Gift cards....do you???

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-02-2008
Gift cards....do you???
7
Fri, 09-05-2008 - 4:04pm

If you guys get a gift card for yourself do you in turn use it to buy gifts for others?


I have a TERRIBLE time spending gift cards on myself. I KNOW they were meant for ME to use but when money is strapped and I need to buy a gift for someone I just see it as "free" money to buy for someone else.


I just did this at a bookstore and I feel kinda guilty. BUT, I am doing some early xmas shopping and I either spend the money out of the gift card I got as a b-day gift or out of my checkbook. I used the gift card. Does that make me a bad person?

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-22-2007
Fri, 09-05-2008 - 4:06pm

Yes I have used a gift card to buy someone else a gift and if I have even "regifted" a gift card because I knew I wasn't going to use it.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 12-04-2006
Sat, 09-06-2008 - 1:48am

I see nothing wrong with regifting provided that you are careful not to give the gift to the person that you originally received it from or someone close to them.

In terms of using a gift card that you have been given to make the purchase of a gift for others - I see absolutely nothing wrong with this. If you weren't using it to purchase something for them, is there anything from that store that you actually needed? Also, who needs to know that you purchased the gift using a gift card and not the money from your checking account?

Lyn

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-01-2008
Sun, 09-07-2008 - 8:46pm
One of my friends is a elementary school teacher. She "complains" about all the "Best Teacher" mugs, bath soaps, and body lotions she gets every year. She'd rather get a movie pass or a gift card for Barnes & Noble. I get several tubes of body lotion every December from various people for Christmas and my birthday. I donate them to our local shelter for abused women.
Mary Jo

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-26-1999
Mon, 09-08-2008 - 9:40am
I think when you give a gift to someone, it is supposed to be for that person to enjoy and to do whatever she chooses with. If you are truly giving something to someone, it can't have any strings attached. So if you give someone a gift that they then give away (which is essentially what you are doing) you have to accept that that is what the person chose to do with your gift. Giving it away rather than keeping it may have been what gave the person the most benefit from your gift. Therefore, I don't think there is anything wrong with what you've done. Besides, as the other posters have said, nobody needs to know how you pay for the gifts that you buy. I would just enjoy the ability to pay in cash for the gifts that you buy.
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-10-2003
Mon, 09-08-2008 - 10:36am

You bet I do! AND I don't think twice about it, lol. Case in point. I just got a $50 gift card for chocolate from my Dad (as if I want $50 in chocolate!!!). So I have put it aside and come Christmas I will use it to buy sugar free chocolates for my Grandma, and then three smaller boxes to add to wine and chocolate gifts that I have to buy.


I think that anyone who knows me knows that keeping my Christmas spending reasonable and not causing the stress of spending a fortune is far better for me and they wouldn't have a problem with it.


Lol I even take it one step further and cash in my airmiles every year for gift cards that I then use to buy things for christmas.


Bex -

Avatar for cl_phocid
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 09-09-2008 - 8:03am
I use a gift card for whatever I want to buy when the desire strikes me.

All my best,
Danni

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-07-2008
Tue, 09-09-2008 - 12:41pm

I don't see a problem with it at all.