With the mad Christmas rush for gifts starting late this week and recalling a story I posted last year about the true meaning of giving, a non-profit group that counsels and educates consumers about their finances has given some credence to a popular and somewhat controversial style of giving: Regifting.
Houston-based Money Management Int. (MMI) created the Regiftable.com site to stir up the debate about regifting, particularly after a survey the organization conducted that found 40 percent of the respondents admitted they had recycled a gift to save money, spend less time on shopping or because they believed the recipient would like the gift. Some interesting suggestions about dipping your toe into the regifting pool:
- Don't recycle handmade or one-of-a-kind gifts.
- Remember not to give the "regift" back accidently to the person who gave it to you.
- Rewrap the gift and change the tag.
- Restrict your regifting to items that remain in their original packaging.
Interestingly, MMI had considered taking down the site after the holidays, but will keep it up for a while because the act of regifting has spread to weddings.
USA Today November 20, 2006