Regifting or regiving is the act of taking a

gift A gift or a present is an item given to someone without the expectation of payment or anything in return. An item is not a gift if that item is already owned by the one to whom it is given. Although gift-giving might involve an expectation ...

that has been received and giving it to somebody else, sometimes in the guise of a new gift.

Concept

Regifting differs from straightforward giving in that goods are not acquired specifically for donation. Typically, goods that have been received as a gift are offered to others, unbeknown to them that it was originally a gift to the person offering it. Often the motives are principally charitable but also includes giving items which are surplus to one's needs. However, re-gifting also refers to the act of giving away unwanted gifts as a way of disposing them. Regiving differs from

recycling Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the p ...

in that recycling is most often associated with breaking components down and rebuilding into new products.

Etymology

The term was popularized by a 1995 episode of the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

Seinfeld ''Seinfeld'' ( ) is an American television sitcom created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld. It aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, over nine seasons and List of Seinfeld episodes, 180 episodes. It stars Seinfeld as Jerry Seinfeld ( ...

'' ("

The Label Maker "The Label Maker" is the 98th episode of NBC sitcom '' Seinfeld''. This was the 12th episode for the sixth season. It aired on January 19, 1995. The episode follows a pair of Super Bowl tickets which are repeatedly gifted from one person to anothe ...

"), although the practice pre-dates the term considerably. In the episode, the character Elaine calls Dr. Tim Whatley a "regifter" after he gives

Jerry Seinfeld Jerome Allen Seinfeld ( ; born April 29, 1954) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He is best known for playing a Jerry Seinfeld (character), semi-fictionalized version of himself in the sitcom ''Seinfeld'', which he ...

a label-maker that was originally given to Whatley by Elaine. Another variant introduced in ''

'' is degifting (see

Indian giver "Indian giver" is a pejorative expression used to describe a person who gives a "gift" and later wants it back or who expects something of equivalent worth in return for the item. It is based on cultural misunderstandings that took place between ...

), which refers to the act of demanding a gift back from the receiver.

Etiquette

Several rules of

etiquette Etiquette () is the set of norms of personal behaviour in polite society, usually occurring in the form of an ethical code of the expected and accepted social behaviours that accord with the conventions and norms observed and practised by a ...

are proposed in popular media regarding regifting; they include rewrapping the gift, not using the gift before regifting it, and not giving the gift back to the original gift-giver. Regifting has become a popular addition to many

white elephant gift exchange A white elephant gift exchange, Yankee swap or Dirty Santa is a party game where amusing and impractical gifts are exchanged during festivities. The goal of a white elephant gift exchange is to entertain party-goers rather than to gain a gen ...

s or yankee swap events. There are no rules that specifically prohibit or encourage the practice of regifting at these parties, but generally the host of the party suggests regifting if it is an option. However, if the host suggests a spending limit for the party, it is generally poor etiquette to regift in lieu of making a purchase. The online variations of these exchanges eliminate this situation through their online purchasing requirements. One example of a formalization of this activity are the

s, in which items can be regifted from year to year. A variant of regifting was mentioned as one of

Oprah's Favorite Things "Oprah's Favorite Things" was an annual segment that appeared on ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'' from the 1990s to 2008 and 2010, as well as on '' Rachael Ray'' in 2017. In the segment, which airs during Thanksgiving week and was inspired by the holida ...

during the

recession In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction when there is a general decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending (an adverse demand shock). This may be triggered by various ...

-themed 2008 episode. A

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PublicMind Poll in Dec. 2010 showed that regifting was "commonplace." Burçak Ertimur, one of the investigators in the study, and a professor of marketing at FDU, said “The popularity of regifting is driven by many things for different people. For some, it’s thrift in difficult economic times, or it’s a way to get around annoyingly high expectations about gift-giving. It’s also awareness of, or guilt over, how much stuff goes into the landfill. But the main reason might be just the sheer volume of stuff we have,” she said. Regifting has recently become more acceptable when it was adopted by environmentally and budgetary conscious people that encourage the

Green Gifting Green gifting is an emerging trend that results in a lower environmental impact as well as a lower impact on personal budgets from the gift giving process. It began with the idea of recycling the packaging around a gift and has expanded into the mi ...

concept.

Commercial and other uses of the term

In the US, National Regifting Day is December 18, created by a debt-counselling group called

Money Management International Money Management International (MMI) is a United States non-profit that provides consumers with free credit counseling and education. In about 25 percent of its consultations, it helps consumers develop a Debt management plan, debt management or re ...

. Many office holiday parties are held on this day, and research shows that 40% of office party gifts are regifted without use. On October 24, 2008, the Governor of

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

, Bill Ritter Jr., declared December 18, 2008, "National Regifting Day". In Canada, eBay marketed "National Re-gifting Week" as December 26–30, after Christmas.

References

External links

''CNN Money'': Regifting 101

''MSN Money'': 12 rules for 'regifting' without fear

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National Regifting Day
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