I love gift cards and wrote a long rambling blog post about them in February, so I won’t bother to go into all the awesome reasons gift cards are so wonderful or how to pick out the correct gift card for someone here.
My birthday was last month and this weekend I saw my amazing parents, who gave me two gift cards. My mom is the best gift card shopper around, and always gets me a card to a place I already shop at, which is perfect. She usually gets me cards to two different places in smaller mounts, so I can do my normal shopping and also get something extra special or add in something I wouldn’t normally get myself using the card she picked out. I love it! This year she picked out one to REI and one to Athleta.
There are no REI stores local to us, but I do shop online with them. Most of my camping gear has been purchased from them, and a good portion of my clothing. Athleta is an online clothing store that I also make purchases from. Its where I got my favorite dress (it has pockets).
Normally I spend weeks, if not months, ‘window’ shopping when I get a gift card. Filling and emptying my virtual shopping cart until I have tweaked my order to be exactly what I want. Might sound a bit silly but I really enjoy doing this. I hate shopping in person, so I assume this is my version of trying on endless amounts of clothes in a store dressing room until the perfect outfit is found. But I can do it in my PJs while sitting on my couch and talking to my husband about mundane things. Maybe even sipping a cup of coffee while he makes us breakfast. Ahhh. The perfect shopping experience.
This is the REI Taku Jacket I ordered last night. Photo: REI
Upon returning home last night from the visit with my parents I settled onto the couch in my PJs and begin the window shopping fun. I found a jacket I really like, the REI Taku Jacket. It is a raincoat slash outer shell coat that can be layered with a fleece or hoodie for winter warmth. And, it is two tone blue (pretty much everything I own is blue). I have been needing a good rain coat, and this one is more than just a rain coat, sounds good. And to top it off, it’s on super close out sale. Woop. Marked down from $219 to only $107. Half off, I’ll take it! Needless to say, unlike my normal lengthy gift card shopping experiences, I cashed in my REI card in record time. Heck, if I waited around that Taku Jacket would not be available in blue, nor would it be half off!
I also picked out a headband to go with my new haircut (while visiting my parents I got my hair chopped off. Its short. Eeek).
Hands down the fastest gift card shopping I have ever done.
And I did save the Alteta card so I can still have window shopping fun for a while.
And the REI headband I ordered.
Photo: REI
All Things Krista 