One of our son’s has a model airplane that he’s never put together. In fact, he’s never even taken the cellophane off the box. The story goes that he received it as a birthday present when he was about 13 but wasn’t real keen on it. He saved it and later when he needed to give a present to a friend he wrapped it up and regifted it. He didn’t realize that the person he was giving it to was the same person who had given the plane to him. Since they were pretty good friends, they laughed about it and it became the standing present that they have now given back and forth for over 20 years.
Sometimes I feel a little guilty if I regift something, but sometimes there are those occasions when I really need to give something but it’s more of an honorary gift since the receiver doesn’t really need anything. I keep a drawer of gifts for occasions like this. Some are new things from our travels, some are duplicates, some are gag gifts, and some are just nice things – but not my style. How do you feel about giving or receiving a “regift”? Is it being cheesy, ungrateful, gauche, frugal…?
