Best Gift Cards to Buy in Canada in 2025: A Complete Buyer's Guide

Gift cards are, by a wide margin, the most requested present in Canada. Year after year, industry surveys from the Retail Council of Canada place them in the top three wanted items at Christmas, birthdays, weddings and corporate events. But not every card is a good gift. Some are locked to a single store, some carry awkward activation rules, and a handful still slip inactivity fees past shoppers who don't read the fine print.

This guide ranks the best gift cards to buy in Canada in 2025 based on four plain-English criteria: how flexible the card is, how fair its terms are under provincial consumer protection law, how secure it is against tampering, and how much the recipient will actually want it. We update this list twice a year after reviewing retailer terms and speaking with cardholders.

How we ranked the cards

Every card on this list was scored on a simple rubric:

• Flexibility — Can it be used online and in store? Are multiple brands accepted?
• Fair terms — Does it comply with or exceed Canadian consumer protection rules (no expiry on most prepaid cards, no monthly inactivity fees on single-retailer cards)?
• Security — Is the PIN covered by a tamper-evident scratch panel? Is there a balance lookup tool?
• Gift appeal — How likely is the recipient to actually enjoy spending it?

Our top picks for 2025

These are the nine cards we recommend most often to Canadian readers this year, grouped by use case. Values shown are common Canadian denominations; most retailers also sell custom amounts in $5 increments.

Card	Best for	Typical amounts	Where to buy	Expiry
Canadian Tire	Households, DIY, seasonal	$25–$500	In store, Canadiantire.ca, grocery	None
Loblaws / PC	Groceries nationwide	$25–$250	Loblaws banners, Shoppers	None
Metro / Super C (QC/ON)	Groceries in Quebec and Ontario	$25–$200	Metro, Super C, Food Basics	None
Walmart Canada	Mass retail and groceries	$10–$500	Walmart.ca, in store	None
Indigo / Chapters	Books, journals, home	$10–$200	Indigo.ca, in store	None
SAQ (Quebec)	Wine and spirits gifting	$25–$250	SAQ locations, SAQ.com	None
Cineplex	Movies and concessions	$15–$100	Cineplex.com, grocery racks	None (legal min.)
Joker (multi-brand)	Uncertain recipients	$25–$250	Grocery, pharmacy gift racks	Varies — read below
Visa / Mastercard Prepaid	Full flexibility	$25–$500	Banks, grocery, pharmacy	Up to activation; balance usually doesn't expire

Best for everyday retail: Canadian Tire and Walmart

Canadian Tire remains our top pick for a general-purpose household gift card. It's accepted at more than 500 stores nationwide, at PartSource and Mark's (with limits), and online at Canadiantire.ca. The card has no expiry date and, under Canadian Tire's terms, no dormancy fees. Recipients can stack it with Canadian Tire Money and with weekly flyer promotions, which extends the real purchasing power beyond the face value.

Walmart Canada is a very close second. It's broader than Canadian Tire in grocery and pharmacy, and the online catalogue is enormous. The one limitation worth knowing: Walmart gift cards purchased in Canada cannot be used on the U.S. Walmart website, and Walmart Canada will not load an American card onto a Canadian account. This trips up a lot of cross-border gift givers in December.

Pros and cons — general retail cards

Pros	Cons
No expiry, no dormancy fees	Locked to one retailer family
Easy to use both online and in store	Not usable across the Canada–U.S. border
Frequently discounted at grocery checkout promotions	Lost physical card requires receipt to replace

Best for groceries: Loblaws / PC Optimum banners

For a recipient in a multi-person household, a grocery card is the closest thing to sending cash without sending cash. Loblaws gift cards work across more than 15 banners including Loblaws, Real Canadian Superstore, No Frills, Provigo, Maxi, Shoppers Drug Mart and T&T. They don't expire, and unlike some U.S. grocery chains, there is no monthly service fee deducted from the balance.

In Quebec, we often recommend a Metro or Super C card instead, because many Quebec shoppers prefer Metro's points program (metro&moi) and the stores are more densely located in Montreal neighbourhoods. Compare store locations near the recipient before you choose.

Best for entertainment: Cineplex and SAQ

Cineplex gift cards are a classic Canadian present for teenagers and young adults. A $50 card typically covers two evening tickets plus a small concession combo. Cineplex also lets recipients redeem toward on-demand rentals through the Cineplex Store, which matters during periods when theatres are less busy.

In Quebec, the SAQ gift card is arguably the single most popular adult gift card sold in the province. Because the SAQ is a Crown corporation, the terms are stable and transparent — no expiry, no fees, and any unused balance can always be checked in store or on saq.com.

Best for uncertain recipients: multi-brand gift cards

Multi-brand gift cards are the fastest-growing segment of the Canadian gift card market. Products like the Joker gift card — sold across grocery and pharmacy chains — let the recipient choose from a list of participating brands when they redeem, rather than being locked to a single retailer.

These cards work well when you don't know the recipient's tastes: a colleague leaving the company, a distant relative, or a teacher's end-of-year gift. The trade-off is that the participating brand list changes over time, and some multi-brand cards carry activation or expiry rules that stricter single-retailer cards do not. Always read the back of the packaging and keep the receipt.

For a detailed walkthrough we've written a separate review: Joker Gift Card Review and Activation Guide.

Best for total flexibility: Visa and Mastercard prepaid cards

A prepaid Visa or Mastercard behaves like a regular debit card until the balance is spent. Since 2014, federal rules prohibit these non-reloadable prepaid payment products from charging maintenance fees in the first 12 months after activation, and most Canadian issuers now waive them indefinitely. The purchase fee (usually $3.95 to $6.95) is the main cost to know about.

Two things Canadians often miss with prepaid cards:

1. They can fail at pay-at-the-pump terminals when the pre-authorization exceeds the card balance. Pay inside instead.
2. Some hotels and car-rental companies refuse prepaid cards for deposits. Prepaid is for spending, not for holds.

What we'd avoid this year

A few cards we no longer recommend without caveats:

• Restaurant-specific cards for chains under creditor protection. If a brand is restructuring, a gift card can become an unsecured claim. Check the news before you buy.
• Cards sold at a discount by third-party resellers that aren't officially authorized. The Retail Council of Canada has warned about cloned cards repackaged and resold online.
• Generic "universal" cards sold door-to-door or via social media ads. Legitimate multi-brand cards are distributed through established retailers.

Frequently asked questions

Do gift cards expire in Canada?

Single-retailer gift cards generally cannot expire in Canada under provincial consumer protection rules (for example Ontario's Consumer Protection Act and Quebec's Consumer Protection Act). Multi-store and promotional cards may have expiry dates — always check the back of the card.

Can I get cash back for an unused balance?

In Quebec, merchants must reimburse a remaining balance of less than $5 in cash upon request. Other provinces have their own rules; some chains offer cash refunds voluntarily. Always ask politely at customer service.

Are gift cards taxed?

The purchase of a gift card itself is not taxable in Canada; sales tax is charged at redemption when the recipient buys something. Employers giving gift cards to staff should note that most non-cash gifts are still a taxable benefit under CRA rules — see our dedicated article on gift card rules and pitfalls.

The bottom line

If you want the safest, most useful gift card to give a Canadian adult in 2025, a Canadian Tire, Loblaws, Walmart or SAQ card remains the strongest choice. If the recipient's tastes are a mystery, a reputable multi-brand card like Joker or a prepaid Visa/Mastercard gives them room to choose — just read the terms and keep the receipt. And as always, buy directly from a trusted retailer, never from a stranger online.