As I wrote last week, I am an advocate of regifting presents as long as it's done in the right way. And I'm not alone -- over half of Americans regift.
Well, wouldn't you know it, there's now a site that is all about regifting. Regiftable.com features regifting stories (most of them horror stories about regifting gone bad), a regifting 101 series, and thoughts on what to do if you don't want to regift. I'd like to share a few of their thoughts with you in this post. First, we'll start with a regifting story about the wrong way to regift:
I got married this year and I did the whole bachelorette party thing. At my party I was opening all of my scandalous gifts from all the girls. As I was opening one from my sister in-law I realized that she re-gifted a lingerie set that I gave her when she got married. And all the pieces of lingerie were ones she got at her bachelorette party. Isn't that tacky?
Yes, that is tacky. It certainly violates rule four of my 12 rules for regifting.
In their regifting 101 series, they suggest you ask the following questions when deciding whether or not to regift an item:
- Is the gift regiftable?
- How is the condition?
- Is this going to work?
- Do you have good intentions?
- How does it look?
- Can you handle it?
- Have you considered your options?
Basically it boils down to whether or not the gift is a nice present that the recipient will like. If so, regift it. If not, give it to someone who will like it or consider donating it to charity (where someone who wants it can buy it at a second-hand store.)
If you don't want to regift, here's what they suggest:
If you really want to give something valuable, give your time. Use your holiday spirit on activities such as gift wrapping for a charity or volunteering at a local food bank. Give your friends and family members vouchers good for five hours of yard work, a batch of cookies, two car washes, or a weekend of baby-sitting. The possibilities are endless! In fact, we've made it easy for you to become a thoughtful, yet frugal, holiday giver.
The site then allows you to make your own gift certificate for free babysitting, a nice home-cooked meal, or whatever else you'd like to give to someone. What a great idea!
We usually give at least one such item to each of our kids. It might be a trip out to their favorite restaurant, a day at the local arcade, or a special task such as painting their room a wanted color. This last one was one of the presents my daughter got last year and she absolutely loved it!
Thanks to Lifehacker for the original tip.
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