This Amazon shift card is a great option for gifts. I have never had any issues with it arriving within minutes and you can personalize it for the receiver with the look of the card and the message they receive. I am aware that some people frown on gift cards and consider them to be the 'lazy' gift giving option, but I must respectfully disagree. There are no concerns with the delivery being timely as it gets sent directly to the recipient's phone number that you provide, and arrives within moments of the giver making the transaction. The recipient is usually thrilled to be able to select exactly what they want for the happy occasion, rather than relying on the gift giver to select something for them that they may not have preferred. I gave this card to my daughter for her birthday, and she was very excited to receive it. I didn't have to worry about mailing a package and it possibly being mis-delivered to the neighbor two blocks away and never turning back up, or the package being dropped accidentally in a mud puddle and ran over by the garbage truck prior to showing up on her doorstep in questionable state, I also was able to give her directly the full amount of the money for her gift, rather than having to subtract an exorbitant amount of the allotment for shipping.
When debating internally on whether or not a gift card is the right choice, I always flash back to the memory of a young relative receiving a hand made colorful vest, from a relative for her birthday. The article of clothing was well made, had obviously cost some money to construct from the quality of the fabrics and had undoubtedly taken considerable time to make as it was sewn out of numerous multi colored fabrics with strategic tufts of the same colourful fabric springing out all over the front and back of the vest. While it's quite possible that it may have looked great on an emaciated model walking the runway at fashion week in New York City, the recipient was a teenage girl who was a little on the bigger side and at an awkward stage of her teenage years. She probably wouldn't have minded, if, like a camera, the vest added 10 lbs to her profile. Unfortunately -and I am actually downplaying the full effect in order to be kind - it easily made her look 3 sizes bigger the second she put it on! Needless to say, I believe she wore it one time at Christmas, when the gift giver was in town - but that was the one and only time it ever emerged from her closet! The gifter was a very sweet aunt that had a reputation for being involved with the latest fashion. The aunt usually made clothing that was admired and envied by all the recipient's peers, and she was known within the family construct to be the 'cool' aunt, favored by all neices and nephews. The incident taught me a valuable lesson, that even the best intended gift givers will occasionally make a terrible gift giving choice. I have never felt that I was particularly great at picking out gifts anyway, so the odds aren't in my favor of a terrible choice being a one time event! So, I usually choose to eliminate the potential of turning a gift for someone I love on their happy occasion into a torturous memory where they pretend to love it, but in reality are secretly looking up spells online at night, in the hopes they will find one that results in the spontaneous combustion of an object. They finally locate the one for the job, but the cost is the sale of one's soul....after a 2 hour debate with themselves, which is decided by opening the closet and seeing the gift once more, they decide it's definitely worth the cost if it means no one will ever see them wearing the object! At the holidays everyone is perplexed by Mandy's strange behavior, refusing to eat anything and speaking in a deep, guttural tone. We note that her huge black eyes follow you everywhere...weird, really thought the they used to be green, must be some creepy new teenage thing with colored contacts or something. Quite the obsession she has with that new knife collection of hers...
Seriously, I have yet to have a single person be upset over receiving this gift card, in fact I generally receive much thanks and happy smiles. It's the perfect go to for any event. However, if you consider yourself to be a dangerous risk taker on birthdays - by all means go ahead and send your nephew that pink bunny rabbit pajama ensemble and insist on getting the 1st photo from his mom so you can post it to facebook. Just don't be shocked when you receive a call two weeks later from your nephew's mom to tell you that there was a freak accident resulting in a fire in their backyard after your gift arrived, thankfully the house was saved, but the pink bunny pajamas were sadly lost. Maybe she will send you a photo of your little nephew's soot streaked face, since he told her that he had tried so very hard to rescue his gift from you that he loved so much!
I'll go ahead and stick to this gift card, as it seems to carry much less chance of tragic accidents occurring upon it's arrival...