FI and I received a card from one of FMIL's friends who was invited to my shower but can not attend. In the card was a gift card for Macy's (we are registered there) and instructions on which gift from our registry we are to purchase with this gift card. Is it me, or is that a little weird? As far as I know it's not like you can pick up a macy's gift card just anywhere (like I know walmart has giftcard to a ton of stores for example) so either this person had to visit a macy's, or order it online. Why not just buy us the actual gift? I could understand receiving cash with a note saying "I want you to use the cash for XYZ" because sometimes people forget to buy a gift until last minute, or just don't have time to get to the store, but dictating how to use a gift card just seemed strange to me.
So, do we use this gift card to buy what the giver wants us to get with it, or should we spend it how we please. Complicating the issue a little is that the gift this person wants us to buy isn't something high on our priority list, and it wouldn't be our first purchase choice off our registry.