1/23/26 for time wizards

Turn Gift Cards Into...

Merchants must honor gift cards from at least 5 years from their date of issue (and more in some states). But if the merchant goes out of business (or five years pass when you weren't looking) you are left holding a worthless piece of plastic.

Cartoon: Two gift cards

If you have expired cards, you could:

  1. Buy a ​guitar pick punch​ and make guitar picks out of them. (The consensus among Reddit guitarists is that this is a bad idea…)

  2. Try to redeem them anyway. Worth a shot!

  3. ​Use them in crafts​. You can spend a pleasant half hour Googling craft ideas for old plastic cards. Don’t spend time soaking cotton balls in perfume and topping them with credit card shreds, but do use an old credit card to replace your remote control’s battery compartment cover. My best advice? Throw them out so they don’t keep taking up space in your desk drawer or your head.

And…Go look in your desk drawer now. If you have usable gift cards, make a date with a friend or yourself and go shopping!