Recycling DC birthday presents.

[lonestartler]

My DS had a party recently and received a lot of presents.

All very nice but a lot of things that he's not into and wouldn't play with/use.

I made a note of who gifted what and I plan to reuse/recycle these gifts going forward to parties that my son is invited to in the future.

It's pretty much one party a week and the moment and costly. My husband doesn't really agree with this but as long as we are not gifting a present to the child who bought the present, does it matter?

Thoughts please? Does anyone else do this?

We do this, why doesn't your DH agree? If it's something I hate that DS loves obviously we keep it, but he doesn't need 3 paint your own piggy banks when he already has a piggy bank and hates painting.

I don't know why, maybe in case the parents of the child find out somehow? Ridiculous, I know. I'm sure a lot of people do it. I'm not being a cheapskate I just need to save money at the moment.

Oh I do this all the time. Seems wasteful otherwise. Just make sure you don’t accidentally give it back to the child who gave it to yours!

If anyone ever noticed just say oh my ds got the same for his bday and loved it! So I thought birthday child would too

I suppose it does depend slightly on the age of the child? DS is 4 and has no idea who got him things or what he's given as presents. I guess at something like 8 there might be a conversation between friends of "oh did you like X that I got you?"

Always did it and above is the brilliant response

Constant Kids parties are expensive

This. I do it too

Much more wasteful to open a toy that's not going to be played with. I wouldn't mind at all.

You're doing what many (maybe even most) parents do. It's better than just having a house full of toys gathering dust.

your trying to make sure you don't give it back to the original giver, but to be honest, most parents probably wouldn't remember what they'd given your child.

its money saving & saves a trip to the shops! Im all for it!

It's fine.
the unwritten contract of birthday parties is birthday parent spends ££ to entertain kids, parent of invited kids give gift in exchange. Those gifts balance out the money and effort you invested in the party and can therefore be used to offset the cost of other parties your kid will go to in the future!

Absolutely nothing wrong with this! It's much better for the environment to regift something than to put it in landfill. People should be more relaxed about regifting, it's not just a way to offload rubbish, it's a good way to reuse and recycle. Kids grow out of toys so fast anyway this is an ideal way to recycle.

I've just given a good friend for her birthday a collection of books that I've read and know she will enjoy reading, they are not new, I've read them all, there's no deception involved, friend now has new books to read, all happy.