T’is the season of giving and receiving gifts. So in the interest of frugality – both in terms of money and sustainability – I have researched the ‘etiquette’ on re-gifting. While the practice of re-gifting has some practical applications, there are some generally accepted social guidelines.
My Top Five guides to this socially delicate practice:
- Sentimental, Handmade or Gifts With Lots of Love and/or Thought: these are essentially off limits to the practice of re-gifting. It is important to consider the feelings of the one who initially gave you the gift and how important that person is to you.
- If you didn’t like the gift, consider the probability that the new recipient won’t either. Some gifts are so questionable that they, as a kindness, should end their circulation with you. However, for those with patience, given enough time the item’s use and practicability might reveal itself.
- Gifts with a Best Before Date. Ensure that the recipient has time to enjoy the gift. Spam, as an example, has an especially long shelf life and can be re-gifted well into the next decade and millennium.
- Re-gifting is a way to save on costs, BUT the gift needs to fit the recipient. Just clearing it out of your space is only a gift to you. Years ago I received a set of trays as a housewarming gift that came with the gift card from the first ‘gifting’ still inside. Those trays were the BEST ever. How did she know?
- Expanding on item four, make sure you know who originally gave you the gift so you don’t accidentally re-gift it to the original gifter. That could be uhm … #awkward. Unless it’s a boomerang which is then perfect!
Thank goodness we all like different things. One person’s junk is certainly another’s treasure and so regifting may be a perfect way for the gift to find its forever recipient. May this season of gifting bring you all the joy and simple pleasures – while both giving and receiving!
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