What do you give the wife that has it, er, buys it all?

I've been thinking about an interesting gift concept for a few years and I think I might just bite the bullet this year with Christmas less than a week away, combined with my annual last-minute panic starting to ensue.

The weather folks say it won't be a white Christmas, but it might just be a Gift Card Christmas in my house.

Practically every chain restaurant and many local restaurants are adding value to gift cards or including an additional gift card on purchases through the Holiday Season. I think I can possibly trick my wife into getting a rather expensive gift from me this year in the guise of generosity.

Why not go ahead and purchase a slew of our lunches or dinners now and save $100, $300, $500?

As much as saving money on a good deal is a personal favorite of mine, as an additional bonus, I'm just as big a fan of sunk costs. I love getting something for what seems like "free" when I don't have to pay for it at the time of redemption because I paid for it months ago.

So here's the plan:

Lunch at Potbelly? Every chance I get. Why not buy their $25 gift card and get a free sandwich?

We love Ruby Tuesday for a nice family meal on the way to see the in-laws. There's $15 in additional value for every $50.

Maggiano's for a nice dinner? For us that's at least three or four times a year  - $20 savings per $100 purchased. Check.

Anniversary dinner at Morton's? $50 free with a $300 purchase.

And on and on.

Yep, it's going to cost some money on the front end. What's my budget for a normal Christmas? That should help to rationalize a portion of it. I think I can rationalize a bit more on the sunk cost factor. Can I reiterate again how much I LOVE sunk costs?!? And I pride myself in being as rational a person as anyone. I just can't get past the rationality of saving $5, $15, $20, $50 on every meal we eat. I'm sold.

Uh oh. One problem. My wife is a smart lady. And she's knows how I tick. And she reads Patch.

She's going to figure this out. Keeping my wife happy is more important than saving a few dollars any day of the week, especially Christmas Day. I guess maybe I should just get a couple of these as stocking stuffers.

Shoot, Christmas is this week and I'm back to being in the same boat as always. Anyone have any ideas? Hee hee.

PS: Be sure to check the small print on these deals. Many of these additional value deals have terms such as an early expiration on the additional value or not being able to mix the additional value with the original value.

Happy Holidays, everyone!