Now that the holidays are over, I wonder how many people got a gift they are planning to re-gift, are you planning to?

Many years ago I was invited to a White Elephant party where you bring a "gift" that you received and do not want or need. This gift is wrapped without any tag identifying you on it.   You place it anonymously in a pile of gifts. You get a number that places it in an order to open a wrapped gift or steal one that is already open.   No gift can be stolen more than two times. In a large group this can be fun especially if people are stealing.    Or it can go wrong. I brought a lovely candle that had been gifted to me before and I never even opened it.   I had a lot of candles.    My friend that opened it looked at the candle and then at me then the candle then me and then said "hmmm."  I just realized I was guilty of regifting a candle she had given me. I was mortified.  I realized if you are going to regift, make sure that the person that gave it to you is no where around.   (Or just don't regift a friend's candle.)

The following has also happened in my life:

-        The friend who gave me a gift of something I liked – let's say a candle before I had a 25 of them – and proudly told me she was regifting it to me as she thought it was something I would like and she didn't need to pay for anything.  (Ok, cool but maybe not tell me it's a regift??)

-        The boyfriend in high school upon receiving my carefully thought-out card and gift frantically ran over to a friend, pulled out whatever money he had and begged for some of the small candies he was holding which he then brought to me.    (I wasn't impressed but looking back at least he tried?)

-        A person regifted something that I gave them back to me and *I think* had no idea.   (I thanked them and kept the item to give them back at a future date…or that was what I was thinking about doing).

-        The friend that gave me a beautiful vase with flowers in it.  (She couldn't handle who gave them to her but thought I would like them….or at least I was conveniently around when she was ready to hand them off)

-        The time I was at a White Elephant and I opened a calendar – the calendar the local real estate agent leaves for everyone everywhere for free with his photo at the bottom right corner of every page.  (There are certain items that should never be regifted especially if they were not a gift in the first place).

-        My friend and her husband received a beautiful set of robes with matching pajamas with the monogrammed initials on them but none of those were her initials – they matched the initials of her friend. (Well – they were good quality.)

-        The gift card – that I later found out had an interesting amount of $22.54 on it.  Enough said.

I think it is OK to regift but there are some rules I have learned.  Do not ever

-        forget who gave you the gift.

-        regift at a While Elephant unless you are sure the original gifter won't be there and no one will know how you originally got the gift

-        don't regift in the same group of friends or family of anyone you received a gift from

-        gift anything that is a Freebie (or at least anything that anyone can get for free)

-        anything Monogrammed or personalized to you

-        regift without thinking ahead to making it a real gift  (If you're into Pokomon and I'm not, why are you giving me a Pokomon mug?)  

-        anything used and impersonal (like the person at the White Elephant that got a set of used GMAT books)

-        tell the person receiving the gift it was a regift.  

I do think you can regift but make it worthy of that person – something that person would enjoy and has no idea how you got the gift.   Do you regift?   Have you ever made a mistake in regifting or been the recipient of a regift?

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