Savings Bonds as gifts

I'm thinking about giving a $100.00 bond as a wedding gift. What would be the best type to give? After five years, about how much would it be worth? Tom's response There are two types of savings bonds, Series EE and Series I. For the gift giver, the biggest difference is that Series EE bonds sell for half of face value and Series I bonds sell for full face value. What this means, for example, is that if you want to give $100, your gift can be an EE bond with a $200 face value or an I bond with a $100 face value. The rates on both types adjust every six months, so it's impossible to say for sure what they'll be worth in 5 years. But if the rates they're paying today just happened to be the average rate for the five-year period, after five years the EE bond would be worth $117.50 and the I bond would be worth $119.94. It takes about three weeks after you go to a back to buy the bond to receive the actual paper bond in the mail. It's best, but not required, that you put the recipient's social security number on the bond, rather than your own. The number is only used for tracking the bond, not for tax purposes, but if your recipents lose the bond and try to get it replaced, they will no doubt report its loss under their social security number, not yours. And if yours is on the bond, the Treasury may not be able to find a record of it.