Note: This contest is closed. Congratulations to “Namastemama” whose regifting story was chosen randomly.
I have held a number of contents to win various items here on The Non-Consumer Advocate, because really, who doesn’t like the excitement of winning stuff?
I got to feel this thrill firsthand when I was the winner of the book Regifting Revival: A Guide to Reusing Gifts Graciously, by Jodi Newbern, (Synergy Books.) The contest was held on Naomi Seldin’s Simpler Living blog, and I shared a story of how I had regifted a wedding present for my father and step-mother’s wedding.
And now it’s time to regift this book to you, the readers.
To enter to win a copy of “Regifting Revival,” please share a regifting story in the comments section below. The winner will be chosen randomly. Please enter only once, the contest is only open to U.S. residents. Contest ends Thursday, January 14th at midnight.
Don’t have a good regifting story? Then make one up!
Good luck!
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
{ 29 comments… read them below or add one }
The circle continues! Good luck, everyone. I’m looking forward to reading your regifting stories, too.
Naomi
you know, I wish I had a GOOD regifting story, but I only have stories of regifts gone wrong. one of my relatives is a rampant regifter and she’s given me some doozies over the year — including shower gel wrapped up in a gift bag. when i pulled it out of the bag, it started leaking water. she had just pulled the gel out of the shower stall and put it in a gift bag. USED SHOWER GEL passed off as a christmas gift — ew! So if I win this book, I just might regift it to her… LOL
Not sure this if this qualifies, but through the holidays, in the articles about regifting, I ran across a certificate to be included with presents with the permission to regift. I apologize for not knowing exactly what site I got it from so I can give credit where credit is due. The basket for the present came from Goodwill for $0.99. The gift I made. When the recipient called to thank me, she said she definitely would not regift, Yet! It was as if the certificate made the notion OK for someone who would never think it was OK to either do it or even talk about it. But it also seem to give her “permission” or opened the door to saying I could have the basket back if I wanted. Which I am thrilled so I can use it again. My first step into the world of regifting!
About 2 years ago, my work had our annual holiday party during which we typically have a ‘yankee swap’. The gift limit is $25, so I purchased a Pottery Barn gift card for my gift contribution, wrapped it up Martha Stewart style, and went to the party. At the swap, I ended up receiving a lovely pair of leather gloves… until someone eyed them and swapped them out for… you guessed it… my Pottery Barn gift card. I went home and threw the card in a drawer to be used for something someday, then promptly forgot about it. The following year, I remembered that card around the holidays, and decided to pull it out for a gift for a friend. She was so happy to receive it, and thanked me up and down. A year later, I received the same dang card from her as a holiday gift. Now I truly have to find something to purchase at Pottery Barn, or this card will haunt me forever!
The few gifts I receive are from the heart and I could never regift them.
I regifted to my mother the box from something she’d given me. Just the box. She loved it and still considers it my best gift ever.
The full story: I was, as usual, stuck for a gift for her. In a last-minute burst of desperation I thought about the box from the TV she’d just given me. I wrapped that box in pretty paper, put a big ribbon around it, and added a big label that read “Someplace Special.” See, she’s forever putting things in “someplace special” and forever forgetting where that place was. For as long as that box lasted, she knew where that special stuff was.
It wasn’t something I did but rather my mom.
She had received a cross stitch kit from her mom. Because the image was of an angel and her mother collects angels, she completed the kit, framed the image and gave it to her the following Christmas.
In a similar situation, the same grandparent had given me a crochet pattern book for little toys and some yarn. The next Mother’s Day I sent her an angel made using the patterns.
When we got married, we received a picture frame that was totally NOT our style…but fit the style of my stepbrother and his fiancee perfectly. We held onto it for a few months, and when they got married, we gave it to them. They loved it.
My husband and I got married last June and received a couple of bizarre wedding gifts: a cheap “crystal” butter dish (complete with plastic-handled butter knives) and an electric candle with three mismatched batteries. We took both to a white elephant party last month, and came home with a USB laptop lamp and a fencing teddy bear. I think this was a great exchange.
This doesn’t exactly sound frugal but.. . My sister years ago go many pieces of Waterford Crystal on trips to Ireland. She re-gifted a beautiful small bowl to me years ago and it sits on my bookcase full of those souvenir smashed pennies. Years ago I decided I’d had enough of mugs with Virginia Beach printed on the side or those cedar boxes with Gatlinburg burned in the top. So, I told everybody who regularly brought me souvenirs that I only wanted those smashed pennies. They’re cheap, they’re fun to collect, and they take up very little space…especially when housed in a re-gifted Waterford Bowl. 🙂
Oh, I had a horrible regifting experience once, many many years ago. I had bought a little purse in Paris when I’d visited there once in college, and I never used it for anything. So I thought I’d regift it to a friend for her birthday. Well, I may not have used it as a purse, but apparently I stuck stuff in it one time when we moved, because she opened the purse (which I thought I’d inspected carefully before wrapping) and started pulling all sorts of papers and ticket stubs and photos, etc out of the various pockets. I was mortified, but thankfully she was laughing so hard it turned out okay… *sheesh*
My family plays a gift-passing game on Christmas, somewhat similar to a white elephant. One year, my little boy cousin got a box of several pairs of EARRINGS! His reaction was so funny…he was so mad! The next year, they wrapped up the earrings and brought them back for the game, and he got them again! Too funny. I think this went on for one more year, and then they stopped appearing.
I tend not to re-gift things, but donate them to Goodwill instead. Maybe I should reconsider. . .
I wish I had a graet regifting story – but I can’t think of anything. However, I do have several gifts at home that are just waiting to be regifted for the right person. I keep these gifts in one spot and so that when the time comes I can go to my “stash” and pass them along!
