Re-gifting!

I couldn't possibly bring myself to pass something on. Nowadays we often give and receive vouchers but I would never spend one on a present for someone else. Not because I was brought up that way, it just doesn't seem right.

I think it’s such a practical thing to do I wouldn’t regift something from a close loved one ( somehow I d feel I was giving their love away) but if I m given a gift from a friend or acquaintance that is ‘ not me’ why just leave it fungating when someone else could enjoy it
No I wouldn’t spend a voucher on someone else that wouldn’t be the same, but the regifting of unwanted goods is just plain practical

The strangest present i got was from a friend once christmas - 2 pairs of second hand shoes - both a size too big. At the time we were single mums and money was tight, and we both used to find the odd “bargain” in a charity shop - but I dont think I could have ever given someone second hand shoes for a present. I never said anything and our friendship thrived - but it still makes me smile when I think of it.

I dont know if it counts but I gave my friend aChristmas present and a box of chocolates because we had so much chocolate in the house.

Instead of re-gifting why not donate to your favourite Charity shop. Volunteering in one I see a lot of 'unwanted' Christmas & Birthday presents donated to our 'good cause'! If they are sold on then that is money in our till at the end of the day & everyone, hopefully, happy!

Last Christmas DD3 received a gift card from my sister. On the back was "happy Christmas R (my nephew) love from...)! We still laugh about it. DD3 said it was a useful gift anyway!

My friend received some toiletries from her best friend. A few weeks later she was at friends house and asked to fetch something from a cupboard where she saw a box of same toiletries with some items missing obviously friend thought regifting the whole box was more than she was worth!! The friendship faded shortly after.

We had to pass on a Christmas gift our 3 sons got between them as Oldest BiL came in on Christmas Eve saying hey boys Santa’s here promptly sat down and pushed a frozen turkey across the floor to them?......had to give it away as A, it was too late to defrost and use next day,B,we already had our turkey defrosted for Christmas Day and C,we didn’t have room in the freezer ?

I have given away gifts (e.g. chocs to a slim and very active friend, or items to a charity shop) but I would never actually re-gift. (This happened to my sister when we were children; she knew, and was upset. This has stayed with me.)

We often have raffles at our local club so that’s where any unwanted gifts usually go, usually appreciated or sometimes recycled into another raffle if the winner doesn't want it. It’s quite amusing sometimes but I never buy cakes from stalls as i once knew a lady who said if something didn't sell she put it back in the freezer, the same cake came out several times!

I seems to me that unwanted gifts should be recycled rather than sitting in a 'gift' drawer to go out of date or degrade. All items will eventually degrade and perfumes/bath products especially all contain chemicals which can become dangerous if left for long periods. The key is surely to be sensible in the recycling process - try to match gifts to the recipient and if there's no suitable recipient be charitable and pass them on to a charity shop where somebody will buy them and you know that some good cause will be supported. My mum at 91 and with advanced dementia and who eats very little, receives countless boxes of biscuits and chocolates at Christmas from friends and relatives who fail to use their imagination - a pleasant room spray or indoor plant for instance would be a much more suitable gift - my mum can't eat these but I would never dream of 're-gifting' them a year later so I immediately distribute them among the various carers who come into the home to help me. That way they are well-received and make a contribution to their households as they are still fresh. What I myself can't abide is when someone buys perishable items in a sale, short-dated and then keeps them to pass on for gifts. This happens to me every year when a certain family friend gives me a type of chocolate she knows I like but it's always stale - grey in colour when I take the wrapping off and either out of date, or very close to it. It goes in the bin of course.

Years ago when I arrived at a friend's with gifts there was a lot of dashing out of the room with her sister and after a little while I was presented with a gift - a small crystal clock. (Friend worked in a school and these were the sorts of gifts which were given by pupils to their housemistress!) I guessed this was a 'second hand' gift. But... the funny part of the story is that when I got it home and looked at it again the clock face has been put in upside down, so she had obviously not noticed!!!!!!

Passing things on is fine, but 're-gifting' shows meanness of spirit, in my view. If I get something 're-gifted', I take it straight to the charity shop.

I may have been given something re-gifted, but nothing that I've noticed.
I would never re-gift anything to anyone else, I'd rather take it to a charity shop and let them make something out of it!
Many years ago, at work, we were given a bag of Brazil nuts by a 'not terribly clean' old lady who made a big fuss of presenting them to us, finishing by saying, "I don't eat nuts, so I've sucked the chocolate off"! Eugh!

Nannie123 - that must be the prize - 2 pairs of 2nd hand shoes that are too big!

My MIL was great at regifting. The trouble was that she often forgot who had given her the original. I often received a present that I had given her the previous Christmas. She also gave my DD a make up set. One of the eye shadows had been used !

I was caught out one year when someone gave me a present that I didn't expect. So from then on I always kept a small box of chocolates in, just in case! Our elderly neighbour, who complained bitterly about everything we did, came round one day with a present, straight away I got the chocolates I had bought and took them to her, feeling a bit smug I suppose. I opened the present on Christmas day, a box of Roses chocs, identical to the ones I gave, the only difference, these were stale, must have been from a year or two before, and the ones I gave were just bought. The annoying thing is, she probably thought I had given her the ones she had given me...and these same chocs would probably been given away some time in the future.

Does it really matter!

Nope. I suppose it shows how spoilt we are: giving away gifts to people who are so unimpressed that they give them back. Shame, really.

No not re gifted but anything I get that is not ‘me’ ends up in a raffle!

My SIL is extremely tight-fisted and gave my daughter a Sanctuary gift set one Christmas. Not only was it age inappropriate (D was about 11) but she left the gift tag on which read "to love from *" Daughter has never forgiven her!

If I ever found myself being sniffy about or mocking a gift someone was kind enough to give me, however they’d come by it, I’d give myself a shake. This to me, not re-gifting, proves “meanness of spirit”. Secondhand shoes, sucked sweets and out of date toiletries excepted... By the same token, if I give someone a present they don’t care for, it’s entirely up to them what they do with it. What does it matter?

My dil seemed very disappointed with her Christmas gift from my sister so i offered to swop gifts with her even though I actually liked mine. Later she told me she was giving 'my' gift to the child minder!

I have a raffle drawer and anything that I cannot use or that is not my taste goes in there. My daughter lives in a different town over 80 miles away and she swaps her unwanted gifts with me so that the recipient doesn't get them back! I don't think its mean, far better to recycle them than waste them!

I don’t think it’s mean spirited at all I was given some lovely toiletries that I didn’t need as I had shelf full of pots and tubes I knew that my friend would love them so why would I not give them to her instead of them being unloved on my shelf Does that make me mean spirited If I did it all the time and never spend ANY money on anyone maybe but odd things that would be better with someone other than with me it’s just sensible in my opinion