I'd certainly rather have a gift card that a wooden reindeer figure.
By LAUREN PADILLA
Longmeadow High
The holidays can be wonderful . . . they can also be stressful. Perhaps the most hectic aspect of the winter season is gift giving. For close relations, the task (at least for me) tends to be quite simple; I can usually decode what everyone wants with relative ease.
However, distanced relatives (or acquaintances) are another situation. Should I actually try to find them presents? Is it really worth spending hours trying to track down that limited edition London hand cream? Or, should I just give up and buy a gift card?
Too often, I find myself selecting the last option — whenever I do, I always end up feeling terribly guilty. And it’s not just me . . . I know plenty of others who suffer from the same gift card compunctions.
My question is: why? Why is it we feel so terrible about buying gift cards?
After all, I think it is fair to say just about everyone likes gift cards. Yes, a perfect present is always better than a little plastic card . . . but I’d certainly rather have a gift card than a wooden reindeer figurine (yes, I actually received said gift).
Although some people are just naturally fabulous gift-givers, the majority (sadly) are not. The way I look at it, it is far better just to get that distant whomever a VISA card, than to risk a potentially awkward situation (especially if the recipient is someone you’re actually expected to know).
What better way to announce to all the other holiday party attendees, that you have no idea who Aunt Camilla is, than to buy her lily perfume to which she is allergic?
Buying gift cards for adults seems more justifiable, than purchasing them for children. After all, when you ask the majority of adults what they want, they usually say nothing (which is typically a lie). But, at least they can pretend they don’t want any holiday presents.
Children, on the contrary, do not make any attempt to mask desire for gifts. Really, most of them begin planning next year’s list the moment the current holiday ends. Particularly for young children (who haven’t learned that bigger packages are not always the best ones), purchasing a gift card seems awfully cruel.
As a general rule, if the child is under five, I buy actual gifts, even if it means guessing blindly as to what he or she likes. Once children get a little older, however, gift cards become fantastic; they are the one surefire way to ensure complete control over one’s gift (and who doesn’t want that?).
Though we tend to think of gift cards as the foolproof method of gift giving, I have seen cases of gift cards gone wrong. Yes, I’ve actually seen people fail, at buying gift cards.
A friend of mine once bought a certificate to a very girly store for her younger cousin, who loved sports and hated pink (hint: not every little girl likes princesses, and not every boy likes sports).
So, when you arrive at your next winter soiree with an envelope full of gift cards, remind yourself that it’s all right. Think: instead of worrying about the present-opening, you’ll actually be able to enjoy the party.