Another Christmas has come and gone, but retailers continue to be busy dealing with the large volume of shoppers making returns and using gift cards.

According to a holiday consumer spending survey by the National Retail Federation, 81.1 percent of shoppers planned to purchase at least one gift card this Christmas, with an estimated $28.79 billion total spent on gift cards.

For many, a gift card lowers the likelihood of having to return merchandise.

“When you give a gift card, it’s so easy. You know, in general, what store the person likes, and they can take it from there,” said Jules Macabee, who was using a J.C. Penney gift card at Lakeshore Mall in Gainesville on Wednesday.

“I’ve gotten so many clothes as Christmas gifts that don’t end up fitting and little accessories I didn’t need, and I had to stand in line to return them, then go find something else I liked. Not to mention the person who gave me the gift always had to go looking for the receipt for me to actually take it back.”

So after years of returning clothes that didn’t fit and trinkets that would sit on a shelf and collect dust, Macabee said her family started a new tradition.

“Now, we all make gift card trees for Christmas. Basically any money that we would have spent on presents we use toward gift cards to hang on our little trees. It really takes out a lot of the stress in Christmas shopping,” Macabee said.

May Zoloff, who was looking to spend a gift card at Target, loves the simplicity and convenience gift cards allow.

“I can use the card whenever I want,” Zoloff said. “If I really need summer clothes, I can usually wait to spend my gift card until later in the year without the value (on the gift card) depreciating.”

According to Zoloff, gift cards can also be personal.

“This year, my sister gave me a gift card to the grocery store, which may not sound glamorous in and of itself,” Zoloff confessed. “But she attached one of our mom’s favorite coconut cake recipes that we always used to eat around the holidays to the card and told me this was my chance to try it out. It was really special and so thoughtful.”

Aside from gift card users, retailers also saw plenty of shoppers, like Todd Calvin, in stores returning gifts.

With teenagers in his home, Calvin said returning gifts is always inevitable.

“My kids think they know what they want, but they really don’t,” Calvin said. “They either aren’t sure what size they wear or decide they don’t want what they asked for anymore, so I’m usually in some store line every year returning things.”

Calvin added that his wife hates battling the crowds around the holidays, so each year he takes back any gifts that need returning.

“It’s kind of like another little Christmas gift to my wife. I know she doesn’t like the lines, so I just go ahead and get everything returned so she doesn’t have to worry about it,” Calvin said.