What is Regifting?
We all know someone who does it. I don’t have many friends nowadays, and very little family, so regifting is something that I haven’t done, but I have given away gifts that I haven’t used, like slippers two sizes smaller than I wear etc, but in the size of the giver…..
Anything I don’t want tends to go by way of charity raffles or into a charity drop off, but given that I don’t get more than a few presents these days, it’s not really an issue.
When you get a battered or dusty box wrapped up, or one that just looks a bit dog eared, it’s a dead giveaway that it’s been an unwanted regift, which is fair enough if someone has no other option. Personally, I’d rather receive nothing than someone else’s unwanted gifts, but that’s me, because it’s usually junk.
Unwanted gifts are usually unwanted for a reason…because the recipient didn’t like it, so they’re pawning it off onto someone else. Maybe that’s my age showing, because a study undertaken about regifting this year seems to show that younger people are happier to regift.
Regifting Study Results by The Works
Leading Book Retailer, The Works, were interested in regifting and how often it happens, so they commissioned a study to find out just how many of us were regifting unwanted pressies.
- Around 40% of the UK regifts for different reasons.
- Women are 20% more likely to regift than men and it’s estimated about 50% of all women regift.
- Women are less likely to get caught regifting.
- One in 10 regifters get caught.
- Younger people are more likely to regift with feelings of guilt than older people, with guilt showing at under the age of 34.
- Over 55’s have a more casual approach to regifting.
- The most popular regifted products are health & beauty and alcohol, with books alone making up about a quarter of all regifts.
- Women tend to wait about 7 months before regifting, while a quarter of men regift almost immediately, leading to them being discovered more frequently.
- Charlotte Blaquiere, Search Marketing Manager at The Works said, “There’s no shame in regifting presents today. While many people do feel guilty, we should be pleased by the one in five aged between 25 and 54 that see it more as an eco-friendly exercise.”
- Regifted and unwanted items are more likely to come from friends and also to be passed onto friends.
The Works commissioned a survey of 2,000 people across the UK asking questions relating to gifting, sentiment around it, and who they are most likely to receive unwanted gifts from and who they’re most likely to give them to. The survey was undertaken in October 2023.
Are you a Regifter?
So, are you a regifter? I’m more guilty of having a couple of extra gifts and then using them the following year as birthday presents or Christmas present add- ons.
For the last few years, I suspect there are more and more gift regifts. It would be surprising if there weren’t, due to the economy and finances with the increase in the cost of living and energy prices. Perhaps saving gifts by regifting is the new Secret Santa, and beats finding a decent present for a tenner any day.
My biggest snort of laughter had to come from getting back the gift I had given someone two years before. I am sooooo glad I didn’t open it in front of her. I’d probably never have seen her again, and I do like her an awful lot. In fact, she’ll probably phone me and laugh her head off when she sees this post, as she’ll recognise herself, and she is lovely.