What's the point of gift cards?

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I mean, my SO would probably prefer a spa gift card than a $100 bill

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Anna Jarvis embarked upon a campaign to make "Mother's Day" a recognized holiday. She spent a significant amount of time writing to countless business executives, church groups, and politicians at the state and national level to promote the commemorative day. Jarvis was singularly dedicated throughout this process, resigning her position at Fidelity Mutual and incorporating the Mother’s Day International Association in 1912 to encourage national and international recognition of the day... After her persistent efforts, Mother’s Day was finally proclaimed a national holiday in 1914 by President Woodrow Wilson.

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Jarvis struggled against forces of commercialization that overwhelmed her original message. Among some of these forces were the confection, floral and greeting card industries. Ironically, symbols that she had valued for their sentimentality, such as the white carnation, easily became commodified and commercialized. By the 1920s, as the floral industry continued increasing prices of white carnations and then introduced red carnations to meet the demand for the flower, Anna Jarvis’ original symbols began to become re-appropriated, such as the red carnation representing living mothers and the white carnation honoring deceased mothers... Her negative opinion of these commercial forces was evident in her contemporary commentary, saying,

A printed card means nothing except that you are too lazy to write to the woman who has done more for you than anyone in the world. And candy! You take a box to Mother—and then eat most of it yourself. A pretty sentiment. — Anna Jarvis

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