It got me thinking. Is re-gifting ever acceptable?
Someone I know received a wedding gift from an invited guest. When the presents were being opened the day after the festivities, she found from this particular friend, an item she would never buy for herself, and that's not in the good way. Not only was the gift obviously not to her taste, but she also found the original card, to the original recipient (her invited guest) in the box!
So is that worse than what I did to my husband this Father's Day? Or is it merely an efficient form of recycling?
There is one that's worse than that. A couple of years ago, we had a Mother's Day stall at my kid's daycare centre. Each family was asked to donate one $5 female friendly present for each child that attended the centre. I went to the supermarket and bought some hand cream and some bath salts, wrapped them up and dropped them off. It soon got around that not everyone had bought something new. One family decided that their donation to the Mother's Day stall would be a lipstick. The only problem was that it had already been used... significantly used.
The re-gifting I did this weekend for Father's Day was done with full disclosure. My husband knew he already owned the pen. He was warned the night before that I hadn't had a chance to pick up a gift for each of our children, and he had two real presents to open. The pen was just something to wrap so the youngest child wouldn't feel that she hadn't contributed her own gift. But what if it's not for the sake of your kid? What if you're giving away something that YOU don't want, to someone else, for their special occasion.
Most of us would agree that we don't want to open a gift from our kids that carries bacteria from some semi-random stranger. But is there ever a time when re-gifting is acceptable?
Kim x
Kim, Congrats on this great idea, I love it already. Watch out Mia Freedman!
ReplyDeleteI encourage Re gifting and Recycling if thought out and genuine, not just a avenue to get rid of rubbish. However like they say someones trash is someone elses treasure.
I would never re gift item I receive and don't like. But would pass it on to school fete or Charity.
Although my worst experience was when a cousin of mine with kids same age as my son sent him via Post a Toy aged +3 when he was 9! That wasn't the problem the postage was $50 to send a $20 present - Winner Australia Post. Sadly we re-gifted that to School Fair but what a waste of money for a girl who I know couldn't afford that. A $20 voucher would have been cheaper and more effective. So there are times when re-gifting is acceptable if you already have that item. Better to recycle than waste and re gift why not?
I remember that story about the $50 postage. Ridiculous! I like the way you do it. Full disclosure. You don't pretend you bought it specifically for that person. That's the way to go!
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