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I never do it, but I have been known to give gifts away!

I'm a firm believer of only giving gifts "from the heart". I also, somewhat naively, believe that everyone I know only gives me gifts from the heart. I.e. they didn't frantically turn around at the department store minutes before its closing time in sweaty panic trying to find me something just because it happens to be my birthday/anniversary/whatever, but instead perhaps had an idea one day that I might like this or that, or saw something they instinctively knew I would absolutely love in a store, and decided to get me that.

Do I only receive stuff I love? No!
Do I sometimes get caught in a sweaty panic in order to get someone something, anything, because the party starts like in an hour? Yes!

However, it's very hard to even think about recycling gifts when the overruling ideology, no matter how reality-escaping, is that all gifts came with good meaning.

I usually get 2 of the same thing at least once for my son's bday. So I usually save it for my best friend's kid. We have an understanding that passed down (in good shape) toys are great gifts. The kids could care less. Example: my son got 2 camping backpacks for his bday and when I went to return 1, they only wanted to give me $2.48 for it (that might buy you a coffee). So, I'm saving it for her son and she knows its a regift. We are both always broke, so if we do have to buy presents for each other, it's never anything big anyway.

Adults are different though. You just have to make sure you don't regift a gift they gave you! But, I don't see any problem with it at all-definately NOT tacky, but resourceful :)

I recycle gifts, but only if the gift is something that I would have bought for the recipient.

I do recycle but like Jen above, only if I would have bought it for that person anyway.

All you have to do is make a list somewhere of who gave you what so you don't regift to the same person LOL

I don't regift *bad* gifts. For last christmas I got the tackiest candy dish in the shape of a cartoon bear holding up a plate. That one goes to the goodwill. But I also got a very nice sake set which is just not quite as nice as the one I already have: that one will be passed along if the opportunity arises.

I don't see anything wrong with it, and if my presents don't suit my friends I hope that they will also pass them along to someone who might like them better.

I have a little system - when I receive a gift I don't care for or already have, I put the name of the person who gave it to me on the tag and then pop it into my Pressie Box. And when I next need a pressie, I go through my box, rewrap, put on a nice tag and Voila. And the original sender never gets their pressie back.

Yep, I'm broke....I recycle big time lol

ERg. I have bad memories. My mother does it all the time. And when I was younger, would assess my gifts and happily regift whatever she felt was not worth keeping. A couple of times I had friends go, "Where's the doohickey I gave you last..." Or without my knowledge my mother would wrap up a re-gift and the original giver would be at the party. "oh - that's the same as the one I gave you..."

I was SO mortified.

Hmmmm. Maybe that's one of the reasons I now live 10 000 miles away from home.

yup, totally fine, as long as what you said in the postscript doesn't happen :)

also, as long it truly isn't actually a horrible gift. i regift all sorts of things that are very very nice, but just don't fit into my life. anything that's actually horrible goes straight into the christmas donation bins. *someone* will love it.

Did i give you the nose hair shaver?

I mostly do it for kids' gifts, when I got them double, or got something they already had and they were unreturnable to the stores. I put a sticky note w/ the giver's name on the gift, so I won't accidentally give it back to them.

i love the suggestion to put a sticky with the giver's name on it. otherwise, even though i might appreciate the gift and the thought behind it, if it's going to gather dust, someone else might as well be getting some use from it. just saying. ;)

it's a bit of a minefield, especially since there are people out there who will scout round your house for the last gift they gave you ... But generally, I think, why not recycle?

I have a SIL who is the queen of horrible gifts. These gifts make excellent "gag" gifts for work parties, and as such, I have re-gifted most of the atrocities she has given us for this purpose. SIL has no clue, since she lives 300 miles away and has not been in my house in several years.

I have been known to re-gift a few things given by co-workers as well, usually as last minute gifts to acquaintances and neighbors who I had no intention of getting gifts, but felt obligated to after they gave me a gift. Due to the fact that I work over 20 miles away, in a different community, I feel "safe" re-gifting things from co-workers.

Gifts from my sister, MIL, and DH I would not regift, due to the fact that I know they went out of their way to find things I would like.

Hmm, I think it's in poor taste. I would either a) bring it back to the store for a credit or b) donate it to charity, if I got a gift I didn't like. Re-gifting shows a lack of thought and care, and it usually always gets back to the person. My aunt re-gifted me a gift my mother gave her, and it was over ten years ago and I've never forgotten it. So I'd say it's very bad manners and better to just write the person a check or buy them a gift card than to re-gift.

yep, i do it all the time (unless the item is totally heinous, and then i recycle in st vincent's bin). mainly because i think the world has enough stuff in it already, so why buy more and add to the problem?

also, i hate things sitting around not being used so like them to go to someone i know will use them. its a sort of universal ownership thing - in that we never really own anything, just get the use of it for a while, so why not let it go into the care of someone who will get some joy out of it . . .

HOWEVER, i am damn careful after once giving someone a gift that had a teeny weeny card in it with a very personal message for me . . . oops . . .

