Today’s post focuses on the popularity of gift cards during the holiday season. These cards are easy to purchase and enable the recipients to buy what what most interests them — while also being somewhat impersonal.

Based on the recent survey by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics, these gift card findings are clear:

“Holiday shoppers are planning to purchase an average of three gift cards with an approximate value of $46 per card, the second most-popular gift after clothing. Spending on gift cards is expected to reach $27.5 billion, up from last year’s planned $26 billion. The most popular types of gift cards include those from restaurants (35 percent of buyers), department stores (33 percent), Visa/MasterCard/American Express (22 percent), coffee shops (21 percent) and entertainment (17 percent).”