Re-gifting

[7rider]

Okay....so the cake is in the oven now for tomorrow's holiday party at work.
We're having a "Yankee swap" - known by various names, but it's basically, bring a $10 wrapped gift, get a number, select a gift, next person takes yours, or selects another...and so on until it's done.
Chatting with a co-worker today, I mentioned that I didn't get anything for the swap (not willing to part with something I bought yesterday with TE-DC, so that will go to DH). I do have a few wedding presents that have never seen the light of day since we got married 5 years ago. One is a brand new T-Fal 10" nonstick saute pan. I joked that I should wrap it up and include it in the swap. Co-worker thought it would be a WONDERFUL idea, and was amazed that I had no use for it (how many frying pans does a person need???). These things go for $20, so it would be a generous re-gift.
Should I do it, or should I turn the house over looking for a boxed picture frame we've never used, or what???
Thoughts?

[Biciclista]

do it! great idea. I've regifted many times. I've gone from one place where i got a gift and handed it off to the next place I visited, and everyone was happy!

[badger]

I regift all the time! Saves me the trouble of buying gifts, and chances are that gift will get regifted, too! lol.

[Miranda]

Frying pans do wear out after a while. Or, they work out lovely for beating DHs with when the honeymoon is over. Oh... should I mention I've been married way longer than 5 years? Umm, nevermind...

YES! Re-gift it. One person's trash can be another's treasure.

I just re-gifted part of my last year xmas gifts. Just waiting for the basement to re-load from this year's holiday.

[salsabike]

There's not a thing wrong with regifting. You might want to think, though, about the $20 part, only because I have heard other people in work gift exchanges, and family ones too, come to think of it, about what they called "the gift value arms race", where people go over the $10 limit, and then other people feel badly, so next time THEY go over the $10 limit...etc.

[7rider]

There's not a thing wrong with regifting. You might want to think, though, about the $20 part, only because I have heard other people in work gift exchanges, and family ones too, come to think of it, about what they called "the gift value arms race", where people go over the $10 limit, and then other people feel badly, so next time THEY go over the $10 limit...etc.

That's part of my dilemma. But honestly, it's of no value to me (maybe I could get $10 for it on Craigslist). And, although we're doing a similar exchange with my family with $20 gifts, I can't give it there...well, because my brother gave it to me (does that make the re-gifting worse??).

[salsabike]

snort...nah. If you can't use it, you can't use it.

Side funny story: My husband's middle brother, who is pretty distant from the family (metaphorically speaking), emailed us four or five years ago and said, gee whiz, you guys are hard to buy a Christmas present for--what do you like to do, etc.? We said, bikes, rock hunting, gardening, hiking, camping, etc.


What did we get that year from them? A George Foreman grill. We don't cook much and didn't list it as an interest. It was very funny. We've never been able to decide what to do with it. But it made us laugh, anyway.

At Chris' office, they do this gift exchange/trade thing, but it's intentionally a "white elephant" gift thing, so it usually involves stuff like duck decoys that quack loudly when you walk by. The last year they did this, we brought a faux leopard-skin toilet seat cover from Archie McPhee's that was the hit of the night--it got "taken" five times.

[Tuckervill]

All the "Yankee swaps" I've been to always allowed for a gift from home that wasn't necessarily bought in this decade. In fact, some of the best ones I've been to have been when someone unloaded all their old cookbooks or the felted hat they made 5 years ago and never wore or the primitive Sculpy angels they cooked up right before the party (I just put those up with the other xmas decorations, and I remember that dear friend every time I pull them out). People FOUGHT over the felted hat!

I wouldn't know how much a T-fal skillet is worth, if I ended up with it.

Karen (we call it "Dirty Santa")

[sfa]

Absolutely regift! The thing that makes the Yankee swaps fun is when there's one item that everyone wants so it keeps getting stolen. Aa good frying pan would probably fit the bill. And it doesn't count as going over the limit if you're bringing something from home.

At my last job the rule was either something from home you don't want OR something costing less than $10, and the best things were always the odd things from home. My favorite was a bubbling (fake jacuzzi) bath mat thing that our rentals manager had gotten for some celebrity who was miffed that her hotel room didn't have a jacuzzi. People nearly got in fist fights over that thing.

Sarah

[msincredible]

At Chris' office, they do this gift exchange/trade thing, but it's intentionally a "white elephant" gift thing, so it usually involves stuff like duck decoys that quack loudly when you walk by. The last year they did this, we brought a faux leopard-skin toilet seat cover from Archie McPhee's that was the hit of the night--it got "taken" five times.

Those are the same kind of gift exchanges I usually do too. A few years ago I brought the hit, it was a Mr. Potato Head massager.

[Miranda]

snort...nah. If you can't use it, you can't use it.

Side funny story: My husband's middle brother, who is pretty distant from the family (metaphorically speaking), emailed us four or five years ago and said, gee whiz, you guys are hard to buy a Christmas present for--what do you like to do, etc.? We said, bikes, rock hunting, gardening, hiking, camping, etc.


What did we get that year from them? A George Foreman grill. We don't cook much and didn't list it as an interest. It was very funny. We've never been able to decide what to do with it. But it made us laugh, anyway.

At Chris' office, they do this gift exchange/trade thing, but it's intentionally a "white elephant" gift thing, so it usually involves stuff like duck decoys that quack loudly when you walk by. The last year they did this, we brought a faux leopard-skin toilet seat cover from Archie McPhee's that was the hit of the night--it got "taken" five times.

Oh my... that's part of my basement garage sale material. I try and try and try to tell my inlaws that at pushin 20yrs as a married woman in a home of her own I have ENOUGH "kitchen stuff" to last me five lifetimes. NO MORE! I want... uumm cash is universal, gift cards to sporting goods store, *g*e*a*r*... ANYTHING but the freakin kitchen stuff. Well, ITO, "the kitchen" is where I should remain and have no interest in life further. So, guess what's in my re-gifting store. The sad part is the waste of $ for things I really need/want. Rant concluded. The thing about the GF Grill (got one of those too same deal) is *maybe* if you don't exclusively wilderness camp (like parks/ sites with electric hook up) the grill might come in handy for a rainy camping day to cook meat. The fm has camped some in a tent, but being allergy people we have a pop-up with a/c. Yes, I know it's lame camping. But, DH & the kids need their electronics too. Whatever. That's when I ride my mtb alone on the trails. But, my two cents is do that with your GF Grill.

7Rider... If you don't end up giving your frying pan away at the office party, you could always re-gift some of your unwanteds to charity. I have done that before with part of my stuff. Someone might be really happy to get it. Actually, it feels sorta liberating.