If you ever plan to regift...please read this first!!

[KatelynnsAuntie]

A very good friend of mine and I exchange Christmas gifts every year, mostly a few little things. One thing I gave her last year was some Christmas soaps wrapped up in pretty celophane (sp) paper that I got at a specialty shop.

Yesterday at church she stopped by while I was working in the nursery and dropped off a gift bag for me. At the time I had my hands full so I didn't open it until later. It's a good thing I didn't open it in front of her, because I was shocked and I know it would have shown on my face. One of the things in the bag was...you guessed it...those same soaps, unopened. She regifted me with my own gift!!

It made me kind of sad because they had several gift soaps to choose from and I picked that one out specially for her. So not only did she not like it enough to keep it, she apparantly didn't even remember that I was the one who gave it to her!

So, of course, the moral here is, if you're going to regift, at least make sure the person you're regifting is not the person who gave you the gift in the first place!

 

[Robinrs]

Ugh, sorry this happened. I know how that can smart!

I have a tendency to regift, but only gifts that are given by clients or co-workers I barely know to people who do not know them! Didja keep up? I keep gifts from friends and family because the person who gave it to me usually means more to me than the gift itself.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

The stepMIL did that to my BIL. She regifted him a shirt that they had sent to his dad for his birthday.

Sorry it happened to you!

 

[buzzlady]

 

[MHopkins2]

Yikes! Rule #1 of regifting is to CLEARLY label the gift with the name of the original giver before you forget.

(I don't do much regifting anyway though. I'm a "chronic returner" instead. )

 

[Jen D]

Heh, I have a great re-gifting story. Ages and ages ago, when dh and I were dating, we took a vacation to New Mexico, and brought back for his mom the standard NM gift-- some silver and turquoise jewelry, it was a bracelet.

Several years later, maybe seven or eight, long after dh and I had married-- my mother-in-law decided to start parting with some of her "antique" and "heirloom" jewelry. I not only received the silver/turquoise bracelet back for my birthday, with it was a letter explaining how this was a precious heirloom passed along through the generations from an ancestor who had been in the Oklahoma Land Run! It was really a classic!

I of course nodded and smiled and said what a great story, and also told her how much I loved the bracelet (true!) Then she says "It's good you like that kind of silver and turquoise jewelry-- you know, some people don't like it much." People like, you perhaps?

Classic mother-in-law story.

 

[peg2001]

I would carefully store the soap until next year, and give it back.

We exchanged the same Christmas card with our in-laws for several years in a row before one of us lost it. . .that'a probably a different story though.

Peggy

 

[Annie&Hallie'sMom]

Originally posted by Jen D
Heh, I have a great re-gifting story. Ages and ages ago, when dh and I were dating, we took a vacation to New Mexico, and brought back for his mom the standard NM gift-- some silver and turquoise jewelry, it was a bracelet.

Several years later, maybe seven or eight, long after dh and I had married-- my mother-in-law decided to start parting with some of her "antique" and "heirloom" jewelry. I not only received the silver/turquoise bracelet back for my birthday, with it was a letter explaining how this was a precious heirloom passed along through the generations from an ancestor who had been in the Oklahoma Land Run! It was really a classic!

I of course nodded and smiled and said what a great story, and also told her how much I loved the bracelet (true!) Then she says "It's good you like that kind of silver and turquoise jewelry-- you know, some people don't like it much." People like, you perhaps?

Classic mother-in-law story.

LOL

 

[battricia]

I just want to take her defense for a second, although i'm in NO WAY saying this was the right thing to do in her case. Maybe she's having a ruff year, financially, and couldn't afford to get everyone that she usually gets presents for something? It still doesn't make up for the fact that she gave you YOUR gift to her, she should have been paying a bit more attention to that. Just wanted to say if it's someone that you would never have expected that from, maybe she's just having some tuff times right now? Maybe she's having other problems in the family, and hasn't been thinking straight so she mixed up gifts? Still I'm sorry that this happened to you and you're upset about it.



tricia.

