My sister said 'just get them a gift card' and I pushed back hard

I was talking with my sister last weekend about her son's 10th birthday. She said she always grabs a $25 Amazon gift card for party gifts because kids are picky. I told her that feels lazy and impersonal, and she asked me when was the last time a kid actually got excited tearing into a gift card. That hit me because I realized she was right - kids loove tearing open a box with something wrapped inside. Has anyone else changed their mind about gift cards after a conversation like this?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_jordan3d ago

Flip it around, gift cards are actually better for the parents since they can use them to buy what the kid really wants without ending up with another pile of plastic junk.

mason7283d ago

And honestly, is this really something worth pushing back hard on? Like @the_jordan said, at the end of the day the parents are probably stoked to not have to find shelf space for some random toy their kid will forget about in a week. I mean I get the appeal of watching a kid rip open a box, but half the time they're more into the wrapping paper than what's inside anyway. Seems like a weird hill to die on when you could just save the argument for something that actually matters, like pineapple on pizza or whatever. So maybe your sister was just being practical and you got too in your head about it.

jessica_miller3d ago

Oh man, I gotta jump in here real quick. That thing about kids being more into the wrapping paper than the gift, I mean yeah some little ones love crinkling it, but at 10 years old a kid is DEFINITELY focused on what's inside the box, not the paper. I've seen my nephew tear through a birthday present like it's a race and he's just as excited over a LEGO set or a nerf gun as any kid would be over a gift card. So it's not really the same thing, you know?