Another advocate of that plan here - though it works in reverse as well... For my wife's birthday this year, I wanted to get her something nice and was considering a nice set of diamond earrings, something she's wanted for a long time. However, when I really started thinking about going out and spending this kind of coin on something that she couldn't pick out before we were committed, I decided I'd much rather give her the money and let her decide what she wanted...
On the other hand, I didn't want to give her purely cash (much too Soprano-style to me), I bought her something small that was more of a personal gift, and then gave her a card and a wad of cash to go blow on anything she wanted...
Because it's cash and "untraceable," (i.e. no credit card statement that I read and say "What'd you spend $500 on at the GAP?") for her, she enjoys it a lot more... worked for me, and my birthday is coming up soon... I intend to ask for the same type of gift in return.
Your mileage may vary, good luck.
