perfect gift, and for $25 or less?

Don’t worry, multi-use retail gift cards save the day. Cards for retailers like Walmart, Amazon, and Overstock allow recipients to select from thousands of items.

He means the perfect gift is waiting for him, and he can go find it, with his gift card from you!