While the holidays tend to be the time of year when West Virginia sells the most cards, Summers says she sees a surge at Mother's Day and Father's Day as well. "And corporate is all over the place -- parks gift cards as an employee incentive are very popular. People in West Virginia love their parks, and our population has always supported the parks."

State parks cards certainly are a unique gift. "For the person who has everything," says Gilligan, "you can give the whole state of Kentucky."

Gift card malls
To make gift cards readily available to consumers, the gift card mall is popping up everywhere. According to Mercator Advisory Group, sales of gift cards through gift card malls grew 88 percent in 2006, for a total of $3.6 billion.

These "malls" are display racks that are often near the checkout counter of drugstores or grocery stores, and the gift cards offered are from a variety of merchants. According to Summit Research Associates, there will be more than 105,000 self-service gift card kiosks in stores by the end of 2007. There are good reasons why so many retailers are setting up a shop within their stores.

"There are two different people involved in gift card malls, the mall provider and the host retailer," says Horne. "There is no cost of goods for the retailer. Anything they turn goes straight to bottom line. Plus there is the promise that the store will become a destination for gift giving. They'll generate more store visits because of the mall."

The gift cards available at gift card malls range from restaurants such as T.G.I. Friday's, Ruby Tuesday and Starbucks to golf or spa cards that can be used at participating places.

"A fascinating implementation of the gift card is the Utix card," says Sloane. "It offers experiences like a round of golf at one of thousands of courses. Spas nationwide. You can imagine the value of a card that can be used in so many places. I think we'll see more of those kind of offerings."

For those who still think gift cards are an impersonal gift, a company called Pay By Touch is introducing the "Reward and Gift Card Kiosk" that will allow customers to make their own gift cards embossed with the recipient's name.

But given the billions of dollars' worth of gift cards that are being sold each year, consumers don't seem to mind giving a 2-by-3-inch plastic rectangle.