Yahoo Finance Is Regifting Ever OK To Save Money? Experts Weigh In
To regift, or not to regift? That is the question many experts in etiquette and finance alike have pondered. Whether ’tis nobler to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous presents or, by regifting, give them a new life.
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All the Hamlet references aside, sometimes the gifts you get aren’t outrageous. Simply put–they’re not aligned with your tastes. When you tear open the package and see the gift, you immediately think of someone else who would really love it. Or you forget about it and it ends up moldering in your closet.
Why not give it to another person? You’ll save yourself the cost of future gifts while ensuring that the original gift-giver wasn’t wasting their money. Yet the conventional understanding is that regifting is tacky, at best, or downright rude at worst.
Is regifting really such a serious social faux pas? GOBankingRates consulted with some experts to find out when you can safely pass along a present to a happier home.
Regift Strategically
Etiquette expert Lisa Mirza Grotts is known as the Golden Rules Gal. Her golden rule for regifting is a simple one: Never regift within a specific social circle.
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“In other words, make sure the person receiving the gift does not know the friend who gave it to you in the first place,” she said.
Freshen Up the Package
Even if your gift is not-so-new, it doesn’t mean that your wrapping should be either, especially if it has a seasonal or holiday theme. Mirza Grotts encouraged choosing new wrapping paper, a new ribbon and a fresh note. She added that you should check to make sure that you’ve removed the original card.
If you do choose to use regifted wrapping paper, there’s one other important thing Mirza Grotts wanted you to know: “Don’t use packaging marked with the name of a retailer, whether the original source of the gift or not. This could be embarrassing all around if your re-giftee tries to return the gift.”
Make Sure Your Gift Isn’t Used
While this may seem obvious, it’s worth repeating: Don’t regift anything that’s been used, whether it’s appliances, books, or even department store gifts that came with an original purchase.
Mirza Grotts added that you should also never regift partially used gift cards. She said that it’s “a dead giveaway that the gift was once yours, especially if the dollar amount is not an even number.”
Tailor Your Gift to the Receiver
As the founder of Etiquette Expert, etiquette expert and consultant Jo Hayes put some serious thought into that question “to gift or not regift?” She said it’s “absolutely a-okay,” provided that you remember the core purpose behind giving gifts in the first place.
“When giving a gift to someone, it goes far deeper than simply the functional act of giving something to another person. The gift is intended to convey meaning,” she said. “With that in mind, it is important to remember that thoughtfulness and intentionality should be at the heart of any gift-giving.”
Any gift, but particularly a regift, should show that you’ve clearly thought about the person you’re giving it to. The present should reflect who they are and what they like.
Hayes gave the example of a perfect regift: Say you were originally given a beautiful set of notebooks and a pen, but you’ve already got more than your fair share — and you haven’t even opened half of them. You know your niece is an aspiring journalist who will soon be graduating middle school. That notebook and pen will be far better suited for her, on her path to a future Pulitzer Prize.
“It’s thoughtful, and intentional, in that you know she loves to write, and will use such a gift. Perfect,” she said.
Make Sure It’s Not an Obvious Regift
Maybe you don’t love the holly jolly tea towels you received at a Secret Santa gift exchange. That doesn’t mean you can simply regift them to a friend with a summer birthday–unless, of course, they’re a fiend for kitschy Christmas stuff.
“A re-gift shouldn’t be obvious … Remember, gift-giving is about the thoughtful, intentional acknowledgement of a person in your life, by way of a ‘special something’ — not simply the function of giving them a ‘thing’,” said Hayes.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Is Regifting Ever OK To Save Money? Experts Weigh In
