Gift cards are still great gifts.

Three days until Christmas and the shoppers are out in force, trying to find that one last gift. However, don’t get a gift card, or at least, according to Big Lots. The recent Big Lots commercial is advertising real gifts, saying “You don’t tell the one you love/Go buy your own gift/Giving someone shopping’s weird.” Since when is giving gift cards bad and a little hypocritical from a store which offers gift cards! I have two main reasons why gift cards are still viable and great gifts.

First, gift cards allow you to treat someone to their favorite restaurant or activity, for instance, a spa day. For instance, you know someone who loves Starbucks coffee. Why not give them a Starbucks gift card and they can buy coffee for weeks or even months after Christmas. It’s a great gift. Or to someone who loves the movies, a gift card to the local theater is a gift they can use when they want to see the next movie and treat themselves to the concession stand.

Second, gift cards are great gifts to give when you know someone likes something but you aren’t sure what they have already. For instance, like me, a book lover. How many of my friends and family know what books I like or which ones I’ve read? Do they run the risk of giving me a book that I’ve already read and then I have to return? How is that not giving someone shopping? Another example, you are shopping for a teenager, unless you really, really know what he or she likes and needs, a gift card is always the better bet. It’s better than giving something they don’t like and have no idea what to do with.

Sorry, Big Lots, gift cards are great gifts. I’d rather give a gift card that says “here go shopping on me” than give them a gift they already have or don’t like and still have to go shopping to replace it. Gift cards are a great way to allow someone to buy something they probably wouldn't buy themselves. Gift cards give someone endless possibilities. I suppose it’s another reason why I don’t shop at your store and probably never will.