Gift giving can be a tricky endeavor. Picking out the perfect present requires knowing the recipient’s interests, budget, and preferred experiences. For music, sports, and entertainment lovers, a Ticketmaster gift card may seem like an easy crowd-pleasing option. But is this prepaid gift card all it’s cracked up to be or are there better gift ideas out there?
The Benefits of Giving a Ticketmaster Gift Card
At first glance, a Ticketmaster gift card looks like a thoughtful and useful gift. Here are some of the benefits of gifting this popular prepaid card:
- Lets the recipient choose their own event experience – With a Ticketmaster gift card, your gift recipient can log onto Ticketmaster.com and shop for tickets to concerts, sports games, theater shows, and other live entertainment that fits their interests and schedule.
- Works for all Ticketmaster events and venues – Ticketmaster is a dominant ticketing site that works with major concert tours, professional sports leagues like the NFL and NBA, Broadway shows, comedy tours, festivals and more. A Ticketmaster gift card can be used to access a huge range of entertainment options across North America.
- Never expires – Some prepaid gift cards expire after a set time period if unused. But Ticketmaster gift cards don’t have an expiration date, so the recipient can redeem it when the right event opportunity comes up.
- Customizable denomination – Ticketmaster gift cards can be purchased online or at retail stores like Safeway and CVS in denominations from $25 to $500. You can pick the dollar amount that aligns with your gifting budget.
- Digital delivery options – Ticketmaster egift cards can be emailed to recipients, allowing you to send a last-minute gift or one to a long-distance loved one. You can also opt for next day physical shipment.
- Can be used for multiple ticket purchases – If there’s any balance left on a Ticketmaster gift card after the first ticket buy, those extra funds can be applied towards future events and orders.
With unlimited time to use the card’s value towards event admission fees, your recipient should be able to find an attraction worth applying the Ticketmaster gift card towards.
The Limitations of Giving a Ticketmaster Gift Card
Despite the perks, there are also some drawbacks to be aware of if giving someone a Ticketmaster gift card:
- Restricted to Ticketmaster events only – This prepaid card can only be used at Ticketmaster.com or the Ticketmaster app. It cannot be used at independent concert venues, sports teams, or entertainment options unless they sell tickets via Ticketmaster as their ticketing service.
- Doesn’t cover the full event experience – While Ticketmaster gift cards can pay for event admission tickets, they don’t cover other costs like parking fees, transportation, concessions, or merchandise at the venue. Your recipient will need to pay those additional expenses out of pocket.
- Ticket fees not included – The dollar amount loaded onto a Ticketmaster gift card only applies to the face value ticket price displayed during the purchasing process. Service fees, processing fees, and delivery fees will add a significant amount on top of the ticket’s list price at checkout.
- Harder to gift spontaneous plans – Part of the fun of giving event tickets as a gift is making last-minute plans or surprising someone. Because a Ticketmaster gift card requires the recipient to take action to redeem it online for a specific event, it involves less spontaneity.
- Not as personalized – Putting thought into finding a concert, game, or show you know your giftee will love makes tickets a more personal and meaningful present. With a prepaid card, some of that thoughtfulness may be lost.
While convenient for the giver, a Ticketmaster gift card puts the effort onto the recipient to research events and redeem the card’s value. It also doesn’t fully cover the costs of attending an event, unless the loaded dollar amount is significant.
When to Give a Ticketmaster Gift Card
Despite the limitations, there are certain situations where a Ticketmaster gift card can be the right fit as a gift:
- You don’t know the recipient’s entertainment preferences – If you don’t know the specific artists, teams, or shows someone likes, a Ticketmaster gift card allows them to choose their own event to attend.
- The recipient lives in a different city – If you want to gift event tickets to someone who lives far away, a Ticketmaster gift card lets them redeem it for local shows and sports in their own metro area.
- You have a small gifting budget – If you only want to spend $25-$50 on a gift, a Ticketmaster card falls within that lower budget range while still covering some of the costs towards a fun night out.
- The recipient is hard to shop for – For friends or family members who seem to have everything, a prepaid Ticketmaster card can allow them to redeem it for unique event experiences.
- You’re gifting a group of people – For office Secret Santa exchanges or party gift bags, Ticketmaster gift cards let a group of recipients each find their own preferred event.
- It’s a last-minute gift idea – The instant digital delivery option makes a Ticketmaster gift card convenient for filling in when you’ve forgotten about a birthday or gift-giving occasion.
For some people like diehard sports fans or concert lovers, a Ticketmaster gift card will be an exciting chance to score seats to a highly anticipated game or show tour. For classical music lovers, homebodies, or people harder to buy for, it may miss the mark as a thoughtful gift.
