A recent PayPal study found that money is the number one gift Americans want this Christmas, and 62% wish they could ask for cash instead of traditional presents. But, the study also found that the main reason people don’t give money as a gift is because they’re afraid it’s not personal enough.
To fix the personalisation, designer Jonathan Adler is collaborating with PayPal to make person-to-person gift payments more personal and heartfelt with exclusive digital holiday cards. We’ve seen the first four, but there are six available designs with more to come.
It’s all a bit American politically correct ‘Happy Holidays’ so as not to offend anyone for my tastes though. Having taken every care to banish the word Christmas, PayPal have been quite happy to roll out a ‘Happy Hanukkah’ version of their gift card. I wonder why it’s ok to mention Jewish holidays by name but not to say ‘Happy Christmas’?
Gift givers can log into their account on PayPal, select Send Money to make it a gift, pick their favorite card design, designate the amount of the gift, and send. The good news is that these are the designs for the U.S. and Canada, here in the UK we will see designs created specifically for the British audience. I’ve not been able to find the UK on PayPal yet but I’m hoping at least one will say ‘Happy Christmas’!