After the holidays re-gifting party
November 3, 2009 by Jennifer Chait
Filed under Holiday Thrift, gifts, holidays
No matter how you slice it, re-gifting is always a tricky topic. Some folks are super gung-ho to re-gift when necessary, others find it terribly tacky, and some people think it’s downright evil.
I however, do not think re-gifting is evil or even slightly bad. WHY hold onto something you’ll never, ever use? Why not give it to someone else who may like it. What’s evil is having all sorts of junk around your house just because you think you’ll hurt someone’s feelings or because you feel obligated to hold onto stuff. That said, one fun activity you can plan for after this holiday season is a re-gifting party.
According to the book Penny Saving Household Helper, a re-gifting party in January is the perfect way to end the season – much better than allowing gifts to “Languish in a shopping bag until next year.”
Tips for a successful re-gifting party…
Only invite people who are really on board with re-gifting. This means word of mouth is a good plan.
Plan your party for mid-January so everyone can relax a little after the holidays before attending yet another seasonal party.
Have guests wrap their gifts then have folks draw numbers and choose gifts. Basically you can run it like a white elephant gift exchange. Or you can have a swap party where no one even bothers wrapping gifts but everyone just negotiates. One last idea is to charge a small amount for each gift then give all that money to a proposed charity.
Serve cool leftover or a pot-luck style lunch to fit the occasion.
Also see 10 tips to make re-gifting easy.
I don’t feel bad about regifting. I see it as a type of recycling.
I’m all for re-gifting! Just like I love clothes and book swap parties! And if you end up with a re-gifted gift you still don’t like, sell it on eBay to someone who does want it
Jennifer,
I am all for the re-gifting process.. Our family does an online gift exchange every year. Once the party is over, we usually have some pretty strange gifts show up at our door.
Your idea to have a re-gifting party in January is fabulous! This one I would do offline, just like you suggest..
I am going to write about your idea on my white elephant blog, if that is OK with you? I promise to give you credit for the idea!
Happy re-gifting!
Yay! Everyone likes re-gifting! It’s practical. Bruce – feel free to write about it