Thank You For Your (Re)Gift

Every year I hear more and more about the practice of regifting - that is, taking a gift given to you by someone else and giving it as a gift to another person and passing it off as your own. Some claim it's a thrifty way to get rid of unwanted items. Some think it's just tacky.

Let's take the example of my co-worker, who is well-known in our circle for her regifting. I can hardly remember a Christmas when she didn't give me something that she obviously got as a gift herself. One year I got some a gift basket full of things from my alma mater which were obviously not new. I knew they couldn't be something she received because she went to a different school. But then I remembered that her younger sister went to my alma mater and that said sister had recently had a big yard sale. But that's not even her biggest regifting move. When her three kids receive gifts for Christmas or their birthdays, if they don't play with them after a week, she puts them up and uses them for gifts for the birthday parties her kids are invited to later. Yes, she really does that!

I was listening to a radio commenter this week who made a great point on this whole practice of regifting. He said when you give someone a gift, it means they mean something to you. So, by regifting, you're really saying they mean nothing to you. If fact, you're saying "You mean so little to me that I'm giving you something that I didn't even like enough to keep." Makes you think, doesn't it?

As for me, I am (obviously) against regifting. When I receive something I don't like, I always give the giver a sincere thank you (since they did think enough of me to spend their money). I may give it away, but I don't pass it off as my own. Like the earrings I received last Christmas. They really weren't my style, but my teenaged niece thought they were cool, so I gave them to her. As for the other not-my-style gifts, I either shove them in a closet somewhere or donate them to a charity yard sale (if I'm absolutely sure the giver won't be shopping there).

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

Ain't Netter