While you're hurrying around picking up gifts in the last few days before Christmas, do you   have any time to think about how much your  s, or friends will actually value what you   find? WePay, a Website that helps people collect, manage and spend money online, has analysed tons of research, reports and surveys from different sources, and the results were surprising!   Are Gift Cards a Good Idea?   Rather than give someone a gift that they might not like, it's better just to pick up a gift card so they can buy what they really want, right? Wrong. This year, $ 2.5 billion in gift cards went unspent. Of that amount, $1.3 billion went unspent because people didn't bother making the time. Another $ I billion or so was forgotten altogether.    How Much Do We Really Value the Gifts We're Given?    The lucky recipient of a gift, like a cashmere sweater, will value it less than the amount it was purchased for. And ladies, contrary to what you might think, place less monetary value on the diamond ring they are given than the guys who have bought it for them.   What Happens to Our Gifts After They're Given?   Many complain that the holiday season means shopping and crazily spending money, but studies show that once the big day arrives, we are less focused on gifts than we think. Every year, at least one gift per person is regifted, returned or never even opened   And How Do We Really Feel About Fruit Cakes? We all know that no one likes fruit cakes, right? Wrong, once again. Although fruit cakes continue to be taken away behind the rest of the holiday cookies and cakes on the dessert table, one in four people still consider giving them as gifts. What does this all really mean? To be clear, it's certainly not that you shouldn't enjoy the holiday spirit and feel great about giving gifts to those most important to you. While so many of us are worrying about how much money we're spending and who we still need to buy for, it simply helps to take a step back and rethink what it really means to give a gift. What does the author say about gift cards?
They mean less than gifts themselves. A lot of them are not spent at all. People don t bother to buy them. They are more valuable to our friends.