In this year's re-gift bag....
- Thread starter hearts and roses
- Start date
Marguerite
Active Member
The regifting party sounds like a great idea!
Etiquette speakers I've heard here have said that if you regift, you really should give the full history of the gift. The serious regifter needs to keep a log book of what was given, when and from whom. This can fall down if you received something unwittingly regifted from someone who you later regift to more directly - hence the need for honesty.
One good reason for not regifting is so if there is a double-up, you can take something back. We had problems with double-ups this year and managed to successfully exchange the gifts (thank goodness).
This has happened to me - sis-in-law & her husband went on holidays to Europe about ten years ago, leaving in August. That Christmas I received from them a gift of a small unlined blank paged notebook. It had a lovely animal picture on the front. Sis-in-law said to me, "It's for you to write down your ideas for stories, it's a jottings diary."
I thanked them of course and thought it wasn't a bad idea.
I took the diary to my next writers' workshop which just happened to be held in a local gardens. Lots of bright sunlight. I opened the book and read inside, "A gift for you two to take to Europe, enjoy writing your travel journal." The name of the gifter and the date was also written - all in gold lettering. Not really visible indoors unless you looked closely... the next page had another dedication along the lines of, "our journey begins today..."
Talk about SPRUNG!
I've never told sis-in-law. she wouldn't get the joke and would actually be angry with me for discovering this.
She has also given me other things over the years which have either been fairly obviously regifted, or she has done the right thing and told me that she bought it at a garage sale or an op-shop. One year she bought me a couple of shirts which had been bought at an op-shop. She said she was told they had been made for a former ship's captain, now deceased, while he was sailing the South Seas somewhere. I think she told me because there was no way they could be exchanged if they were the wrong size. The fabric was fairly translucent nylon (similar to shower curtain nylon) and highly embroidered. I was a lot bigger then but these shirts would have wrapped around me twice. The sleeves had cuffs which folded back to almost reach my elbow, lapels which reached past the shoulders and it rustled when I moved. So I folded them away and wondered who on earth I could pass them on to.
I washed the shirts - to discover they crinkled very badly, Being nylon, they could not be safely ironed.
Finally a neighbour (male) who was a very large man (and a good friend) asked to see them (after I had shared my story - we often shared funny tales) and tried them on - they were only a little too large for him and unlike on me, his knuckles were still visible. So he got them. Haven't a clue what he did with them - Halloween costume, maybe? If they hadn't been such slippery, plasticky nylon I night have worn them as nighshirts or something, but they were hot and sweaty to wear.
But a regifting party, now ... what a good idea!
Marg
Etiquette speakers I've heard here have said that if you regift, you really should give the full history of the gift. The serious regifter needs to keep a log book of what was given, when and from whom. This can fall down if you received something unwittingly regifted from someone who you later regift to more directly - hence the need for honesty.
One good reason for not regifting is so if there is a double-up, you can take something back. We had problems with double-ups this year and managed to successfully exchange the gifts (thank goodness).
This has happened to me - sis-in-law & her husband went on holidays to Europe about ten years ago, leaving in August. That Christmas I received from them a gift of a small unlined blank paged notebook. It had a lovely animal picture on the front. Sis-in-law said to me, "It's for you to write down your ideas for stories, it's a jottings diary."
I thanked them of course and thought it wasn't a bad idea.
I took the diary to my next writers' workshop which just happened to be held in a local gardens. Lots of bright sunlight. I opened the book and read inside, "A gift for you two to take to Europe, enjoy writing your travel journal." The name of the gifter and the date was also written - all in gold lettering. Not really visible indoors unless you looked closely... the next page had another dedication along the lines of, "our journey begins today..."
Talk about SPRUNG!
I've never told sis-in-law. she wouldn't get the joke and would actually be angry with me for discovering this.
She has also given me other things over the years which have either been fairly obviously regifted, or she has done the right thing and told me that she bought it at a garage sale or an op-shop. One year she bought me a couple of shirts which had been bought at an op-shop. She said she was told they had been made for a former ship's captain, now deceased, while he was sailing the South Seas somewhere. I think she told me because there was no way they could be exchanged if they were the wrong size. The fabric was fairly translucent nylon (similar to shower curtain nylon) and highly embroidered. I was a lot bigger then but these shirts would have wrapped around me twice. The sleeves had cuffs which folded back to almost reach my elbow, lapels which reached past the shoulders and it rustled when I moved. So I folded them away and wondered who on earth I could pass them on to.
I washed the shirts - to discover they crinkled very badly, Being nylon, they could not be safely ironed.
Finally a neighbour (male) who was a very large man (and a good friend) asked to see them (after I had shared my story - we often shared funny tales) and tried them on - they were only a little too large for him and unlike on me, his knuckles were still visible. So he got them. Haven't a clue what he did with them - Halloween costume, maybe? If they hadn't been such slippery, plasticky nylon I night have worn them as nighshirts or something, but they were hot and sweaty to wear.
But a regifting party, now ... what a good idea!
Marg
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