Are gift cards thoughtful or thoughtless?

There are only eight more shopping days until the big morning, so do you have all your shopping done? "What's the Buzz" is all about last-minute shopping. Joining Tati Amare and Kim DeGiulio to discuss this dash to Christmas are: Kim Trent, a writer and regent at Wayne State University; AJ Williams, the City. Life. and Style. editor at the Michigan Chronicle, who also is the woman behind the website Single Black Chick; and Blaine Fowler, the host of  "The Blaine Fowler Morning Show" on 96.3 WDVD.

So first up: Do you last-minute shop, or are you done well in time for Christmas? "I'm done," said Fowler. He did go on to explain that his wife does a lot of the shopping, but he planned well this year for the gifts he had to buy. Williams says she is "done-ish," with all of the gifts picked out and sitting in her Amazon shopping cart, but she has yet to pull the trigger and actually purchase them. Trent says she is almost done, but is still deciding what to get her mom. 

Next question: What do you do if presents you ordered online don't show up on time? Do you package up a picture of the gift? Buy them something else? Williams said she never thought of gifting the picture, but now that she did, that was what she was going to do. Fowler was completely against the idea, saying you have to make sure they have an actual gift to open on the big day. Trent agreed with Fowler, saying there was no excuse because you can get anything in time if you are willing to pay for it. 

Finally: Are gift cards a good idea? Are they thoughtful or thoughtless? Williams said she is "the queen of gift cards." She loves giving and receiving gift cards, saying that if you pick out a gift card from a place that she likes, she sees it as a thoughtful gift. Fowler, however, had a different opinion, saying he would rather just get cash. Michelle Oliver joined  the group with some of our viewers comments on the subject. Here is what they had to say:

The "What's the Buzz" segment airs every Monday. If you want your voice heard then chime in when we post the topic on Sundays on our Live in the D Facebook page.