The Cat Dish
  • Musings
  • Food
  • #CatTravels
  • #BabyFox
  • #40trails
  • Videos
  • About Me
  • Contact

ASK DR. DISH: Regifting is great!

By Catherine Toth Fox • December 21, 2010 • Musings, The Daily Dish

Question: I am sure you get this question ALL THE TIME about regifting. But I still do not know if it’s okay to do it. I do it all the time and my friends give me grief about it. What’s so bad about giving away a gift you don’t need???? What is someone else out there can actually use a Ninja (food processor)???? Why is regifting so bad?????

Answer: I don’t think there’s a person who’s reading this that either 1) has regifted something or 2) been the recipient of a regift, whether you knew it or not. Oh, yeah, it’s that prevalent!

Even I’ll admit I’ve given away a gift that I’ve received — and found no use for — but I don’t disguise them as gifts. I literally just give them away. I’m like you, if there’s someone else out there who can make better use of something I have, by all means have it. There’s no point in me having an iron, for example, when I don’t use one. (Hint to Mom.)

But still, no one likes to talk about regifting, at least in public. We may do it in the privacy our own homes, in total secrecy, not even revealing what we’ve done to our spouses or best friends — some of whom might be recipients, as a matter of fact — and so the discussion doesn’t get very far.

So if you’re going to do it, do it right. Here’s some advice:

  • Don’t mention it. Meaning, don’t tell the person you’re giving them something you don’t want — from someone else. Better to keep that to yourself.
  • Don’t give only a part of the gift. Like, don’t give a gift card after you’ve used some of it. Or don’t break apart a set and give a portion away. That’s just tacky.
  • Don’t regift something old. You shouldn’t be “gifting” used items or hand-me-downs. It should be an actual gift, something you received recently. Not something you got in 1986 that you finally decided to give away.
  • Don’t use the same wrapping — and card. Seriously. If you’re not going to spring for an actual gift, you may as well pony up the cash for new wrapping paper and a card.
  • Don’t give the gift back to the person who gave it to you. (That’s pretty obvious.)

Anyone got a regifting story to tell? Anyone willing to admit they do it? Let’s hear it!

***

CAT’S GIFT IDEAS

SHOPPING DAYS LEFT: 4

TODAY’S GIFT IDEA: Laka Signature Massage from Laka Skin Care & Spa on Ward Avenue

no images were found

Got a gift idea? Send ’em my way at [email protected].

***

To read all of Cat’s blogs, visit www.nonstophonolulu.com/thedailydish. Follow Cat on Twitter @thedailydish or send her an e-mail at [email protected].

Subscribe to Nonstop Honolulu on YouTube »

RECENT BLOG POSTS

Preferring the imperfect Christmas
FUUD: Your favorite pho
Sign a friendship contract?
Cat Chat episode 6: iPad, iDunno
Your favorite Christmas flicks
Pampering your pets
FUUD: Inferno’s Wood Fire Pizza in Kalihi
Nook or Kindle — or not
Cat Chat episode 5: Scarfing
Gifts for the ‘Hawaii Five-0’ fans
Don’t judge me by my Christmas playlist

TOP BLOG POSTS

Amber-Lynn Hyden’s Top 5
New eats: Zaratez Mexicatessen
Introducing Cat Chat
Top 10 best memories of Europe
Top 10 first dates
36 hours of eating in Maui
North Shore Eats

adviceAsk Dr. DishChristmasetiquettefeatured_blogsgiftHawaiiholidayregiftingToth
Tweet
18
Desperately seeking shopper
Cat Chat episode 7: Holiday wine pairings

About the Author

Catherine Toth Fox

You Might Also Like

  • Anyone Else Feeling Like You’re Failing at This?

  • It’s Hard To Say Goodbye—So I Won’t

  • Was 2020 Really That Bad?

  • Here’s What Happened To My Dog Indy

18 Comments

  • Reply M December 20, 2010 at 7:32 pm

    Hello Cat!
    We do it all the time as grab bag gifts.

    • Reply harrycovair December 20, 2010 at 9:15 pm

      @M Yup, Grab Bag! My buds get together and limit each other to a $20 grab bag. One year I got a female tank top which definitely didn’t fit me. Good thing someone wanted to trade for it.

      Once I couldn’t figure out what to buy so I got a few bricks and lightly glued them together with a $20 bill taped to one of them. I have no idea what happened to the bricks.

    • Reply Sushi December 20, 2010 at 9:56 pm

      @harrycovair @M My grandmother does stuff like the brick thing all the time. You’d think that people would pick up on it and grab her gifts sooner, but no. They still don’t have a clue why they’re grabbing bags of pecans until they dig through and find money inside.

