Are Gift Cards Good Presents for Kids?

Many parents enjoy watching the joy in their children’s faces as they unwrap their presents, secretly hoping that the child will enjoy the gift you hand-picked for them. But what if you have no clue what to get them?  

Gift cards can make great presents for kids and teenagers whether they’re celebrating Christmas, birthdays, or school graduation.  

Gift cards can give children the freedom to buy whatever they want while also teaching them about the value of money as well as decision making and budgeting. Let’s explore the benefits and disadvantages of gift cards for kids.

Image:pexels.com

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Gift Cards for Kids

Advantages

• Gift cards allow children the freedom to choose while teaching them budgeting and encouraging independence.

• Flexibility – a gift card can be a better choice than a physical gift if you don’t know the preferences of a particular child.

• Save time – sometimes you just don’t have the time for shopping and choosing a gift or sending it in the mail. 

Disadvantages

• Gift cards feel less personal – some people feel that giving a gift card just doesn’t have the ‘personal touch’ as a hand-picked present does.

• May not be suitable for very young children - gift cards don’t offer the immediate satisfaction of opening a present, which is why they may be better suited for older children and teenagers.

• Wasted budget – after a gift card is used for purchases, there may be a small amount of money left, which ends up as money wasted, especially if the gift card cannot be recharged.

Physical Gift Cards vs. Digital Gift Cards

Gift cards can come in a physical or digital forms. A physical gift card is often a great choice, as it allows the child to have something to unwrap, and they’re easy to use instead of cash while shopping in-store. 

A digital gift card is another option. Digital gift cards have a code, usually delivered to the recipient via email. Digital gift card codes are typically used for online or mobile purchases, although some allow the option for in-store purchases too by presenting the code to the cashier from a mobile device or by printing it out.

Digital gift cards can be a great solution when the child in question is living abroad, and it would be difficult to send them a physical card from a retailer in their own country. 

Just like their physical counterparts, however; digital gift cards often have regional restrictions (such as the USA/North America/EU), so just make sure the gift card is redeemable in the country the child is living in.

Gift Cards for Mobile Gaming

Prepaid gift cards are also a fantastic present for kids who like to play mobile games or consume any kind of digital content. Kids can use them to download additional content for their favourite games or apps, and you don’t have to worry about saving your credit card details and potentially unauthorised credit card charges.

A lot of parents store their credit card details in App Store or Google Play Store on their iPads which they will then hand to their children to play with. It’s very easy for kids to accidentally download additional content on mobile games and end up racking up thousands in unauthorised credit card charges - every parent’s nightmare!

If you know the child’s favourite console or mobile game, sending them either a physical or digital gift card that they can redeem for in-game purchases will never fail to put a smile on their face!

We’ve found digital gift card codes particularly easy to use. Like many boys of his age, my nephew living in the States is an avid Minecraft gamer. Although the game itself is free to play, it offers in-app purchases that he’s normally unable to get as he’s too young to have a credit card of his own. 

For his last birthday, we bought him a Minecraft gift card from scratchmonkeys.com. As a side note, I probably wouldn’t send this to a very young child, as they would need some parental assistance to go online and follow the instructions to redeem the code. For us, however, this has worked out great, as he’s old enough to appreciate the gift and use the code to top up his Minecoins by himself.

I see it as a win-win!