Unless your recipient will use the card immediately and in one shot, give cash instead! There is a $2/mo. "service fee", a $5.95 replacement fee for lost/stolen card and you must know exactly the value you have left in the card to use it. I got a $50 gift card after my baby was born. I used it for a $19.99 + tax purchase right away. Then, I tried to use it again a few months later. I was drilled about the EXACT amount left in the card (and many stores could not even process the card). After about a year of trying to use the gift card at various stores, I finally got a store clerk to call Amex and guess what? I have $1.22 left after all of the monthly fees. This is highway robbery!