I love regifting, but my story is actually one which belongs to my friend Sarah. I’d been to one of those white elephant gift exchanges, and had received this horrific blue ceramic… thing. It was mostly pastel blue, with pink angels on it, and just… oh, it was terrible. I don’t remember if it was supposed to be a lamp, or a candle holder, or a cookie jar, or what it was supposed to be. It was just a horrible pastel mess.
My friend Sarah thought it was hilarious, so she allowed me to regift it to her (this thing was so bad I actually would never have regifted it w/o permission first). She made a big batch of white chocolate and macadamia nut cookies and sent the cookies, plus this ceramic nightmare and a card, to her estranged sister for Christmas. Not shockingly, she never even got a thank you card. 🙂
Can you regift a gift that was never originally yours? Last year I gave my tween daughter an iTunes gift card. Well, she completely forgot about it so this past Christmas, I gave it to her (again) as a gift. She loved it! 😉 We usually get her multiple presents so it was just 1 of many Christmas gifts under the tree.
I’ve had a dedicated regifting drawer full of things my 5 children, husband and myself either received and didn’t want, couldn’t use, or believe it or not, something my kids just wanted to put in the drawer for future regifting. We always had something to pull together (even last minute sometimes) and never had to purchase a gift for any of their friends. Try to imagine how many birthday parties your kids get invited to; or friends/teachers at school having a birthday. My drawer has shrunk a little since 4 of my children are grown adults now, but they learned from a young age to regift and now have regifting drawers of their own.
Oh my goodness,let me tell you about my 35th birthday party……..I got so many of those “over the hill” gifts like prune juice, hearing aid batteries, etc. Well 2 years later on my dad’s 70th b-day I gave my Dad an “old fart” sign that I had received and sure enough that’s been circling around for years throughout our family. Just way too funny. I won’t be surprised if I see it at my 50th.
Jackie, Fairydust and Lucy, your stories made me laugh out loud. William B., yours was very sweet!!
When I was in nursing school I got together with some friends for a gift exchange. We each brought a wrapped gift and then each of us chose a gift to open. The gift I chose had pretty wrapping paper but when I opened it … it was a Christmas picture frame with a picture of a little boy in it. The girl that brought the gift said “oh sorry…I got that frame as a gift last year and I guess I forgot to take the picture of the boy who gave it to me out”. Wow. I am all about regifting as long as you do it the right way! If you are going to regift a frame….take the picture out first!!!!! ha ha ha
I am a Sunday school teacher and get lots of gifts at Christmas. I can never use them all so just this week I took one of them and gave it as a hostess gift at a party. My hubby said that even if they didn’t like the contents they would love the thought.
I’m from the UK so I’m not entering the competition – its not really a story anyway. Just wanted to post that I am now so much into regifting (I feel better passing on the gifts to people I know and love rather than charity bagging them when they have been a gift given to me) that I am now labelling them so I remember who I had them from. I have read all the horror stories of ‘regifting gone wrong’ that I want as much of a fool proof system as possible! I am even at the point of regifting to my own kids. I have decided if they get bought something for Birthday/Christmas and they pay no interest to it (as they have sooo much stuff from relatives) I am going to put it away in a closet and then gift it to them at a later date. Less clutter and less money spent!
In honor of my niece’s 16th birthday last year, I created a lasting gift of memories. I picked up special boxes at my thrift mart and made gift bags from scrap material for my special items. The gift included a piece of rose quartz I had mined at Hiddenite in NC in a green velvet bag I made along with a hand written note about the power of rose quartz, an earring and necklace set that had belonged to her great grandmother, an elegant dream journal I picked up at the thrift mart and a dream dictionary purchased at the same place. I wrapped everything in lovely moon and stars paper and shipped it to her. The total cost of the gift was maybe $2.00 but the impact was priceless. My niece carries the rose crystal in her car so a piece of the earth I dug up is with her always! It wasn’t exactly a regift as much as it was a mindful treasure!
Recently I attended a bridal shower for a step-niece whom I have only met a few times. She speaks fluent Spanish and lived in Arizona for several years. I had a really fun chip/dip platter- bright colors “Salsa Caliente” in the shape of a bottle. The body holds chips and the removable lid holds the salsa/dip. It was a gift I had never used, so I wrapped it and gave it to her. She loved it!
This time I got “re-gifted.” I was visiting my aunt and uncle one year and noticed a fondue pot, in the box, in their pantry. I made a passing comment about how much fun that must be to use. Guess what showed up under my Christmas tree the following year?
I follow these regifting guidelines: (1) Like AlwaysLearning, I have a dedicated space for storing gifts/regifts (in my case, my guest room closet’s top shelf). (2) I always slap a Post-it with the names of the donor and the intended recipient on any potential regift, to avoid embarrassing incidents like some of the ones people have described. (3) I try to give regifts either to people who are fully aware of my habits and don’t mind them (an increasing number of folks!) or to people who have no connection whatever with the original donors. And (4) I always regift things in A1 condition (no leaking shower gel, half-eaten boxes of candy, etc.!).
My family used to play a regifting game that lasted several Christmases. We would regift this very large, flat, and colorful lollypop as a gag gift to each other.
I must have taught my kids well, because none of us ever wanted to eat this giant sugar-on-a-stick. That is, until my youngest could no longer resist.
I gave my nephew a set of “I Spy” books as a Christmas gift when he was younger. He was & still is a kid who has everything, so I thought I’d go for the educational kind of gift. Well, apparently he must not have liked the book set, or already had that set, because at his next birthday party my Sister in Law split up the set and used them as party favors! I wasn’t upset, I thought it was a clever idea & now my daughter also has an I Spy book.
Well – I got a perfumy room smelly thingy for Christmas I would love to regift – but the giver is here all the time and it would be missed. Just wanted the staples – socks and chocolate – really!