At nearly every gift-giving event, there is a moment when you realize a gift you just received is one for which you have no use or desire. Once this realization hits, you have three choices. You can toss it in a closet to never be seen again, try to return it, or re-gift it. While tossing it in a closet is easy, returning a gift can be a large pain. Here are some tips to re-gifting this holiday season with a touch of class.
Pick the right recipient
No matter how poor a choice a gift might have been for you, for someone else, it's a perfect fit. Someone will love that mounted singing sea bass or Swiss Army battery-operated handy vac that has too many gadgets to begin to understand. Classy re-gifting means you take the time to actually match the gift to the personality of the person to whom you're giving it. Re-gifting with class means you don't use your friends and family as a gift landfill. You should also make sure you never re-gift to the person who originally gave you the item. That is tacky and socially unacceptable.
Presentation of a re-gifted item
When re-gifting an item, protocol dictates that you actually re-package the gift in fresh wrapping paper or at least a new gift bag. This serves to not only freshen the gift a bit but to also avoid any awkward situations that might arise from inadvertently leaving an old "To/From" tag on the gift. It also helps minimize the chance of the original gift giver spotting the item he or she chose for you going to another.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with re-gifting items so long as you take the time to do it correctly. Don't fall into the trap of thinking of re-gifting as a way of clearing out space in your closet. Instead, consider it more of a matchmaking task. Placing the right gift with the right owner while clearing your closet is a win for all and an economical and classy move to boot.
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