I have a confession — I regifted once. It was before the word ‘regift’ was ever heard of!
Picture it — Dagsboro, 1979, A little country church and a sweet little wedding.
I hesitate to mention the name of the couple getting married (they still are) but a lot of my friends know this couple!
We had gotten married in February and, true to form, received 3 can openers as gifts. I guess it was the gift of the season. It never occurred to me to try to exchange them. We had only one department store in town so chances were good to better that I’d hit the right place.
I chose one and packed away the other two.
Money was really, really tight so when the wedding rolled around I pulled out one of the can openers and wrapped it up. Voila! Instant wedding present!
Now, I’ve noticed that in recent years, the opening of the gifts is no longer a part of the reception festivities. The good Lord didn’t grace me with that being the case in 1979, though.
Back in the day, children, the bride and groom were forced to stand in front of the assembled well-wishers and feign utter delight at opening each and every can opener box they were given. Amid the ‘oohhss and aahhs‘, they were really thinking, ‘Why would we need seven punch bowls?’
And I guarantee the groom was always hoping to unwrap a new fishing pole. Or a gun rack.
They get to our gift and, as the unwrapping commences, the bride says ‘I recognize this box!’
Uh oh.
Apparently I had regifted back to the original gifter.
I believe that is known as a major faux pas!
Yes, I am STILL horrified!!
I hoped a hole would open up and swallow me.
I have never done that again! I would though, but with many rules set in place:
- Be sure to label who gave you the gift BEFORE you pack it away. Add the year you got it, the function, the state, and any other pertinent info.
- Regift at will, but at a function with a totally different guest list from the original gifting.
Would you ever regift, especially considering the current economy? Comments, please!!
