By Mike Thayer

If you hate Christmas shopping, you’re not alone.  Trying to figure out what to buy for everyone, budgeting for it all, fighting the crowds while thinking about something else you’d rather be doing with your time….  I know, not a very holiday friendly mindset, but it is the reality for many folks.

Enter, gift cards

Some people think gift cards aren’t personal enough, that not enough ‘thought’ was put into the gift….

Horse manure.

Giving a gift card means the recipient gets to purchase what THEY want, spend the free money as THEY choose.  You can’t GET any more personal and suited-to-the-individual than freedom of choice.

Don’t worry about Mom giving you the, “Tsk, tsk.”   If she was to really think about it, there is no downside to giving a gift card.  Just about any retailer takes a Visa or Mastercard giving the recipient the freedom of choice to shop where they want and yes, you can even personalize gift cards these days.  If you know a person’s favorite store, you can get them a card for their favorite store because just about all the popular retailers offer gift cards. 

And here are the best reasons to give the gift of gift cards:

  • It’s a virtual guarantee the person you gifted will get what they want.
  • It’s a lot easier to budget your Christmas shopping.  While it’s true there is no mystery in a person knowing how much you spent on them, there’s no more surprise to you in learning how much that drone costs and still feeling obligated to buy it for little Johnny and then having to adjust (reduce) your budget for everybody else.  With gift cards, everybody gets ‘X’ dollars and you can’t get any more fair than that.  
  • It’s far easier to be able to focus on just gift cards for everyone, speeding up your shopping experience.  There’s no going from one store to another, from the mall to that plaza, to that downtown boutique or specialty store across town.  You can pretty much get any kind of card you want in one trip to the grocery store.  You’ll be done faster, able to focus on other holiday things, like decorating, volunteering, spending time with family, visiting with friends you haven’t seen in awhile, going to a party you might otherwise miss, baking up goodies.
  • Gift cards are far more easily mailed.  There’s no standing in long lines at the post office needing to mail a bunch of packages.  Just drop a Christmas card with that gift card enclosed at the drop box from the comfort of your warm car.

Gift the gift of a gift card for Christmas, it’s freedom of choice for the recipient and greater holiday freedom for you.

$pend Wisely My Friends…

Help support the continued content for Shopping, Dining, Best Deals, Product & Service Reviews, Tips, Hacks, Recipes and other great information by buying me a coffee. Your support to keep Bachelor on the Cheap a free resource is much appreciated! ~ Mike