Re-gifting? Think of it as recycling

If you’re thinking about turning your trash into someone else’s treasure this holiday season, but don’t want to feel the guilt that often comes with re-gifting, it’s easy to find solace in adages passed down through the ages.

Waste not, want not. A penny saved is a penny earned. What was lost, now is found. That kind of thing.

There’s even a modern rationalization: it’s not regifting, it’s recycling! Everyone wants their gifts to be green.

But, be careful. No matter how right your choice may feel to you, if the re-giftee finds out you’re a regifter, forgiveness can be as hard to find as a thoughtful gift at a company holiday party.

And keep in mind, there are certain rules of etiquette even among the re-gifting set:

Mom, dad, grandma, husband, wife, child or siblings are out of the re-gifting circle. Chances are, they’d figure out what’s going on, and besides, a little effort is called for when it comes to those who make us who we are.

Cousins are edging into the re-gifting zone. Some families are close, others less so. Use your discretion.

Friends are fine to re-gift with, but there’s always the risk that you’ll mistakenly be giving their own gifts back to them. To successfully re-gift, you may want to consider keeping a list of bad gifts and whom they came from. You can avoid confusion that way, and you get the bonus of knowing who deserves a crappy gift this year.

Co-workers are prime re-gifting territory. You don’t really know them, they don’t really know you and giving them a gift is often perfunctory or obligatory in the first place. How do you muddle through? Re-gift, re-gift and re-gift some more!

So, what can you re-gift and still come out looking like Santa Claus?

Gift cards: The least personal, most practical gifts imaginable, these are totally re-giftable. Of course, giving your grandma a certificate to fill her stocking at a sporting goods store, or your boyfriend bucks toward overpriced makeup will be a dead giveaway and would be breaking the unwritten intimacy rule. But that gift card someone gave you for the place with the awful coffee near your office can go straight to another colleague — just make sure the original giver isn’t around.

Outerwear: scarves, hats and gloves can make an excellent re-gift, provided they were not obviously intended for you, say in your favorite, yet unusual, color. Also, it’s important that these things have NEVER been worn (even one-time use leaves scent, city grime and other dead giveaways on these items). After all, how personal can a scarf be anyway?

Alcohol: The first example of an alcohol re-gift is an ancient Greek carving showing a man re-gifting twelve amphorae (large clay pots) of Thracian red to a colleague in the shipping business. So, bottles of wine or liquor are a fine choice and a great way to get rid of that odd blueberry brandy you always figured was a re-gift when it was first given to you. Whatever their suspicions, nobody will know for sure. But if you should happen to get caught, you can always point out that alcohol is a gift that gets better with age.

Lotions, etc.: If the scented lotion you were given will aggravate your allergies or you don’t wear perfume but were given a scent that would make a muskrat cringe, you’ve got some re-gifts to pass along.

Re-gifting doesn’t mean you’re cheap. There happens to be a recession going on out there, in case all those people looking for presents didn’t happen to notice. So even if in years past you deemed yourself too classy to unwrap, rewrap and pass gifts off as new, it’s time to get over it. And you can even use newspapers featuring your friend’s favorite basketball player or movie star instead of traditional wrapping paper.

This is part of the December 3, 2009 online edition of The Riverdale Press.

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