I actually like vgifts - receiving balloons or a cake on my birthday is very sweet and a nice way of knowing that someone is thinking of me - but it bothers me when some of the more generic ones aren't free. I think maybe there should be one or two "free" vgifts - like the price is one unused invite code or something like that. And these should be very simple, direct things - a simply-designed image of a gift for a happy birthday, or perhaps a single balloon. I would like to share the love with my friends, but I honestly can't always just charge vgifts to my credit card.

Still, in general, I do like vgifts, and unlike a commenter above, I don't see them as a "shameless moneygrubbing scheme" - I see them as a way of letting someone know in a small way that you're thinking of them, and I think gestures like that are important to community-building.