  • Reply Ynaku December 20, 2010 at 9:05 pm

    Ha ha, we were talking about ths last night. We got a cold press coffee maker for our anniversay (I’m not a coffee drinker). But my wife doesn’t want to go through all the hassle. So my daughter asked if she could have it. Yeah, room in my cabinet. Good list of reasons. Never ever give it back to the one you got it from.

  • Reply Melissa808 December 20, 2010 at 9:25 pm

    Oooh, I’ve had someone regift something that I gave to her. I wonder if she regifts a lot and/or forgets, because for every occasion for the last 3 years, she’s given me those scented sticks in oil!

  • Reply mjc_808 December 20, 2010 at 9:51 pm

    Cat, I’m like you – I just give it away, I don’t give it under the guise of a “gift” – that’s what white elephant grab bag events are for. Harrycovair is hilarious!

    • Reply JMattHicks December 20, 2010 at 10:16 pm

      @mjc_808 I’m a fan of just giving it away, too. Although, it’s not to have an extra option when you need to give a gift, don’t have time, and that Ninja is sitting in your closet brand-new and untouched…

  • Reply turkfontaine December 20, 2010 at 11:09 pm

    if i ever regift it’ll probably be a fruitcake, and i’ll probably give it to Mari Taketa cause, at least i know it won’t go to waste.
    i know a woman who does something i call ‘non specific’ gifting. she buys stuff year round and keeps it all in a spare bedroom, along with wrapping paper and cards. when she needs to give someone a gift she shops through her stash and comes up with something she thinks would be appropriate and appreciated. i told her she should just bring the person to her house, let them in the bedroom to pick out their own gift. she said: “your’re an idiot”

    • Reply nonstopmari December 21, 2010 at 4:48 am

      @turkfontaine lest u think i’m indiscriminate, i said HOMEMADE fruitcake. don’t give me that storebought cr…ake.

  • Reply 808marv December 21, 2010 at 12:18 am

    Giving stuff away to a person that wants the gift that you didn’t like is OK, otherwise regifting just feels weird to me…like passing on a bad curse or something. I guess maybe it’s better than just throwing away a gift, but sometimes a bad gift is a bad gift and it might be a good thing to kill it off once and for all and break the cycle of evil for the sake of humanity haha.

    • Reply Cat December 21, 2010 at 1:21 pm

      <lf:user type=”lf” name=”808marv” id=”[email protected]”/> I hate when I get gifts like that, usually gifts that other people are regifting. Sometimes there are just bad things out there that no one should own, much less give away.

  • Reply MaxMaxMax December 21, 2010 at 12:30 am

    I say it’s all good unless it’s simply a bad gift to begin with…

  • Reply Cat December 21, 2010 at 12:47 am

    Or we’ve done regifting parties. Bring the gifts you don’t want — and make sure the person who gave it to you isn’t there! — and swap. It’s fun and productive — and no one gets hurt.

    • Reply nonstopmari December 21, 2010 at 4:50 am

      @Cat can we have a nonstop regifting party???

    • Reply Cat December 21, 2010 at 1:19 pm

      <lf:user type=”lf” name=”nonstopmari” id=”[email protected]”/> WE SHOULD! It’s like recycling!

    • Reply markdotentest01 December 22, 2010 at 12:04 am

      @nonstopmari @Cat this is a test post, will delete immediately

  • Reply kaimana December 21, 2010 at 5:48 am

    Regifting, the OTHER gift that keeps giving; I’m also a fan of gifting ‘gently used’ items…

  • Reply cma3rd December 22, 2010 at 5:24 pm

    My neighbor hase given me twice< regifts that had their names on the card…. To: Tony and Loy Hipolito.. uhh Not me

Leave a Reply Cancel Reply

About Me

About Me
Born and raised on O‘ahu, Hawaiʻi, Catherine Toth Fox has been chronicling her adventures in her blog, The Cat Dish, for more than a decade. She worked as a newspaper reporter in Hawai‘i for 10 years and continues to freelance—in between teaching journalism, hitting the surf and eating everything in sight—for national and local print and online publications. She’s currently the editor of HAWAIʻI Magazine.

Latest Posts

  • Anyone Else Feeling Like You’re Failing at This?

    March 8, 2022
  • It’s Hard To Say Goodbye—So I Won’t

    January 29, 2021
  • Was 2020 Really That Bad?

    December 31, 2020
  • Here’s What Happened To My Dog Indy

    December 10, 2020
  • I Did Noom For a Month and Here’s What Happened

    October 7, 2020
Follow me on Forbes Travel Guide

Visit Travel Blog Exchange

Made with in Seattle

© 2013 Solo Pine Designs, Inc. All rights reserved.