 

[TiggerPiglet]

A co-worker and I were pregnant at the same time. I would say her baby shower was probably a month or so before mine and yes, she gave me a gift that was given to her. When I opened the box up when I got home, out popped the card that was addressed to her. Apparently she forgot that during showers cards are usually stuffed inside the box so the recipient knows who gave them the gift. I guess it slipped her mind.
I have to say, I have never regifted anything. If I don't want something, I just return it

 

[Rock'n Robin]

This makes me giggle because we just opened gifts from some relatives out of state--each child got 2 computer games--in the colored CD cases (the ones you put burned CDs in) with no instructions or packaging! Obviously she was cleaning out her inventory....but she's not shy about it!
Robin M.

 

[Beauty]

I would carefully store the soap until next year, and give it back.

LOL I love that idea!

 

[skuttle]

How awful! (and funny, I must admit!)

For our wedding, we received a small crystal picture frame with a "happy secretary's day" card inside of the box! DH wanted me to send that card in the thank you note, but I couldn't do it.

 

[DocRafiki]

oh yeah, i need to remember to label anything i save for regifting. i'm so paranoid that people won't like my gifts that i'm telling everybody this year -- "regifting is not only acceptable, it's encouraged!" most of my friends are having financial troubles, so at least the gift will save them some money! I'm intentionally leaving names off of the tags just in case.

 

[Nutsy]

OMG..............I don't usually regift, but that is sad.............

I'm so sorry your friend did not think enough of your gift to keep it, but to regift it back to you a year later.....Wow!

I reckon I would have been stunned too

 

[tmfranlk]

Originally posted by peg2001
We exchanged the same Christmas card with our in-laws for several years in a row before one of us lost it. . .that'a probably a different story though.

There was a story on the news a few weeks ago about a Christmas card that has been being exchanged for 50 years. A co-worker told this guy that he should send Christmas cards so he sent her the ugliest one he could find. She sent it back the next year and they have been sending it back and forth for 50 years now. (It really was a fairly ugly card.)

 

[charabby]

On Snopes.com, there is a story about two brothers who have been exchanging the same pair of Levi's in increasingly more difficult to open packages year after year. It's a pretty funny story.

 

[Poohnatic]

I was once regifted a horrible sweater that my exSIL got. It definitely wasn't her style, so I understand that she'd pass it on...but she was a size 2 and at the time, I was a size 14. I still have the darn thing, too and this goes back about 10 years. No, I wouldn't wear it if I ever made it to size 2...I hate sweaters!

I make it a point of NOT regifting. I will ask coworkers/friends if they like something and let them know I got it as a gift and don't care for it. Everybody wins...I've made someone else happy and the giver is none the wiser.

Fortunately, as I get older, I get less of the 'dud' gifts. My family has finally realized that I wear mostly solid color clothing, I think appliques and glitter on clothing is tacky, and I don't wear sweaters! They think I have too many quirks about clothes, so they hardly ever buy them!

Suzanne

 

[msdznyduck]

gift soaps to choose from and I picked that one out specially for her. So not only did she not like it enough to keep it, she apparantly didn't even remember that I was the one who gave it to her!

I know how that feels. One year right after my brother got married, I gave SIL a set of pretty (I thought) Christmas dish towels, oven mitt, pot holders, because she was saying she didn't have any. The next year I got 1 dish towel and 1 pot holder back. Guess she didn't like it.
I also crocheted an afghan for them the first year they were married, but needed to finish the fringe on one side. I just ran out of time. I gave it to them, saying, "I just need to finish the fringe, if you can let me take it, I can finish it and return it right back in a day" (I probably should have waited to give it to them, but I was so excited to have finished it, (except for the fringe on one side) that I gave it to them anyway. Her response: "Well, we have enough of them anyway, don't bother"
When they got married, and I said "Gee, I always wanted a sister,now I have one", and she replied "I already have a sister", I should have known.

 

[pjlla]

Well msdznyduck, I feel your pain!!!!!!! I did a beautiful (if I may say so myself) wedding cross-stitch for my brother and SIL when they got married. Went to visit them a few weeks after the wedding. As she was showing us around the apartment, the person I was with commented on the x-stitch (not knowing that I had made it)..... my SIL came back with "oh yeah, we got that as a gift..... can't remember who made it. eek: !!!) She has no other SIL's, so not like she confused me with another one!

Many years later my Mom made my SIL a beautiful basket, fully lined, with handles and all (quality equal to Longaberger in my humble opinion). My SIL misplaced it for a while. THen when she found it she left it on the window sill and let the cat sleep in it!! My mother has vowed to never make her another hand-made gift again!!!!!!..........Happy Holidays to you all!!.............P