20 years ago I received some of the best advice I have ever been given. I was engaged to be married and starting to receive lots of wedding gifts. My soon to be sister-in-law (who is 19 years older) told me to take back anything I didn't really want. I lived under the guilt complex that I had to keep whatever people gave me, especially for a wedding. But if I were not really going to use it in my dream house one day, why keep it? I could end up being on Clean House one day if I lived like that.
So I always have a regift cabinet - items that I do appreciate, but either aren't really me or we don't need or that someone else might like better. One never knows when one of those items will make someone else very happy. Case in point - yesterday we had a Dirty Santa office party. The items brought had to be just things we picked up around the house. In my regift cabinet were two small Americana paintings of interesting looking roosters that I received at the Dirty Santa family gathering last Christmas. If I decorated in country style, they would work (wild as they look). But my house is eclectic feng shui with a hint of colonial Carribean. So I brought the roosters, feeling kinda bad that someone would be stuck with them. Turns out they were a hot item and a co-worker went home quite happy. Who would have thought?
Regifting saves money. Regifting is good for the environment. And one person's tacky junk can well be someone else's great free find.
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4 comments:
Regifting is truly an art. I too keep a stash of regiftables. I also keep notes regarding from whom I received the gifts so as to avoid any confusion as to whom it can be given.
Yes! I found your other blog. My grandmother was a master at regifting. She's have annual grab bags with her grandchildren. One at a time, we were allowed to reach into the pillowcase for a surprise. It could be a bar of soap, or an airline comfort bar, or an old pair of shoes. Sometimes, though, there'd be a fiver.
Love that idea EM!
Each Christmas my brothers and their families (12 children in all - counting ours)and my family draw names. We end up with two adults and two children to buy for. This year we decided to spend the max of $5/person - kind of like a white elephant. We could regift or buy something. We gave a bottle of Wild Turkey (a regift) to one brother. And i found a pair of shorts at Kohls for $4 for another brother. Sure saved lots of money but the unexpected bonus was that we didn't sweat buying the wrong thing (or size).
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