This year's hottest gift is a ' gift card'

Roads and highways across eastern Oklahoma will be packed on Friday with folks headed out to the day after Thanksgiving sales. <br/><br/>Traditionally, the day after Thanksgiving is the busiest shopping

Wednesday, November 24th 2004, 10:12 am

By: News On 6

Roads and highways across eastern Oklahoma will be packed on Friday with folks headed out to the day after Thanksgiving sales.

Traditionally, the day after Thanksgiving is the busiest shopping day of the year, but News on 6 anchor Scott Thompson says many holiday shoppers are starting a new tradition.

Retailers still plan to do more business Friday than any day all year, but some new items are "topping" holiday shopping lists. Gift cards are the new most-popular gift this season. They beat out the holiday's traditional top-seller, clothes.

Gift-givers like gift cards because they're easy to pick out. Gift-getters like gift cards because they're worth more in buying power if you save them for after-Christmas sales. Lots of popular stores sell gift cards, Target, Wal-Mart, Kohl's, and Sears. But we found Walgreenâ€™s stores sell gift cards to Walgreenâ€™s, Blockbuster, Olive Garden and several other restaurants, all in one convenient location.

Walgreenâ€™s store manager Judy Thompson: "We got Toys R Us, Chili's, AMC Theatres, Fridays. Each year it grows a little bit more. I think this year we added about 6 new cards."

A quick word about gift cards if you forget about them, many stores will shut down your account if you don't use your card after a year or two. But several of the retailers the News on 6 talked to Wednesday said you could just give the store a quick call and they'll reactivate your account.