My Experience with Re-Gifting

by Marily | More from this Blogger

26 Dec 2006 11:23 PM

Now that the holidays are drawing to a close, you may be tempted to do a little re-gifting. You know, taking a gift that you don't so much care for and rewrapping it to give it to someone else. What is your opinion about regifting? Is it a viable way to save money? If you want my opinion, read on....

Let me take you back to my first experience with regifting when I was about ten years old. For my birthday my grandmother had given me a magnetic board for which to post notes or something. It had a basket attached to the bottom for keeping pens and a loop at the top to hang it on a wall. First, I was kind of disappointed, and thought that it was a rather lame gift to give to a ten-year-old. But, eventually, I decided that I would use it. So I tore off the cardboard piece wrapped around it and out fell a greeting card...to my grandparents...from someone else. Being young and sensitive, this brought me to tears. I was so disappointed that my grandparents thought so little of me that they would give me something they might have otherwise thrown away. Of course now I know my grandmother better than that. I know that she is just very frugal. Part of it is her personality and part of it is the time that she grew up in.

Later in my life I have had a few other experiences with regifting. Mainly, this was when my husband and I got married. We received a few gifts that I am certain were not bought from the couple whose name was listed on the tag. The reason I can be sure is that the gift usually fit these characteristics:

* It was given by a newly-married couple who must have received it when they were wed.

* It didn't really look like a gift that a young couple would choose for another young couple. Instead, it was some type of awkward crystal platter, a wooden serving bowl, a deviled egg serving dish, or something to that effect.

* Sometimes there were a couple of gifts grouped together that had no other connection to each other except that they had been sitting next to each other in some newlyweds' home, taking up space for months and months. For instance, a wooden cutting board (specifically for cutting bread) and a glass vase. Who would buy those two things together on purpose?

* And yes, it did happen once again....We received a set of interesting crystal candlesticks that had a card inside...written to the couple that had given the gift to us. Hmmmm. Kind of tacky I think.

Do you have any experiences with re-gifting that you want to share?

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