Gift Gifting Tackiness- From My Biz to You

[Anonymous]

Family members of ours are having a party. We need to get a gift. DH suggested I give them a gift certificate to my business because it fits the occasion. We both laughed hysterically because who does that? We finished laughing and he's like, "no, I am serious." I told him that was tacky, and he said "they are tacky, so it doesn't matter."

LOL.

I would never do that, but he really wants to.

What would you think if someone gave you a gift certificate to their business as a gift?

[Anonymous]

I sold jewelry for a while and I gave my house cleaners each a gift certificate for jewelry. They loved it. I gave my neighbor a gift certificate as a thank you gift. Again, she loved it.

[Anonymous]

OK if the friend has expressed a sincere interest and appreciation -- "Oh, I love those new earrings. You always do a great job with the colors" or "You have such a good eye for kids' expressions. Every time I see your latest shots it reminds me I should get new family portraits done."

Not OK if the friend has only expressed polite appreciation -- "Wow, you really know your Mary Kay products" or "I never knew there were so many uses for Tupperware."

[Anonymous]

I'd say if the gift certificate is worth a free item, it is nice. But if it amounts to a 20% discount on a purchase, then no.

So for example if you have an art store and gave someone a $50 gift certificate and the art in your store is $200 and up, then it's not really a gift but a discount.

[Anonymous]

My husband's aunt does gifts in that vein. Not a gift certificate, but something from whatever line of crap she's selling at the moment along with a catalog and a business card with a note to let her know if I want to buy anything else because it's such a great line of products! So tacky.

[Anonymous]

I think it depends on what the business is. You own a starbucks? Great, give the gift certificate. Own a jewelry store? No thanks, trash it.

[Anonymous]

OP here. You know, maybe it's not a bad idea. I was going to give something from my store anyway...I just hadn't decided on what. Might as well let them pick out something themselves. But I don't know...I just feel funny about it.

Yes, it would be similar to giving coffee drinkers a $20 GC to a Starbucks that I own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I sold jewelry for a while and I gave my house cleaners each a gift certificate for jewelry. They loved it. I gave my neighbor a gift certificate as a thank you gift. Again, she loved it.

I think these are different situations - gifts were not expected.

[Anonymous]

This reminds me of my SIL, who "gifted" every item her kid was hawking for the school fundraiser for about four or five years "I thought you would really enjoy Y. We are selling it to raise money for X's school this year." Birthday, Christmas, whatever, that was the gift. It would've been a lot more thoughtful to have taken the kid's photo and stuck it in a frame. We did not need a gift and we certainly didn't need junk.

[Anonymous]

It really depends if it's someplace they would normally shop or like to shop. If it's family and they like the store and your gift certificate will be enough for something decent, I say go for it.

[Anonymous]

I work for a running store and regularly hook my dad up with a new pair of shoes for his birthday and Christmas. It needs to happen since he walks 24 miles a week and he won't do it otherwise. Active friends either get items or gift cards.