Buying second hand items to give as Christmas presents?

Cyclamen

We call them 'new to me' gifts. If bought with thought I am all for it.

I have happily received second hand gifts this Christmas... books, unwanted craft sets. My husband and I have both given second hand gifts to each other.

The thoughts behind the gift matter and the charity shop book costing less than £1 (they forgot to rub the price out that was pencilled inside) will bring me plenty of enjoyment and came with a note explaining why the book was chosen for me by a friend.

My parents like audiobooks on CD and for the last few years I do a mixture of keeping an eye out in the sales and buying from ebay. This year I bought a bumper haul of used audiobooks. 8 books for the price of one new one seems a bargain, I still put love and thought into choosing titles.. my folks know they are used. They'd be horrified if I spent that much money new.

This year we have both shown my parents (not used to computers) how to buy used items on amazon.. I am pretty sure they have also sent second hand gifts to my Aunt.. they only buy new for my sister as she would be offended.

I have since found out that as a child many of my treasured gifts were second hand.. who new Father Christmas also bought used pogo sticks, my little ponies and so on?

I take a strong stance on this.. gifts aren't about price labels.. great if you want to and are able to pay them but about the thought. Handmade, 'new to me' are all great options.

Mistral001

longforgotten wrote: »

I admit I would not buy a present for family or friends unless I was confident they would be ok with it............

Why should you have to "admit" this? Seems an admirable approach to me. One can never know who will be offended by the receipt of a secondhand present no matter how much you think you know that person.

Mrs_Ryan

I bought my fiance a book for Christmas from a charity shop. It’s a rare version of the history of his favourite rugby team and he was absolutely over the moon with it. Its in absolutely mint condition but he knew due to the rarity of it that it would be second hand. He was fine with that because its out of print and not available new. However I think that is the one and only time I’ve ever given anything second hand. Nothing against it- just not usually for me unless like in this case where it’s something rare and unique.

Mistral001

Mrs_Ryan wrote: »

I bought my fiance a book for Christmas from a charity shop. It’s a rare version of the history of his favourite rugby team and he was absolutely over the moon with it. Its in absolutely mint condition but he knew due to the rarity of it that it would be second hand. He was fine with that because its out of print and not available new. However I think that is the one and only time I’ve ever given anything second hand. Nothing against it- just not usually for me unless like in this case where it’s something rare and unique.

That is fine. If is a collectable or antique worth more than the new price then that is completely different. I certainly would not be offended by getting an original Rembrandt as a Christmas present!

olgadapolga

I wouldn't have - and haven't had - an issue with receiving second hand items as presents. Some things just cannot be purchased new.

The only time I had a problem with it was when my lovely MIL got my two sons some inappropriate games for Christmas that she'd bought at an auction. She got my daughter a new laptop.

My DH and I debated what to do but in the end, because the woman had not gift wrapped the games, and because she had not given her presents to the children directly, I removed the gift tag from the laptop and said that it was for all three of them to use (this was with my DH's knowledge and approval). The games went to the local charity shop.

The funny thing about it was that my daughter, for whom the laptop had been intended, didn't like laptops and would not have used it anyway.