What is National Regifting Day

National Regifting Day. Photo: Twitter

National Re-gifting Day

Each year on the Thursday before Christmas, people across the United States participate in National Re-gifting Day. The day acknowledges the office parties and the unique Christmas gift exchanges that they do. This particular December Thursday appears to be the most common day for companies to hold their annual employee/company Holiday parties, reported nationaldaycalender.

As a method of recycling, approximately 14%, of those surveyed, believe that regifting is becoming more popular, for that reason alone.

History of Re-gifting Day

According to daysoftheyear, Re-gifting day was mostly seen as an office holiday before October 24th, 2008, which was the day that the state of Colorado declared December 18th as “National Re-gifting Day”.

The origin of the holiday came from office workers who were given gifts that they didn’t really want but didn’t want to throw away, so they re-gifted their present to someone who would want it and make good use of it.

Re-gifting, for us that don’t know its meaning, is the act of taking a gift that has been received and giving it to somebody else, sometimes in the guise of a new gift. The term “Re-gifting” was popularized by an episode of Seinfeld, specifically the episode titled “The Label Maker” even though the practice of it pre-dates the term quite substantially.

Re-gifting can sometimes be seen as a cruel practice. Why? Because re-gifting a gift that was given to you can be seen as a blatant disregard for the compassion that someone has shown you by either purchasing or creating the gift for you in particular.

How to observe #NationalRegiftingDay

While it may be an official holiday in some states, we recommend caution when deciding to re-gift something. The term does suggest, after all, that the item is unwanted, to begin with, and maybe unwanted by its next recipient.

Keep in mind the following re-gifting etiquette that checkiday suggests when considering participation in this holiday.

• Re-gift only when certain the recipient will enjoy your (unwanted) gift. If at any time you referred to it as junk, clutter, or dust collector, it’s probably not re-giftable.
• The gift is brand new and in its original packaging. No, hand me downs!
• Don’t hurt anyone’s feelings. If the gift had special meaning to the original giver, don’t re-gift.
• Don’t re-gift if the item is handmade or personalized. If Uncle Joe spent his spare hours whittling that panic whistle, you should keep it.
• Be careful not to re-gift something to the original giver. If you aren’t sure who gave it to you, don’t re-gift.
• On that same note, to avoid embarrassment, re-gift only when you are sure the new recipient won’t tell the original giver what they received from you. (Is it starting to feel deceitful yet?)
• Re-wrap all gifts and remove any tags that may suggest you didn’t do the shopping for the re-gifted item.
• Be prepared to answer questions about the gift. Questions such as “Where did you find this? I’ve been looking everywhere for one!” may give up the secret if you aren’t able to give a convincing answer. (It should really start feeling deceitful, now.)

Reasons why you might want to re-gift

Re-gifting. Photo: wsj.com

• A regift that is truly appreciated and desired helps to avoid waste and reduces the chance it will wind up in the landfill
• If you were given a gift that is sitting in a corner or closet collecting dust, it’s taking up space – give it to someone who will appreciate and have use for it
• Regifting can reduce the clutter in your home and in your life (assuming you don’t buy something else to replace it!)
• Also, experts have found that clutter can lead to feelings of overwhelm, frustration, sadness, and depression – a good reason to shed some of those things you don’t use or love

Re-gifting Day Quotes

“The appearance of things change according to the emotions, and thus we see magic and beauty in them, while the magic and beauty are really in ourselves.” - Kahlil Gibran

” What if everything is an illusion and nothing exists? In that case, I definitely overpaid for my carpet.” - Woody Allen

"There is no reason to feel guilty for re-gifting because the main purpose that someone gives you a gift is to give you pleasure."- Bruce Weinstein

“Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this too, was a gift.” - Mary Oliver

“Even when you’d lost everything you thought there was to lose, somebody came along and gave you something for free.” - Jenny Valentine

“If you’re waiting until you feel talented enough to make it, you’ll never make it.” - Criss Jami

Re-gifting Day Messages

Photo: thespruce.com

– Every year Re-gifting Day is celebrated on the third Thursday of December.

– We might get some things which are of no use to us. Instead of keeping these things to rot, it’s always better to give them to someone who would make fair use of it.

– The motive is to handover a thing that is not useful to one another. So, the value of the item doesn’t go in vain.

-Have you ever received something from someone and thought, “Oh gosh! What would I do of this?”

– Re-gifting Day has primarily celebrated in-office Christmas parties; then, it gained popularity in the general populace.

– National Re-gifting Day was made official by then Colorado governor Bill Ritter Jr in 2008.

– Re-gifting Day can also be the best opportunity to return gifts to your loved ones and show them how much they mean to you.

– Gifts are a symbol of love and affection, and a lot of thought should be put into selecting gifts for your special ones.

– Re-gifting Day falls around Christmas, and at that time of the year, people engage in exchanging gifts with their close ones

– Gift-giving has been in practice since ancient times. Kings, leaders, ministers have been exchanging gifts from time immemorial.

– Kings used to give lands and estates as gifts. The process started a long ago, and many of us don’t know about it as well.

– The statue of liberty was given as a gift to the American people by the French people during the American Revolution. It was gifted as a mark of their newfound alliance.

– Gifts are traditionally given wrapped in fancy paper or fancy plastic coverings with ribbon on top.

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