I know better than anyone that it can be hard to come up with gift-giving ideas. While I am fairly diligent about amassing birthday gifts for the countless number of kids’ parties we go to, I admit that I sometimes lack that ability when it comes to my own friends’ birthdays.
Thankfully, I’ve just discovered a great way for anyone to give a fun birthday present (or gift for any occasion) without having to leave home.
Yiftee is a new gift-giving service that lets you automatically find merchants in any given area, by zip code, and give friends or family credits or gift certificates for goods, services and food from shops, restaurants and even local charities offering virtual credits in any denomination. You can even see just a smattering above from the myriad Brooklyn choices.
Way to support small local businesses on a national level!
Most of the establishments are currently focused in larger metro areas, but hopefully as the service grows, so will the number of businesses involved.
Already I’m seeing bakeries, boutiques, specialty food shops, toys for kids, liquor stores–pretty much the kinds of places you’d want to send gifts from. I mean, who wouldn’t want to be surprised with $20 at her favorite local coffee shop instead of the big generic chain?
Trying it out briefly, I found it quite easy, and it’s nice that you can use the website itself or its complementary iOS app, which makes it even easier to give gifts on-the-go. You can log-in through Facebook, but as someone who is never on Facebook anymore, I appreciate the ability to log in separately and still use the app, unlike other gifting apps we’ve covered like Givvy and Wrapp.
This is a great option for a little pick-me-up, a mama with a new baby, or a small gesture of thanks or just a “thinking of you.” And you don’t even have to deliver the gift yourself. –Jeana
Yiftee can be used through the Yiftee ebsite or can be downloaded as a free Yiftee mobile app for iOS from iTunes.
