There are a couple uncommon gift cards that come to mind. Gradsave offers a college savings gift card. You load money on the card and give it to a child's parent or guardian. Then the money can only be deposited into a 529 plan. That way you don't have to worry about how the money will be used.
Another one off the beaten path is a charity gift card. JustGive.org has the GiveNow card and Charity Navigator & Network for Good offer the Good Card. For these the giver chooses the amount and the receiver chooses the charity to donate that amount to.