According to a newly released Brand Keys survey, the most popular gift choice for Father’s Day is the gift card.

This year, it seems, renewed optimism about the economy has put consumers in a generous mode, and they are willing to spend more on gift cards and electronics for Father’s Day compared to the recent past.

Brand Keys President Robert Passikoff commented on Father’s Day related consumer behavior:

“While it’s typical that not quite as much money is spent on fathers as it is on mothers, this year’s average anticipated spend is going to be up 5%.  This year’s survey indicates about the same number of consumers (70%) will be celebrating the holiday, and those that are will be spending an average of $115.00 to recognize Dad.”

The results of the survey, which compiled the answers from 5,000 consumers, indicated that most planned on buying the ever versatile gift cards for Father’s Day (30% of those surveyed), followed by clothing (26%), electronics (20%), tools/automative goods (17%), wine/alcohol (17%) and DVDs (2%).

And while the most popular stores for buying Father’s Day gifts are still discount stores (35%), the percentage of those who stated they wanted to shop for items as discount stores has gone down 4%.  Others surveyed stated they planned on buying gifts at department stores (30%, up 10%), online (15%, about the same percentage as last year), specialty outlets (15%, down 5%) and through a catalog (2%, down 6%).

Though Father’s Day is still not quite a retail frenzy like Mother’s Day is, this year consumers seem more willing to spend a bit of cash on their dads — getting them out and about in stores to redeem gift cards.

Photo: MSNBC