How to Give a Ticketmaster Gift Card
If you’ve decided a Ticketmaster gift card fits your gifting needs, here are some tips for how to purchase and give prepaid event tickets vouchers:
- Buy online for convenience – Purchasing egift cards at Ticketmaster.com provides instant digital delivery and physical card shipment options. It’s also easy to customize the exact dollar amount you want to load.
- Consider delivery timelines – Make sure to note the processing time for physical gift card delivery so it arrives by your gifting deadline. Digital egift cards only take minutes via email.
- Wrap it creatively – Instead of just handing over the printed gift card, get creative with the presentation. Wrap the card in a ticket envelope, concert t-shirt, or mini sports pennant to build excitement.
- Add a heartfelt note – Include a thoughtful message in the card about why you chose the gift and what type of experiences you hope they can redeem it for.
- Remind them of the fees – Let the recipient know that service and processing fees will be charged at checkout on top of the loaded dollar amount, so they can plan accordingly.
- Provide redemption tips – Offer some helpful instructions so they can seamlessly redeem the card value online for event tickets they’ll love.
Gifting a Ticketmaster card takes a little less thought than handpicking specific event tickets you know they’ll enjoy. But you can still make it feel special based on how you present it and express your gifting sentiment.
Alternatives to Ticketmaster Gift Cards
A Ticketmaster gift card isn’t the only option out there if you want to give the experience of live entertainment. Here are some other ideas to consider:
- Tickets to a specific event – Researching and buying tickets to a concert, game, show, or festival your giftee would like shows more thoughtfulness and lets you handle the planning.
- Gift card to a favorite music/sports provider – Rather than a Ticketmaster card, buy a prepaid gift card directly from a sports team, concert venue, or theater that you know they love.
- Subscription gift box – For live music lovers, gift them a subscription box like CrateJoy that will deliver new band merch and music memorabilia monthly.
- Concert film streaming rental – For music fans, rent a digital streaming movie of a recent concert tour or music documentary that you can watch together.
- Music merchandise – Pick out T-shirts, hoodies, posters, coffee mugs, and other schwag from your giftee’s favorite bands and artists.
- Sports fan package – Assemble a gift basket with jerseys, blankets, mugs, signed gear and other branded items in their favorite team’s colors.
- Theater ticket voucher book – Many theater companies sell packs of flexible ticket vouchers good towards multiple show dates.
Personalizing a gift idea based on the recipient’s favorite musical acts, comedians, plays, or players shows more sincere thought. It also creates a more memorable shared experience if you give tickets to enjoy together.
Fun Experience Gifts Beyond Live Events
Concerts, games, and shows make great gifts, but they aren’t the only type of experience worth gifting. Here are some other unique ideas for bringing fun and joy to others:
- Local attraction or museum passes – Help them explore fun sites in their own city with discounted attraction passes.
- National parks annual pass – For nature lovers, an annual pass to visit U.S. National Parks unlocks year-round adventures.
- Cinema gift cards – Let movie buffs enjoy popcorn and their favorite new releases with prepaid cinema gift cards.
- Luxury spa treatment – They’ll feel pampered with a massage, facial or reflexology treatment at a relaxing spa.
- Indoor skydiving sessions – Give the thrill seeker in your life introductory indoor skydiving tunnel experiences.
- Mini golf passes – Gift passes for fun mini golf courses full of whimsical obstacles and challenges.
- Escape room visits – Help friends or couples cooperate their way through real-life escape room puzzles.
- Wine/beer tasting – For oenophiles or craft brew lovers, tours and tastings at wineries or breweries make great gifts.
- High tea service – Allow them to feel fancy with a traditional afternoon tea service full of gourmet goodies and fine tea.
The gift of shared experiences creates wonderful memories and often deepens relationships. Gifting event tickets can be part of mixing up meaningful gift ideas.
Should You Gift a Ticketmaster Card?
At the end of the day, whether a Ticketmaster gift card makes a good gift comes down to the recipient and your intentions as the giver. If picked with sincere thought, almost any gift can be perfect for the right person. Here are some final pros and cons to weigh:
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Ultimately, the right gift depends on your budget, how well you know someone’s tastes, and the impression you want to make. For many live entertainment lovers, the flexibility and convenience of a Ticketmaster gift card makes it a welcome gift. But for others, it may come across as impersonal and incomplete.
Conclusion
Ticketmaster gift cards offer prepaid value towards a vast array of events, making them popular and widely-available gift options. While the convenience factor appeals to many givers, the cards do come with limitations in terms of fees, restrictions, and thoughtful sentiment. Weighing the pros and cons can help determine if a Ticketmaster gift card is the right move or if a more personalized live entertainment gift better captures the spirit of gifting.
