If the code is still unredeemed
You can simply pass it on — that is the whole mechanism. What matters is where you pass it.
Reasonable places: a direct email to them, a printed card, a message app you both use that is not a group.
Unreasonable places: a group chat, a shared family album, a note stuck to a fridge, a social post. Every one of those has cost someone a balance.
If the code is going into a message, send the code and the PIN separately. It is a small friction and it means one leaked screenshot is not enough.
If you already redeemed it
Then you cannot pass it on. The balance is on your account and it is staying there. The realistic options:
- Buy the thing they wanted and give them that.
- Give the equivalent another way.
- Ask the brand, once, whether they will move it. Occasionally they will as a goodwill gesture. Do not plan around it.
This is the main argument for not redeeming a code you might be giving away.
Making it feel like a present
A code in a plain email reads as an afterthought, which is unfair when it is often the most useful present in the pile. Cheap improvements:
- Print it and put it in an actual card. Fold the code inside so it is not visible through the envelope.
- Send it on the day, not three weeks early.
- Say what it is for. "For the game you keep talking about" turns a credential into a gift.
More on this in birthday gift cards that feel considered.
Getting it sent to them directly
Often the simplest option, especially at distance. Two things to get right:
- Tell them it is coming and who it is from. An unexpected email containing a gift code is exactly what a scam looks like, and cautious people delete it.
- Check their region. A code that does not work where they live is worse than no present, because they then have to tell you.
If you want a code sent straight to someone else, say so when you make the request — it is a normal thing to ask and it is easier to arrange before the code is issued.
What not to do
- Do not post a code publicly "for whoever gets there first" unless you genuinely mean it as a giveaway.
- Do not send a code to someone who has not agreed to receive it, if it is meant to be a surprise gift with a deadline.
- Do not keep the only copy in a chat that auto-deletes.