The Art of Re-Gifting

Pay attention, cheapskates. Your gig is up... unless you follow some (pretty self-evident) etiquette rules.

The full article can be found HERE.

Here is an excerpt:

Make sure it's new.

Leon Foerster, an insurance agent in Ripon, Wis., recalls receiving an 8-track player full of cobwebs as a wedding gift – a sure tip-off something is not new. Post recommends you don't regift anything that does not come with its original packaging and instructions. The least you can do is rewrap the gift and put a fresh card on it. A full 16 percent of regifters were spotted because the gift tag had the wrong name on it, Tassimo found.

You never want to give away a gift the original giver took great care to select, Post says, such as a homemade sweater or scarf. You should also hold on to handmade and one-of-a kind items. The most common regifted items, Tassimo found, are decorative household knickknacks like vases, paintings, and picture frames.

That reminds me...
One Christmas years ago, Ben brought a nice little Christmas gift mug wrapped in cellophane and containing some scones, coffee beans, tea bags, cinnamon sticks and so forth. This gift was put into our annual gift exchange pile-0-presents and ended up as one of the last gifts picked. It was an OK present - not the perfect gift for Kerman, who drinks neither coffee or tea - but a nice enough gesture nonetheless.
Except for one thing: the tag on the gift mug read, "Merry Christmas, Ben. From Larry" (or some other faceless co-worker's name.) We all had a good laugh and went home smiling. Except for Kerman who went home with an unwanted gift-mug; unwanted by both the original and ultimate recipient.