The Magic Of Re-Gifting. Smart Move, Or Just Rude? Montana Speaks

I'll be honest with you, I'm torn on this one. Re-Gifting.  Is it totally cool or completely rude?

The younger me felt like that if someone got you a gift, even if you didn't like it, you should be grateful for it and find a place in a closet somewhere to store it, in case they ever came over and then you could pull it out and put it on display.

The older me thinks that there really isn't a reason to keep something that you're never going to use and if it doesn't have sentimental value, then get rid of it or give it to someone that will appreciate it.

Of course, Christmas is the season for gifts AND re-gifting those gifts that we don't care for.  So, I thought I would ask the fine folks of Bozeman and Montana how they felt about re-gifting.  Is it ok to do, or is it just rude?  They answered and some of those answers are below.

"I regift things all the time. If it is something I have or not going to use, why hold on to it. Give it to someone who will use it and get joy out of it."

"If it’s brand new never opened I think it’s ok"

"My daughter in law and daughter regifted everything I gave them ( even if it was something they asked for), so now I either give gift cards or nothing, it’s a sorry world when no one cares about what people do for them, even if it homemade"

"Not really. Just don’t gift it back to the person that gave it to you. Unless it was something sentimental Then you should probably hang on to it. Otherwise, why let something go to waste if there’s someone else out there that would really love it or get some use out of it"

"For a white elephant party only"

"I am torn on this topic. One side of me says regifting is like telling the person who gave it to you that you don't appreciate the time/effort/money spent giving the gift. I understand the concern of keeping something that you won't use or don't like but on the other hand, they must care enough about you to take the time and spend their money."

"Yep, I regift all the time especially if I don't like it or it's something I'm not going to use."

So, it seems the majority has spoken and it seems that they are in agreement that it indeed is ok to re-gift.  However, I would have to agree with a couple of the comments that you should probably have a system in place to make sure that the person that gave it to you doesn't find out that you gave it to someone else.

Some folks are sensitive that way.

Maybe we could all get together and bring the gift(s) that we don't want and do some sort of huge community swap.  How fun would that be? We could charge admission with all the proceeds going to local non-profits and just spend the day swapping out gifts for something we'd rather have.

That sounds like a win/win to me.