It does tend to backfire. I gave (not gifted, just handed on) some pyjamas my MIL had given me to a friend's 12 year old daughter. The girl was so polite she phoned to say thank-you when MIL was babysitting and took the message.

I think it's fine as long as it wasn't a very personal gift from someone. (i.e., something from a office party, candles, (unused) lotions, etc would be ok, but NOT something someone made for you (no matter how hideous you think it is) or something you know they put a lot off effort into choosing.)

I don't think I ever did it until I had kids and we ended up on the receiving end of too many useless gifts. Especially for daughter number 2 who is reusing everything very baby number 1. I don't feel too guilty because I am forever telling friends and family that we love to see them and have them celebrate with us but NO GIFTS PLEASE. I explain as nicely as possible that I would like our kids to consider time with people they love as the best gift.a waste of breathe, apparently, as people just come with a gift but a cheaper throw-away thing that makes me feel even worse about our consumerist tendencies. I have also decided that since the baby has a closet literally stuffed full of clothes, any gift of clothing that I don't love gets passed on to someone else.

Shew! I am SO relieved to hear that other people do this, although, like Nicole, I have only started doing it since I had children. They just get. so. spoilt. It would be obscene for me to keep every single last present that they recieved. I store some of the cheaper, non sentimental ones away and give them to the children at school, when they have parties. Am fairly careful not to give back to the kid that gave the gift in the first place.

As far as adult presents go, I don't usually, as I get such awsome gifts from my mom, mil, sister, sil that I wouldn't part with them for love nor money. (full cleanser, toner, day cream, night cream set, perfume, facial/pedi vouchers, clothes etc! I am one spoilt chick.)

i only do it for kids. at the trips birthday we got three sets of junior scrabble - two sets which i have successfully redistributed. oh, i won't regift if i wouldn't accept the gift into my own home or if i would be embarrassed to admit i bought the gift myself. (ie BRATZ).

adult gifts that i don't want will go to charities.

I don't as a rule, but have been known to recycle hand lotion and bath salts, as I always seem to accumulate zillions of those I can never ever use up myself. I just make sure it doesn't go to the same circle of friends. I have burnt my fingers badly once - my MIL once gave me a cheap perfume gift set. Not wanting to hurt her feelings, I said it was very nice. From then on, that was my birthday gift. Fact is, I am a bit of a perfume snob and only wear specific names - just because they are not so sweet and overwhelming as the cheap once tend to be. When I had about 4 or 5 of those gift sets sitting in the cupboard, I made a remark to my BIL's girlfriend, who said she liked the fragrance. I gave her a set or two, and that Xmas I didn't get my usual set, and my MIL started making regular reference to people who give away gifts and do not appreciate the effort. Don't know whether BIL's girlfriend said anything, or how she found out, but I felt really bad. Be warned!

Add me to the list of avid professional gift recyclers. And proud to be so! ;)

If I don't re-gift it I try to sell it at my annual garage sale - if it doesn't sell then I don't feel too bad about donating it to the local dumpster - after all, apparently I was not the only one who thought the item was useless! Not sure which is worse, but given that we have limited living space, things I don't need / want have no place in our home. I know the gift-givers may be hurt / offended, but I just don't have the storage space and I am certainly not paying for storage of stuff I dont't want!

I too put the name of teh original gift giver though, and am sure not to re-gift to someone else in the same friend or family circle.

I have only recycled kid-related gifts. We got so many darling little 0-3 mos. outfits that were grown out of before the tags were ever taken off--and I had a ton of friends who were having babies at the same time as I was. I was careful not to re-gift things I received at my baby shower (i.e. in public). I have also recycled kids' birthday gifts that we received multiples of or already had, but like the previous commenter, only if it was something I would buy for another child. We have occasionally received things that I wouldn't in a million years buy, and those things go to Goodwill.

You obviously get your sense of humour from Pops!!

I give stuff away all the time! But to be clear here, I always say that I had received the lovely gift but rarely used it and wanted someone who would really appreciate it to have it. That way if word ever gets back around, I was full of glowing praise for the princess tinkerbell coffee mug some 8 year old is enjoying more than I ever could.

There is a "game" called Secret Sisters. It's played mostly at church. Women get together and chose each others names, no one knows who has chosen whom, only one person knows and is in charge of the game. There is a box with your name on it and every Sunday your secret sister brings you a little gift and you bring one to her.(I personally hate this game and never play). Anyway- one year my mom played, she and this other lady chose each other (rarely happens). The first Sunday she brought something for her secret sister and got something too, the second Sunday she got back what she had given her own secret sister the first Sunday and from then on she got her own gifts back (obviously they had chosen each others names). So from then on until the game was over my mom bought things she knew SHE would like since she was getting them back anyway. On the reveal night (several months later) the lady who she was giving too was SO EMBARASSED... It was really funny and thats how I learned at an early age not to play the stupid game! I don't mind re-gifting, I just think you should be careful doing it!

Gifts made out of recycled things is ok but recycling gifts is rude. The best way to avoid unwanted gifts is to make a wishlist. You get what you want. =)

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