Presenting expectant parents with gift cards as a baby shower gift is a great idea. This eliminates them having to register at a specific store; it also ensures that they won’t receive too many of the same gifts. If well-organized, giving gift cards as a shower present can end up being the best, easiest gift giving idea. It’s true that the part of the shower where the mother unwraps her gifts will not occur, but the lack of that is made up for by the fact that she can purchase everything she needs and wants with the gift cards.
Tips for choosing the best stores when going the gift card route
- Choose stores that sell a variety of baby products. Clothing or furniture-only stores are not good ideas. The mother will end up with too many clothes and some guests may not want to foot the bill for expensive baby furniture. Variety baby stores work best.
- Go through the stores to determine the items the mother will need and then determine the gift card amounts with the manager.
- Choose stores with reliable reputations and products. While quantity is important, quality is even more important when dealing with baby products.
Organizing gift card giving
This is the most important step in avoiding receiving too many of the same gifts. The mother should choose two or three of her favorite stores that have all the items she needs. Determine the gift card policies in those stores and then decide the gift card amounts based on the items the parents need. Do not make the requested gift cards amounts too high, as this may turn off some guests, and can even look a little desperate. If you must assign gift cards with high values, give them to family and close friends who will not mind spending the money.
After choosing the right stores, you can instruct guests on how to proceed. This baby shower gift idea is similar to the baby registry idea, except in the case of the gift cards, the mother choose the gifts after the party instead of beforehand. With this gift giving method, mothers have a big advantage because they can choose a variety of stores and give their guests more of a choice in terms of gift amounts. There is nothing desperate about this approach, in fact is quite possibly one of the best ones. By selecting gift amounts for certain friends and family members, one can make sure that people don’t spend more than they can afford on a gift.
