I used to do the Pinecone surveys, but it seems like they've slowed down. Yes, they have certain time periods when you can sign up. You might want to check mypoints.com, if you do alot of online shopping they give you so many points per dollar spent if you go through them. I usually forget about them when I could be using them! They also send you emails, (yes sorta spammy) if you click the button in an email you get 5 points. The points add up quickly, you get gift cards for your points (they usually arrive via snail mail in less than a week). Check them out, DH & I have belonged for several years.

Like I said above, it's just a personal preference/reaction, but I always felt cash gifts said "we didn't put any thought into this." My late mother-in-law always gave me generous cash gifts, but I always wished she had bought something instead. I used to take the cash to Tiffany's and buy a piece of jewelry and then tell people, "My mother-in-law gave me this." Only technically true, I guess, but it felt so much better to me than saying, "My mother-in-law gave me the money to buy this." Unfortunately, it's all moot now since my jewelry got stolen years ago. :-( I should add that for certain recipients, like teenagers and college students, cash is probably the most appreciated gift of all. This post was edited by alisande on Thu, Nov 20, 14 at 12:47

Sigh, the only gift card I received was from my brother for Home Depot - and he put it in a three dimensional maze I had to solve before I could get to it. come to think of it they do have lots of gardening and how-to books. I only gave books to a teenage first cousin, once removed. He has started reading science fiction so I gave him two Heinleins -- Red Planet, a juvenile, and The Door into Summer which the grandfather he never knew loaned to me when I was a kid. And Bester's The Stars My Destination which is currently my "best science fiction book ever written." We will see how he likes the classics. Woodnymph, sorry to say L'Engle's Certain Women has been completely forgotten by me except for the title -- and that is probably from seeing it on the shelf. Rosefolly, I'd love that Edith Head book myself. I remember reading a fascinating bio of her decades ago. Have I ever mentioned to you that the dvd of Double Indemnity has some extras about the costume design. Apparently Stanwyck had a broad behind that Head had to design for. Who knew?

AK and Oly, those are great. One year we got his sister a Visa gc with her picture on it, and that was a hit. It’s mostly a gift card exchange with my ILs so I try to put a little fun into the wrapping to make it enjoyable for me. Last year, I wrapped all the gifts to resemble candy (a large lollipop, a Hershey Kiss, a Reese’s cup, etc). My proudest achievement was creating an Olaf snowman out of three, graduated sizes, white boxes, and various things for his face & arms. She loves the Olaf character, and still displays the boxes with her other snowmen. I’ve also wrapped a box in white and added black & red felt to resemble a snowman’s hat. This year one of the gifts is tickets to see the play Daniel at a theater that specializes in bible based plays (Sight and Sound for those in PA). I bought little stuffed lion ornaments (per the Google, Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den and survived). I might just hang them on a gift bag and say it’s a hint about the gift. IDK what other gc my husband bought them so I don’t know what else I will do. There are only so many ways to entertain myself wrapping the twice a year grocery store gc.