If you carry around gift cards from relatives, you may discover, like I did, that the longer you carry them around the more the fees reduce the balance, until when you finally use it you've only got like $4.26 left to spend. Likewise, gift Mastercards are a problem because if you lose them they spend just like cash.
My new solution is a Paypal debit card, which is PIN protected. Your parent can set it up for you tied to an existing account, then transfer money to your card immediately whenever you need it. Of course, this means that they can monitor how you spend it, but you probably are going to use it for gas and food anyway, right?
More info here
