Free Gift Certificate Templates

A gift certificate is a present that lets someone choose their own — an amount to spend, a service to book, or something you’ll do for them. The free templates below are editable MS Word designs for birthdays, Christmas, weddings and everything in between, and beneath them you’ll find wording for each occasion, how to present one so it feels like a gift rather than a printout, and what to include if you’re issuing them from a business.

When People Use Them

• Birthdays — the most common use, and the one where a handwritten certificate beats a shop-bought card by a distance.
• Christmas — see the section below; the seasonal designs are further down the page.
• Weddings and anniversaries — an experience, a meal out, or a contribution toward something the couple has asked for.
• Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, where a certificate for something you’ll do is usually worth more than something bought.
• Teachers and coaches, at the end of a term or a season.
• Thank-yous — for a favour, for help during a difficult stretch, for looking after the cat.
• Small businesses issuing them to customers as a gift purchase or a goodwill gesture.
• Last-minute gifts, which is a perfectly honourable use. A well-presented certificate printed the night before beats a rushed purchase of something nobody wanted.

What Goes on a Gift Certificate

• “Gift Certificate”, so there’s no ambiguity about what it is.
• Who it’s for — a “To” line, handwritten.
• Who it’s from.
• What it’s worth — an amount, or a description of what it entitles them to: “dinner for two at the Harbour Rooms”, “one afternoon of gardening”, “a 60-minute treatment”.
• Any details they need — where to use it, how to book, who to contact.
• The date it was given.
• An expiry date, if there is one. For a personal gift, consider leaving it off entirely.
• A signature, by hand.

For certificates issued by a business, add the business name and contact details, a unique certificate number, and short terms. Our gift voucher templates cover that side in full — numbering, tracking, the accounting treatment, and the rules on expiry dates, which are regulated in more places than most people realise.

Gift Certificate Example

Three things make this work as a gift rather than a form. The entitlement is specific — cooked and cleared up is the detail that makes it funny and genuinely valuable. The conditions are stated lightly, so nobody has to negotiate later. And “never expires” removes the quiet pressure that makes people leave certificates unredeemed.

Free Gift Certificate Templates in MS Word

Each template below is editable in Word. Fill in the details, print on card, and write the name by hand.

 

What to Write

For an amount
This certificate entitles [name] to £[amount] to spend at [business].
The bearer of this certificate is entitled to £[amount] toward [product or service].
Worth £[amount], with love from [name].

For an experience or service
This certificate entitles you to one [treatment / meal / lesson] at [place].
Good for one [experience], to be taken whenever suits you.
Redeemable for [specific thing], with a week’s notice.

For something you’ll do yourself
This certificate entitles you to one Sunday lunch, cooked and cleared up.
Good for one afternoon of help with anything — no questions asked.
Redeemable for one lie-in, one breakfast in bed, and no negotiation.
This entitles the holder to one day out, entirely of your choosing.

Warmer closings
Because you’ve had a difficult year, and you deserve an afternoon off.
With thanks for everything you did in June — this is the least I can do.
No expiry. Use it whenever you need it.

Two things worth doing whatever the occasion. Be specific — “a nice day out” is a vague promise, while “a day at the coast, lunch included, I’ll drive” is a plan. And say when it expires, or say that it doesn’t. Leaving it unstated is what causes people to feel they’ve missed their moment and quietly never use it.

Christmas Gift Certificates

The busiest season for these, and for two quite different reasons.

As a present. A certificate works particularly well for the person who genuinely doesn’t want more things — an experience, a meal, a promise of your time. It also solves the late December problem honestly: something printed and handwritten on the twenty-third is a better gift than a panicked purchase on the twenty-fourth.

As a business offering. December is when most small businesses sell the bulk of their gift certificates, and the practical points matter more than the design:

• Have them ready by late November. Customers start asking in the first week of December, and a business that can’t sell one loses the sale entirely.
• Number every certificate and keep a log — number, value, date sold, date redeemed. It’s what lets you honour a lost one and tells you your outstanding liability in January.
• Set a generous expiry, or none. Expiry periods are regulated in many places, and short ones may be unenforceable. A year is usually the shortest sensible option.
• Remember the January effect. Certificates sold in December are redeemed in the new year, when they’re work you’ve already been paid for. Plan the cash flow rather than treating December sales as December profit.
• Print on good card and add an envelope. People are buying a gift, not a receipt.

The full operational detail — logs, liability, terms and expiry law — is on our gift voucher page.

