Why Gift Cards are Great!

As a full time student I have exactly one week to prepare for Christmas. This means this week things have been a little crazy at my house. One thing I have found that makes my life a lot simpler is using fit cards for family gifts.

Yes, we still do toys and clothes and such for our kids but everyone else gets a gift card. I first got this idea from my Uncle R. He is an awesome guy and has sent me a gift card for Christmas for as long as I can remember. Uncle R travels a lot for work and, since he is not married, sending a gift card for each of his nieces and nephews has worked well for him. We've gotten everything from Walmart to Pier1 Imports to I-Tunes. Many of these gift cards were Ten or Twenty dollars but as I've gotten older, and married, he's been awesome to send cards of higher amounts to places like ToysRUs that I can then use on anything from diapers to birthday gifts. These gift cards are a present I look forward to every year!

Since I have started using gift cards for our family my life has gotten so much easier. Because our family lives everywhere from Washington D.C. to Seattle, I love sending gift cards because I save in shipping! This means the money I could have spent on shipping can be put on the gift card and be enjoyed by the recipient.

The other reason I love gift cards is because then people can buy what the really want, or need, and they don't have to feel bad about returning things. Just like with Uncle R, if someone needs diapers I'm more than happy to provide.

Gift cards are a great option for mailing, stocking stuffers, and just about any gift giving occasion you could think of. Plus, if you plan things right, you can get bonus gift cards, or discounted ones, so you can save a ton of money. Check it out, you'll probably be surprised at what you can find! Oh, and if you're like me and your holiday cards are still sitting on your desk, it's super simple to throw in a gift card before they go in the mailbox. The best part, you don't even need to go to the post office!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Our House to Yours!

I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Gift Cards Rock blogging program, for 6,000 My SocialMoms Rewards Points. For more information on how you can participate, click here.