Do people really think their friends don’t notice re-gifted toiletries?

I cannot even.

The amount of toxic energy it would take to do this????? Awful.

Actually you’re right. Some of it isn’t even fit for the school raffle, and that stings even more. What annoys me is my own reaction: I feel flooded with shame when I open these gifts, yet I still put on gratitude. Then I overcompensate, I spend time, money and thought on their gift, only to get another piece of garbage in return. This year is the last time I’m putting myself through that.

Good for you that you have £10 plus to spend on the shit tonne of friends, family, work mates, kind neighbours etc who need gifts.
It’s hard when you are given decent gifts that would save a fortune ( especially if the recipient has more than enough stuff already).
Decent perfume in a tatty box is still decent perfume.
I understand a “ no thought” gift isn’t as nice as a thoughtful one but I realise people give stuff because it’s considered rude not to give gift.

JillMW · Today 14:53
My offspring arrive with beautiful expensive gifts that I could never afford. I take great joy in regifting to friends who I know would love the item. Usually I say but sometimes if I am expectedly going somewhere with a friend I might take them a bottle of Boli or a nicely packaged scent/ candle that I know they like and then I would not say as I usually leave it on their hall table as I leave.
i have friends who leave random gifts, sometimes with a raffle ticket attached. Lovely friends whom I love because of their personalities..

Don't know why people are saying this is sad @JillMW I think it's a lovely thing to do!

I save up for beauty advent calendars, then re-gift the contents- usually several at a time, and in nice toiletry bags.

Im a bit worried that this will be viewed similarly now.

Good for you that you have £10 plus to spend on the shit tonne of friends, family, work mates, kind neighbours etc who need gifts.
It’s hard when you are given decent gifts that would save a fortune ( especially if the recipient has more than enough stuff already).
Decent perfume in a tatty box is still decent perfume.
I understand a “ no thought” gift isn’t as nice as a thoughtful one but I realise people give stuff because it’s considered rude not to give gift.

One of my friends is a notorious regifter - one year she gave me soap (I don't use soap - sensitive skin) so, to see if she noticed, I gifted it back to her. Nothing was said but I got it back the following year! 😊 So, I think people just don't think others will notice!

One of my friends is a notorious regifter - one year she gave me soap (I don't use soap - sensitive skin) so, to see if she noticed, I gifted it back to her. Nothing was said but I got it back the following year! 😊 So, I think people just don't think others will notice!

My offspring arrive with beautiful expensive gifts that I could never afford. I take great joy in regifting to friends who I know would love the item. Usually I say but sometimes if I am expectedly going somewhere with a friend I might take them a bottle of Boli or a nicely packaged scent/ candle that I know they like and then I would not say as I usually leave it on their hall table as I leave.
i have friends who leave random gifts, sometimes with a raffle ticket attached. Lovely friends whom I love because of their personalities..

1. I don’t regift freebies. Exceptionally bad - unless I’m literally saying ”have this, I got it free”
2. I cannot remember ever regifting unwanted gifts but might it pass it on "would you like this, it’s not really my thing ” and not for a birthday or Xmas.
3. The ONLY time I "regift" is for my bookclub secret Santa/birthday gifts with a good book.

Unwanted toiletries or whatever get given to charity shops, given freely to friends who do like them or, donated to raffles.

Is it really such a bad things?

I’ve been gifted rituals and Elemis and even olaplex and have regifted with other gifts added. I didn’t think it was bad as otherwise gift sets that are £50+ sometimes would lay unused

Is it regifting that is the issue per se, or just if it is done randomly, thoughtlessly? I think there is a difference.

My in-laws are the worst for regifting. My MIL doesn’t like me so her regifts have an extra element of passive aggression. So things like out of date chocolate, random shit from car boot sale, clothes that probably were her mother’s and the wrong size.

My DH gets broken power tools (FIL hoards tools), or if one actually works FIL will see it at our house later and take it back.

The DC get random shit from charity shops that were only bought because it was particularly cheap, and we know this because FIL tells us, not because the DC would like it.

I leave our gifts to them to DH to sort. After he gave them a well thought out hamper which must have given them the idea the next Christmas to give us a cardboard box with a few things from their fridge, he gave up and didn’t get them anything last year.

💯

I don’t have much but I do put thought into a what I know a friend will likely enjoy based on what I know about them. So the most recent example, a friend said she liked a Himalayan lamp so I got her one and she really loved it. Also bought her expensive stationery/journals in the past as she’d starting diarising.

But all I’ve ever got from her was a large box of malteresers (house warming gift 2 years after being here) and for Christmas a mini bottle of sparkly pink nail polish and little pointy ring holder. Both in faded/crumpled but unopened packaging. She’s never known me to wear any makeup let alone nail polish and it’s actually one of the things we joke about that o enjoy being bare faced and ‘plain’ and also I don’t own any jewellery at all.

Makes me sad becaus she has two teenage daughters and I think she just regifts any of their unwanted leftovers as opposed to putting any real thought into me like I do her. And she isn’t in debt or struggling. I drink chai tea, like biscuits, enjoy history - she knows these things but would rather just gift things her own teens reject 🤦🏻‍♀️.

Going to the Christmas fair next week I have:
Baylis & Harding handwash and hand lotion, not same range - gifted to me in a tatty paper gift bag under the guise of 'self care' (friend actually said this)
A hideous sequin pouch that was a free gift from one of the high street make up brands quite a while back, with three travel sized Sanctuary bottles that don't really go with one another
An old Oliver Bonas eau de parfum in a tatty box
a set of 4 tinned candles in a transparent box that's scratched and battered x 2 (same friend gave this to me two years in a row. This person is a primary school teacher)
A raffia bag that I actually saw my friend use.
A scented christmas candle (that never had any scent when gifted to me as it was clearly old)

Last week I was also given a box of chocolates from M&S but when I opened the box, 90% of the chocolates had completely melted and fused dry with one another, so I imagine this is another re-gift that's been left lying around for a while.

Honestly it feels really crappy and like I'm not worth the effort. Stop doing it.