Gift Cards

Another fan of One4all cards here. Always get these for my cousin/goddaughter's sons. I worry about cash going missing from cards.

I am not a voucher giver, I prefer cash, but most companies that go bust have already been in the news because they have financial problems for many months before they go bust.

If a company has been consistently profitable and there are no rumours swirling around about their finances or stories of takeovers and deals, you should be OK.

I like receiving gift cards/vouchers but I don't like giving them, it looks like I've been too lazy to think of a gift!

I was given a One4All card last Christmas but the three shops I tried to use it in refused it, even though they had the One4All sign in their store. Online shopping with it didn't work either. Apparently I had to buy goods to exactly the value of the card or less, but not more as I could not pay the extra with another card. Not very convenient, so it will probably go unused!

And as these cards are plastic are they recyclable? I'll stick to giving cash this year if need be.

I’m giving my grandson Amazon vouchers! Pretty certain they’re not going bust anytime soon.

I would give my one son cash but as an alcoholic and heavy smoker I know it would go on booze and fags, so I give him a One 4 All giftcard which means he should get himself something that's not killing him.
Yes, I'm sure he could possibly sell it to someone at work and still get the booze/fags but I can't do anything about that.
I would prefer to buy him an actual gift but he never gives me any ideas of what he'd like other than, you guessed it, booze and fags!

I don't get the actual cards (could get lost) but I send John Lewis e-gift vouchers. They're so convenient and should be pretty safe.

There is a thing with giftcards that Martin Lewis mentioned a few years ago and that's that they have any expiry date of 2yrs from the date they were last used.
This initially means 2yrs from the date it was purchased but if you spend part of its value the clock is reset and starts counting from that date, giving you another 2yrs.
Always good to remember as one day over and you lose the lot!

I used to give gift cards but its a bit of a risk these days as someone pointed out.For the adult Grandchildren I transfer money into their accounts.

I personally would give cash as so many companies going under. In fear of having a worthless card lol or take them out shopping and let them pick own gifts at least that way you know what it’s being spent on. Or ask them what they got eye on.

Grandson has a Go Henry card which he can use as an adult uses a debit card. We have transferred money onto that before via online banking. He has been thrilled.

I never send cash as we have in the past had two incidents. One was when I sent relation money and she never received it, it turned out someone in the Post office was guessing when a lot of post was going to one person it might be a birthday etc. I had no proof I had sent it.
The other was when we had a low-level post box in our door I actually came downstairs to see a hand taking birthday cards. They had been tipped off by a younger brother in my child's class. It happened to quite a few in the neighbourhood and the police were informed and they admitted. We then had to have a new letterbox where the post was not lying on the carpet and I had to phone relations who I thought had probably sent cards with money and thank them but say it was never received.
I usually send Amazon or M&S vouchers.

It’s more of a worry now with so many companies going under and with deadline dates to get them spent they can easily get forgotten about and wasted. This has happened to me before with vouchers for a local beauty salon and a small independent cinema. I’d never send cash through the post but do occasionally buy those special cash gift cards and put the money in and then hand them over personally. For similar reasons to Fronkydonky I make up a hamper of goodies for my mum, she is so difficult to buy for but that always seems to go down well with her. It is difficult knowing what to get people so I can see why vouchers are so popular but you can’t beat having a nice gift to unwrap, always good to ask for a few ideas so you can buy something people actually want. There must be so many unwanted gifts shoved in cupboards or sent straight to the charity shop which is such a shame and total waste of money.

The best buy is the Post Office one that can be used in lots of different shops. We buy one for DD so she can treat herself throughout the year