Best Gift Idea If You Don't Have Time To Shop (Or Can't Face The Malls) This Year

Truly the best gift idea ever to be invented is the almighty Gift Certificate. This little beauty is to be revered for so many reasons. Here are a few reasons you should be relying on gift certificates this year:

• You would rather have hot needles placed under your fingernails than go to the shopping mall at Christmas
• You have no imagination
• Things that you wrap end up looking either scary or funny - not the reaction you were hoping for
• You would like your entire holiday shopping expedition to be finished and done with in under 30 minutes

Of course gift certificates have evolved over the years and now you can buy someone a gift certificate for almost anything. This is so adaptable and means that everyone on your list could be getting exactly what they want instead of shoving your gift to the back of the closet, asking if you kept the receipt or re-wrapping and gifting someone else with it.

Here's an example of a ingenious company that has flown in like a superhero to save the day for the huddled masses of gift-buying-challenged souls who find this time of year particularly painful. The company is "GiftCertificates.com" and you could literally do all your gift shopping at this one place. They have different ways of shopping, by occasion, by product, by recipient, by category and even by location. They can deliver your gift by email if you want and their cards can be used in physical stores or online.

This is the list of merchants they gave me when I searched by location within 10 miles of my zip:

Zales Gift Cards
Buca di Beppo Gift Cards
Sally Beauty Supply Gift Cards
Eddie Bauer Gift Cards
Bloomingdale's Gift Cards
Banana Republic Gift Cards
Old Navy Gift Cards
EXPRESS Gift Cards
Tony Roma's Gift Cards
The Sharper Image® Gift Cards
Pep Boys Gift Cards
Crate&Barrel Gift Cards
AMC Theatres Gift Cards
REI e-Gift Cards
AnchorBlue Gift Cards
Jack in the Box Gift Cards
Famous Footwear Gift Cards
Black Angus Steakhouse Gift Cards
Benihana Gift Cards
Catherines Gift Cards
Barnes & Noble Gift Cards
Sunglass Hut Gift Cards
Staples Gift Cards
Linens 'N Things Gift Cards
PETCO Gift Cards
T.J. Maxx Gift Cards
Spa Finder Gift Cards
Finish Line Gift Cards
Lowe's Gift Cards
Claim Jumper Restaurants Gift Cards
Buckle Gift Cards
GameStop Gift Cards
Bath & Body Works Gift Cards
Circuit City Gift Cards
Pottery Barn Gift Cards
Barnes & Noble e-Gift Cards
The Sharper Image e-Gift Card
Marriott Gift Cards
Pier 1 Imports Gift Cards
Boston Market Gift Cards
Best Western Gift Cards
Gap Gift Cards
Hat World Gift Cards
Restoration Hardware Gift Cards
Panera Bread Gift Cards
KB Toys Gift Cards
Best Buy Gift Cards
JCPenney Gift Cards
SpaWish.com Gift Certificates
J.Crew Gift Cards
Men's Wearhouse Gift Cards
Williams-Sonoma Gift Cards
Borders Books and Music Gift Cards
Target Gift Cards
Brookstone Gift Cards
Bed Bath & Beyond Gift Cards
Foot Locker Gift Cards

They have gift bundles, MasterCard Gift cards, Merchant Gift cards, all suited to specific preferences and all ages, even babies.

For women they have ideas like "A Day Off For Mom" which includes $50 Spa Finder Gift Card, $25 Bath & Body Works Gift Card and a $25 Ruby Tuesday; the "Workout Enthusiast Bundle" which contains a $50 Nike Gift Card and a $25 iTunes Gift Card. There is even a MerryMaids gift card so that she can have a free housecleaning done on you.

The categories worth looking at for women:

Jewelry - Merchants include Macy's, Bloomingdales, Fossil, Saks Fifth Avenue and Zales, the diamond store and more.
Health and Beauty - Merchants include Sephora, SpaWish, Bath & Body Works, Regis Salons and more
Shoes and Accessories - Some of the merchants are Famous Footwear, Express, Eddie Bauer, GAP, Foot Locker, LL Bean, Land's End, J. Crew and loads more.
Clothing - Some of the clothing merchants are Old Navy, Anchor Blue, Banana Republic, Barneys New York, Talbots, Saks Fifth Avenue, The Limited and more.
Home - Merchants include Pottery Barn, TJ Maxx, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Brookstone, Cooking.com, Crate & Barrel and more.
Travel - Send her away (in a good way) for a few days with gift cards from American Airlines, Ritz-Carlton, Hyatt, Best Western, Budget, Avis, Travelocity or any of the other merchants in their travel section.

Or you can just buy dinner for her and a friend at places like Buca di Beppo, Tony Roma's or McCormick & Schmick's.

There is even a section for pregnant women with gift certificates to "A Pea in the Pod" and Pottery Barn Kids, to name a few. This is a great idea for baby showers.

So, for those of us who fly into gift-choosing hypertension every holiday, birthday, wedding, shower or anniversary, or just become major crabs around this time of year (very attractive attitude to have in the season of good will to all men, by the way), we can now relax in the knowledge that we are only 10 minutes away from being in possession of the best gift in the world - the Life-Saving Gift Certificate. Check it out for yourself: "GiftCertificates.com"