To gift or re-gift? — Kandy Shepherd

Today is Black Friday—the day after Thanksgiving when shopping venues across the United States (and now online too) turn on a shopping frenzy with heavily discounted goods. The idea has now spread to other countries who don’t even celebrate Thanksgiving. Like the UK. And now Australia. (Where our traditional shopping frenzy day is Boxing Day, the day after Christmas Day.)

Being somewhat of a shopaholic I rather welcome another bargain shopping opportunity. Working at home on writing a book that doesn’t seem to want to end in spite of a looming deadline, I’m easily distracted by the cyber shopping mall that surrounds me. I have now done all my Christmas shopping—ninety-nine percent done online.

Which brings me to the vexatious question of re-gifting/recycling to someone else the unsuitable/unwanted presents you might receive. The body lotion in a scent you know will make you sneeze. The wrong size T-shirt. The book you’ve already read. I’m sure you can think of lots of examples. There’s the second-hand gift dilemma too. Does a present have to be brand new to be worthy of being a present? Would a pre-loved item do as well?

Does it matter if they’re recycled?

 Problems can abound if you choose to re-gift. You forget to take off the tag gifting the item to you with love. Worse, you re-gift the present to the person who gave it to you in the first place. Do you tell the recipient that the gift is recycled or pretend it was all your idea?

In an era of “too much stuff” I think recycled gifts are a great idea both for the planet and for over-stretched budgets. One of my most cherished presents is a small blue vase I admired in a relative’s house. I was thrilled when she gave it to me as a gift. She’s long gone now and I always think of her when I use it and how lovely it looked in her house.

What are your thoughts? Do you have any funny stories of when re-gifting went wrong? I’d love to read your comment!