Holiday tradition: Re-gifting

It’s that time again. Your opportunity to re-gift. You know you want to.

Wikipedia cites the following rules of re-gifting etiquette:

• The primary rule is not to give a gift back to the person who gave it to you.
• Similarly, re-gifting to someone who knows the original giver carries the risk of exposing both your lack of attachment to the gift, and your failure to select and purchase a new gift for the recipient. (Made popular on the ’90s sitcom, Seinfeld.)
• One should remove any cards and other indicators that the gift was originally given to you.
• Finally, using the gift before re-gifting it — so that it is no longer “new” — is generally considered inappropriate.

Etiquette guru Emily Post suggests that re-gifting should be done only rarely, and under specific criteria:

• You are certain the gift is something the recipient would enjoy.
• The gift is brand new (no cast-offs allowed) and comes with its original box and instructions.
• The gift isn’t handmade, or one that the original giver took great care to select.

According to results of the November 2005 Re-gifting and Holiday Credit Card Use Survey posted at Regiftable.com:

• More than half of surveyed consumers do not find re-gifting rude
• Nearly 4 in 10 people have practiced re-gifting
• Women 35-54 years old are more likely to regift than men
• Re-gifting is more practiced among those who are college educated
• One third of re-gifters do so to save money

In general, don’t regift the following:

• Used or opened items
• Expired items, such as last year’s Dilbert desk calendar.
• Champagne/alcohol
• Eclectic items the receiver might not be interested in

If your feeling tacky about the whole idea, give your stuff to a charity or resell on CraigsList, Amazon or eBay.

Related links:
(You’ll enjoy this song) Regifting for the Holidays by The Alice Project

Regiftable.com

Emily Post

GiftMe.com

MSN 12 rules for regifting without fear

US News & World Reports

That’s all folks. Let the re-gifting begin!
-Roland

Roland Reinhart is an interactive marketing professional who doesn’t regift. His observations can be found at Chaos365.com and AdMadMan.com.

©2006 Roland Reinhart. All Rights Reserved.