What are the pros and cons of gift cards,

[LWolf]

10. It depends on the culture of gift giving in your family.

A gift card is impersonal and requires very little in the way of time or thought for the person you give it to. If the holiday is about your personal connection to people, a gift card is inappropriate.

If, though, you belong to the tribe that thinks nothing of showing up to return a gift the day after getting it, so you can get credit to get what you want, then a gift card is obviously a better way to go.

I have NEVER returned a gift given to me. I have sometimes, I admit, passed it on to someone else if it didn't seem right for me, but most often, I keep and use it anyway, because I appreciate the thought.

On the other hand, the one gift card I've received that I LOVE is a Barnes & Noble or Powell's card. My family, knowing me to be a bibliophile, will sometimes throw a card in with whatever else they chose.