my favourite gift to give and receive

It's super lame but my favourite gift to get for Christmas is a good old gift card. I used to think it was ridiculous to give cash or gift cards as gifts because really, how much thought could go into it? Seemed like a cop-out to me.

My husband's family always gives gift cards for special occasions and it made me think they weren't super thoughtful but that wasn't true - they took time to figure out which store would be best. They put just as much thought into the gift card purchase as they would a regular gift. They are all pretty particular about their likes and dislikes so this is a win-win for everyone involved.

When my husband and I got married, one of my favourite gifts we received was a $100.00 gift card to Michaels. The intended purpose was that it should go towards framing wedding photos (a really sweet and genius gesture) but I just threw the card in my wallet and went about my business.

Fast forward a few months and I remembered it was there - and I had a handful of gifts to buy. Score! I LOVE giving gifts so it is always hard on my budget but here I was - $100.00 richer to spoil people with. 

I enjoyed spending every last penny of that $100.00 on people I love.

So over the past three years my view on gift cards has changed completely - I'm definitely giving a few of them as gifts this holiday season. Feels so great to give someone a "free pass" to go shop at their favourite store. Let them spoil themselves and get something they truly love. And I hope I might get one or two myself!

What's your favourite gift to give or get? Hope Santa spoils you rotten this year! :)