The Art of Re-Gifting

Don't lie, we've all done it. I can and will fully admit to waiting until after the holidays to give my friends presents just to see what miscellaneous items I picked up over the holidays (or what my mom received...I'm taking you down with me, mom). In my defense, I also had no source of income and wasn't really in the mood to drop a lot of money on people. And, in retrospect, probably for the best that I didn't go above and beyond every time. The people I did that for probably didn't deserve it.

I digress, re-gifting is a thing and I think it's about time we stop denying it. Sometimes you just have to suck it up and admit that sometimes you just don't have the time or energy to go out and shop for more people. Because let's be real, some people are impossible to shop for. I'm sorry that you HAVE ZERO INTERESTS, here's a scarf! Stay warm!


The key to re-gifting is to making sure that there's no way that the original gift giver will ever see that you have given their gift to someone else. Seriously. Avoid this. The chances of the original gift giver giving you a gift that was perfect for re-gifting is very, very slim and probably wasn't a thing. So, to avoid hurt feelings...DO NOT LET THE ORIGINAL GIFT GIVER SEE SAID GIFT. This takes strategic planning and you must be careful. Re-gifting is infinitely easier when the two groups are separate, so if there's separate friend groups or your family isn't friends with your friends. Really, it's all about keeping those two aspects of your life apart, not to be shady, but to conserve money during the holiday season.

The best re-gifting gifts are the following: wine, gift cards to places like Starbucks and Chipotle, candles, lotion, body spray, chocolates, scarves, gloves, beauty sets, small pouches/clutches, and that random teapot that you will never use in a thousand years because coffee is your bloodline and if you wanted tea you would just boil some water in a kettle and pour it over a tea bag in an individual mug instead of putting it in a separate teapot.

The worst re-gifting gifts are the following: anything with glitter (I love glitter but apparently people are not as thrilled with it as I am), food that isn't chocolate, gift cards to Office Max or the random pizzeria from around the corner that might actually be the front for a drug business, a homemade knitted infinity scarf that resembles a noose more than a scarf, hand sanitizer, anything with a monogram or name engraved on it, a Fitbit (unless they, for some reason, really really wanted a Fitbit and you didn't), and a pair of flip-flops in the dead of winter.