Re-gifting!

Oh dear some of these have made me laugh!

As my husband gets good boots discount I am never short of good perfumes and toiletries
An ex v old friend gave me an obvious unwanted raffle prize full of cheap Avon stuff and a grubby me to you bear on it! So obviously second hand!

Thing is she had given me main present this was an extra! So why insult me?

I received v pretty compact mirror 2 years running from elderly neibor bless her for my birthday I had already got beautiful one from my dh and an engraved one from friend on my 60th so I did retort that still in box.

Received a beautiful glass jug and matching set of drinking glasses as an engagement present from the in laws. PIL obviously forgot I had bought them a year or so previously for them ?

I'm all for re-gifting unless recipient (daughter in law) who had been given it then give it to her mother within the day and then the mother knowingly shows it to you the next day as my daughter in laws mother did to me this christmas, this was an expensive clinique body and hand product box I chose contents especially as didn't think there was anything objectionable about any of it, Daughter in-law very fussy, but action not excusable, she could have given it away at later date , yes still angry, won't bother again.

I never re-gift presents. When I receive something that is not to my taste, I either give it away to a charity shop, or ask a friend or family member if they would like it, making it plain that someone gave me it, and that I don't need or want it. That way I hope to avoid the embarrassing situation of giving someone back their gift to me.

My conscience is pricking Gransnetters. I do recycle gifts, but only the type I'd like to receive myself ( saves spending out). If I think the item is in dubious taste I take it to a charity shop. I have a silly habit of buying things in sales and keeping them to give to others in case I can't get to the shops. Some have been there for years so I'm going to be ruthless and take them to the charity shop where they may do some good. I suspect those of us brought up immediately post war in the "make do and mend" era have difficulty with gifting.

The only example I can think of off the top of my head is flowers....my better half used to work in an office and one of the women he worked with had a row with her boyfriend (maybe ex-boyfriend, lol) who had then sent her a huge bouquet of flowers. She was apparently fuming with him and was going to throw them in the bin. My better half said not to bin them as I would like them so she told him to take them. They all thought he'd lie and say he bought them - not so, he told me the backstory and I loved them - it was a beautiful bouquet and probably a £50+ one at that, and they lasted ages

I have no idea if I've ever been re-gifted anything, but I would always consider myself very lucky that anyone has wished to give me anything in the first place. Occasionally I might be a little surprised by a gift but I would never be ungrateful.

I'm allergic to all "smellies", so always re-gift them! Try to remember who gave me what and avoid returning them to the donor.
My mother was dreadful! She2d open a present, say "What do I want with that?", turn to whoever was next to her - in the presence of the donor - and say "Would you like this?" I used to find it horribly hurtful...

When I get presents that aren't to my liking I put them in a raffle at a club I go to. The profits go to charity so every-body wins. Other people do the same and one time I won a very nice box of chocolates but when I opened it one of the chocolates was missing!

I've just had a light bulb moment. I've worked out that the size 18 slips DMIL used to give me when I was a size 8/10 were probably re-gifted - I hadn't twigged, just wondered why. I used to re-gift them to DH's size 18 auntie, so hope they didn't originate from her!

A couple of Christmasses ago, an old friend's present to me was a book of crossword puzzles, most of them filled in, and a book which had been a free gift with a newspaper, with a large coffee cup stain on the front. I think that was regifting taken to extremes!

??

Slightly off topic but I bought a brand new baby outfit in a charity shop. It still had the M&S labels on. I gave it to my daughter for her baby. A few weeks later she told me she'd taken it back to M&S for a refund and hoped I wasn't offended. I hadn't the nerve to ask her what they said!

If we receive any gifts we won't use we donate to Scout group draw. They are always pleased with items. When I was teaching at Christmas I would often be given twenty little gifts of chocolates or flowers. Far too much for us to eat so would save to donate to draw.

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

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!

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!

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 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!

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

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.

Does it really matter!

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.

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 !