recycling presents

MIRRY_2

Do any of you recycle presents ?

For example, for my birthday I got 2 presents that I do not want,
I feel guilty about this
Could I give them to someone else for christmas ?

Smashing

Of course! Far better for it to go somewhere it will be of use.

Just make sure they don't 'know' the other person. Or you give something back to the person who gave it to you. (Stick a note on who gave you what.)

GardenMillie

Absolutely, I keep a "present box" where I put unwanted gifts along with things I pick up during the year and when a birthday or special occasion comes up I always check what's in the box first before buying something. I think of it as re-cycling.:T

Pink.

Hi Mirry,

This poll by MSE Andrea might interest you: Unwanted gift recycling

Pink

freyasmum

when my daughter was born 5 weeks ago we were given loads of presents for her and most of it was clothing. It was extremely kind of people, however some of the things I just wouldn't put onto a newborn (for example dark denim as I prefer little white and pink soft clothes).

I felt guilty for thinking that I didn't like some of the stuff and I felt I was being ungrateful until my dad reassured me that it was far better to return the unwanted gift for something that would be used and wanted rather than keep it and basically have it go to waste. He also said that not everyone has the same taste and you can't expect every single thing you buy to be to the recipient's taste all the time.

I suppose it is the same for giving it to someone else, that way the gift isn't going to waste.

spookycat_2

Of course it's okay!
I do this all the time with duplicate presents, those gifts I would consider tat (usually eBayed instead) and any clothes that I wouldn't buy the children if I saw instore. I would much rather that I or anyone I had given a gift to, recycled in this way and used the money to get the children something more suitable.
I keep the things that are suitable to be given to other people in a box with a sticky attached detailing who gave it & when so it has no chance of going back to anyone who might smell a rat. This includes people who know that person too.
I estimate that about half of my christmas gifts or birthday gifts are recycled to others.
I also keep the cards from all occasions and cut them up to recycle into my own creations for the following year. Same principle of itemising applies to cards.

Finally, the way I think of it is, if I won't use it within 3 months then it doesn't belong in my house and therefore there is no guilt to be had. This is why my house is no longer cluttered!

Littlemiss-lotsofdebt

I'm not ashamed to admit I do this. For some reason, I always seem to get bought tons of 'smellies' Now, its not that I'm ungrateful, but there is a limit to how many bath sets you actually need in life, so I do tend to recycle things like this. The sets I get bought are usually really nice ones but I know they would gather dust in my cupboard before I used them, I actually quite like simple, plain toiletry stuff as I have very dry, sensitive skin - I use 55p Tesco showergel - as it seems to suit me.

clarew

yep, i do this lots. Better for it to be used or for you to change for credit voucher etc that you can use, rather than for it to be gathering dust and unwanted. I also do this with some of my younger childs presents, he has got so much that he'd never notice some of them leaving the house unopened!

~(think lots of people do it, but only some of us admit it!!)

newleaf

Yup, been doing this for years - only thing is, I'm getting on a bit, and I now have to label things to remind me who gave them so that I don't return to sender :rotfl:

Floss

Like most posters, I've done this for ages....i keep a running list in the box to say who gave what so it doesn't go back to the giver!

Queen.Bess

A few years ago I would never entertain the thought of giving away someone else's present to me, but times have changed and last Christmas we gave a few recycled presents away. Will be doing it in earnest this year and OH and I already have a 'present box' with gifts in!

As previously said though, just make sure you don't give it to the person who gave it to you!