Here are more free Gift Certificate Templates in MS Word format.

 

Handmade and Personal Certificates

The version worth the most and costing the least: a certificate for something you’ll do rather than something you’ll buy.

They work because they’re specific and because they commit you. Ideas that get redeemed:

• For a partner: one lie-in · dinner cooked, your choice · an evening where I handle everything · one film of your choosing with no complaints
• For a parent, from a child: one car wash · washing-up for a week · an afternoon of help in the garden · breakfast in bed
• For a grandparent: an afternoon out, my treat · help with anything on the computer, twice · a phone call every Sunday for a month
• For a friend: one lift to the airport at any hour · one hour of furniture moving · one difficult conversation, properly listened to
• For a new parent: three hours of babysitting, at a time of your choosing · one home-cooked meal delivered · one load of washing done

Three things make them land. Write them by hand, or print the template and fill it in by hand — the whole value is that it’s personal. Don’t put an expiry on them, because the point is that they’re redeemable when needed, which is often months later. And make a small book of them rather than one: six or eight stapled together, with one blank that says “one of anything, within reason” — that’s invariably the first to be used.

If You’re a Business

A few things beyond the design that decide whether gift certificates help or create problems:

• Number them and keep a log. Without it you can’t spot a duplicate, verify a lost certificate, or tell your accountant what’s outstanding.
• Print terms on the certificate itself — where it’s valid, whether change is given, whether it can be combined with offers.
• Decide the part-redemption rule before you sell one. A £50 certificate spent on a £38 service: change, balance carried, or lapsed? This is the question your counter staff will be asked.
• Treat the money as a liability, not income. You’ve been paid for work you haven’t done; it becomes revenue when the certificate is redeemed.
• Check your local rules on expiry. Many jurisdictions set minimum validity periods, and some prohibit expiry on gift certificates altogether.
• Brief your staff before the certificates go on sale, so two customers don’t get two different answers.

Printing and Presentation

• Print on card, 250 gsm or heavier. This is a gift — flimsy paper undoes the gesture.
• Matt rather than gloss, which handles better and photographs better.
• Print at 100%, never “fit to page”, so the borders sit where the design intends.
• Write the name by hand, even on a printed certificate. It takes ten seconds and changes how the thing reads.
• Put it in an envelope, or tie it with ribbon. A certificate handed over loose looks like a receipt; the same certificate in an envelope looks like a present.
• Pair it with something small where you can — the certificate for a meal out tucked inside a bottle of wine, the gardening certificate with a packet of seeds. It gives the recipient something to open.
• Print two if it’s going in the post, and keep one. Certificates get lost, and a spare means you can reissue without a conversation.

Related templates: gift vouchers for the business side, discount vouchers for promotional offers, birthday cards, and thank you cards for the note that goes with it.

Frequently Asked Questions

What should a gift certificate include?

The words “gift certificate”, who it’s for and who it’s from, what it entitles them to, any details they need to redeem it, the date it was given, an expiry date or a note that there isn’t one, and a handwritten signature.

What is the difference between a gift certificate and a gift voucher?

In practice they’re the same thing, with “certificate” more common in the US and “voucher” in the UK. On this site, this page covers the gift itself — occasions, wording and presentation — while the gift voucher page covers issuing them as a business.

What do you write on a gift certificate?

Be specific about what it entitles the person to. “A nice day out” is vague; “a day at the coast, lunch included, I’ll drive” is a plan. State any conditions lightly, and either give an expiry date or say plainly that there isn’t one.

Should a gift certificate have an expiry date?

For a personal gift, usually not — the point is that it can be used when it’s needed. For a business, check your local rules: minimum validity periods are regulated in many places, and short expiry terms may be unenforceable. A year is generally the shortest sensible option.

What are good handmade gift certificate ideas?

Specific things you’ll actually do: one Sunday lunch cooked and cleared up, an afternoon of help in the garden, three hours of babysitting, one lift to the airport at any hour. Make a small book of six or eight, and include one blank reading “one of anything, within reason”.

What paper should I print a gift certificate on?

250 gsm card or heavier, matt rather than gloss, printed at 100% scale. Write the name by hand and put it in an envelope — a certificate handed over loose reads as a receipt.

When should a business start selling Christmas gift certificates?

Have them ready by late November. Customers begin asking in the first days of December, and a business without them to sell loses the sale entirely. Remember that December sales are redeemed in January, so plan the cash flow accordingly.