How to Spend My Gift Cards
October 28th, 2009 | 
Author: My friends and family know me too well. For my birthday and for my wedding I got Borders gift cards. I mean, what a better gift for a book nerd like myself?
But my dilemma when it comes to gift cards is spending them. I don’t mind wasting my own money when buying books, but I want to make sure if I am spending someone else’s money, I am spending it wisely.
Because of this, I’ve been thinking hard since I got my first gift card over a month ago on how to spend. As you can tell by my To Read Widget on the right side of the page, I’m not really in need of books. But that doesn’t mean I can let these sit in my pocket.
So what I’ve decided to do is read what I’ve got until the month of December rolls around. I am huge on theme reading. I’ve been reading vampire books in honor of Halloween and plan on reading some holiday themed books once December rolls around. Now I already have a couple that I got last Christmas and couldn’t bring myself to read yet. Who wants to read about Glen Beck’s Christmas Sweater in the summer? It’s all about timing.
I will be using my gift cards, or some of the money on them, to buy some holiday themed books to get me through Christmas. And of course this takes some heavy planning, so I thought I’d show you some I’m looking at. If you’ve read any of these or have heard anything about them, let me know. I want to spend these wisely 
Here goes:
Now yes, I know there are a lot of books here. I also know that Mary Higgins Clark and Debbie Macomber have TONS of holiday books and there’s no way I can get to them all. But an excess is never a bad thing right? What I don’t read this year can wait until next Christmas – or maybe I’ll do a Christmas in July. Or maybe, this will inspire you to get into the holiday spirit. Speaking of which, I definitely got carried away with this post. I had a few already in my phone that I’d stumbled upon, but then I started searching and site jumping and ay yi yi, I’ve got Christmas tunes starting in my head already and Halloween isn’t over yet. I’ll make sure I mute them until after Thanksgiving. Christmas talk before then in our home has been banned because I’m a fanatic
PS: If you click on the book, it will take you to the link at Borders.com.
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Love that you do themed reading — that’s so fun! I should follow your lead. I haven’t read any of these, but Kate Brian’s Ex-Mas got my attention immediately with the awesome cover! Plus, it looks like it’s YA… so I’m all over that!
I both love and dread getting gift cards… because I totally panic over what to get! Like you said, I hate wasting my own money — but other people’s money? Yeah, I definitely want to make sure I get something awesome with it! I won a $25 Amazon gift card from a blog this summer and was in a total tizzy about what to pick! (I went with Sophie Kinsella’s Twenties Girl and Gayle Forman’s If I Stay, by the way; and I have yet to read either…)
That’s a lot of books!
I just bought “1776″ and “Last Flag Down” (history buff here) at Books-a-Million.
If you want a little change in your book-shopping habits I suggest you check out Books-a-Million up in Southridge. They have a whole section of books that are 40-60% off. Seriously! These books start from $2.97 to $12.97. I bought “Last Flag Down” for $5.97.
B-A-M is miles ahead of borders. They have a coffee shop right inside called “Joe Muggz” with some pretty good coffee, etc. for a good price. You absolutely can’t beat it!
I’ve never heard of Books-a-Million, but I’ll definitely look into it! I’m not so much into history. After dealing with everything at work, I like something light, fluffy and fiction! My husband, however, loves history! Maybe I’ll see if I can find anything there for him!
I am a big themed person. I do themed everything. Of course I have decorations, but I also have coffee mugs, post it notes, Sharpie markers (we have to write on tapes here at work), bed clothes … lol I may take it a little too far! I bought Ex-Mas today. And believe me, the cover is much prettier in person because it is metallic. I’m going to have to have my husband hide it so I don’t break into it until after Thanksgiving!
I learned today that my gift card dilemma is only at book stores. We got some Target ones from the wedding and I piled up the cart (and even had some left over money because I ran out of things to buy).