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Gift Exchange

Nice article about the benefits of gift card balances to Starbucks (or any other purveyor of in-store gift cards). When J was in middle school, the single most popular birthday gift seemed to be gift cards. She got plenty of them and was prolific about giving them out too. 

Lack of planning and bit of laziness might have contributed - last minute this was likely the only choice. Kids were coming in from different elementary schools and had limited history which each other so coming with a personalized gift idea was harder. Many a time, we would make a mad dash for the grocery store right on the way to the birthday party so J could pick up a card, chocolate and the gift card. 

The ease of trading gift cards made them popular too I guess. Someone with a Starbucks habit could trade the other person for a card of the same amount from a store they would never shop at. All the benefits of money without exchanging any cash - a good old-fashioned barter economy but the tax implications could get complex at times.

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