If any of you have tween, teen, or older girls to shop for, Bath and Body Works is doing a buy 3, get 3 free promotion. It's supposed to be online on Thursday, but maybe they're not on East Coast time since it hasn't gone live yet. I'm getting DD a few things, and there may be a couple for me making it into the cart as well...
I struggle with this, too. But I've noticed that when I buy my 17-year old things he didn't ask for, they tend to just sit there unused. He has a narrow set of interests, and if there's nothing he truly wants right then he would rather have cash or a gc that he can hold onto until there is something he wants. When he does eventually want something, it's likely to be either a video game or a computer component that he'd rather pick out himself. He likes to have at least one real thing to open, but he's perfectly happy if that one thing is a favorite candy! I also remember myself at that age (and honestly, still today)--I would rather receive a gift card than "stuff." So I guess I shouldn't be surprised that 2 of my 3 kids are like that, too!