To give people second hand gifts

[GADDay]

Please be honest. Is this a really crap thing to do.

The gifts are good quality, in exceptional condition and if bought new, would cost £100's.

I would prefer to receive repurposed or second hand. So a bit biased.

If it is in great condition and the person being gifted would love it, it’s fine. The workmanship in some used items is sometimes much better:

I hate to tell you this, but the older and rarer something is the more expensive it is .First editions, Georgian silver, antique jewellery. Pre-owned, used, read and worn by many.

Surely you know your own nearest and dearest and know whether used / 2nd hand would be gratefully received . I know that I would not want a 2nd hand present and that it would be very poorly received in my family so it’s not something I would do .

If the gifts are carefully thought out, as yours seem to be, I wouldn’t mind at all if they were second hand.

Absolutely yes. We've set a £10 limit for the family this year (all adults), homemade and second hand a bonus. I've asked for charity shop jigsaws and I've already bought several 'as new' books and a piece of china the recipients will enjoy. None of us need 'stuff' per se, especially not for the sake of receiving a present so we're making a game out of it, and I'm guessing people will put a lot more thought into the gifts they're giving because of it.

We are going to try and buy nothing new in 2023 for a whole year.

What does this mean? How can you not buy anything new for a year?

My Christmas list specifically says 1000 piece jigsaws, including secondhand / charity shop; Ds1 collects quirky coffee cups, so secondhand or retro is perfect.. I think it’s about knowing your audience.

Got a really scraggly old cuddly toy as a 2nd hand gift for my 3 year old daughter from her aunt one year and was s bit offended tbh. They weren't rich at the time but I'd have preferred something from poundland or b and m. Or nothing if they were skint. This was worse than nothing somehow.

If you get a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle from a charity shop, it is almost guaranteed that it will have less than 1000 pieces. You will likely get nine hundred and ninety something pieces, the remainder will be under somebody’s sofa or in their vacuum cleaner 😄

It really depends. I have given books (out of print, only available in second-hand bookshops), jewellery and very specific wine glasses (think vintage).

In these cases it was because the recipient asked for them.

I bought DD second hand toys (board games, bike, playmobil, Brio).

I would never give used electronic gifts or clearly used items which are shown signes of wear and tear.

It's quite simple. We will buy nothing new.

We will buy secondhand if absolutely needed. Preferably not at all.

It's a natural progression for us. We have just gifted a huge amount of furniture, toys, books etc to our local community via our Buy Nothing online scheme. We are avid recyclers, food waste is composted/goes to the chickens, soft plastics go to a specialist recycling place. This year we are on track to make no more than one garbage bag of landfill per week for our family of 5. We like a target 😁 😀 😃 ♻️.

Never had an issue with missing pieces in charity shop jigsaws - I think the volunteers put them together to make sure all the pieces are intact! The pleasure of finding a lovely jigsaw which would retail for £15 for a couple of quid would lessen the pain of the odd missing piece.

Us too. We have received and gifted a few puzzles. The etiquette is to count the pieces so you can confirm they are all there.

I bloody love the Buy Nothing online community.

There are loads of things you can’t buy second hand that you will need though, so surely you just mean you are going to try to buy as much second hand stuff as possible and limit your spending?

Like what?

Beside food and personal toiletries - which we will limit to only what we need, I can't think of anything we can't buy second hand or get for free.

Like what?

With the exception of new underwear if it needs replacing (and I have bought unwanted but new underwear on Vinted which is still effectively second hand), I'm struggling to think of anything.

Obviously you can't buy second hand food 🤣

😄 🤣 😂 yes - groceries will be bought new. We have chickens, a veggie patch, fruit trees and a community cooperative where we can swap produce.

Basic toiletries will be bought new as well as essential cleaning/laundry items.

Shoes, underwear/ hosiery, nightwear, towels, tea towels, bed linen, cosmetics, paper, anything medicinal, cookware.. I mean, you can get some of that stuff secondhand but it’s not advisable.
And what if you can’t find things in a specific size or that suit a particular purpose?

I’m another one who thinks it depends on who you’re giving to. I don’t want anything second hand in my home. I don’t care if it has never been taken out of the box and came from the cleanest house in Britain, or whether it’s a valuable antique. I don’t want it and I wouldn’t keep it. I wouldn’t buy anything second hand either.

But if you’re buying for someone who has the same environmental concerns as you, they’d probably love it, especially if it suits their interests.

We have more than enough shoes and underwear, nightwear, tea towels, bedlinen and cosmetics. I am really confident that we will not need any of those things.

That said, I would happily buy or be gifted second hand of all of those, bar knickers. So I will be taking extra special care of undies and period pants.

Only shoes for children need buying every year. I could go a year without buying the rest. Many of those items last years.

This is a great thread!
I'm a long-time advocate for second hand gifting and really pleased that Camp Nope is so small.
Most of us have all we need.
Curbing consumption is a good thing.

No for me. My (quite wealthy) aunt used to do this. She gave me a scarf once she’d obviously bought in a charity shop probably ‘newish’ but it smelled of the musty charity shop and looked grubby. Horrible. It’s not in the spirit of gift giving and it just shows a meanness that is slightly insulting. What’s worse is you claim you’re doing it for ‘eco’ reasons when the fact is it’s just plain old stinginess.

Recipients will lie and appear to be pleased but most won’t be. If you can’t give someone something pristine and with a generous spirit, keep your shekels and just don’t fucking bother.

You don't know what has been ordered and returned, things are handled in shops, tried on. What's the difference between that and something in as new condition?

It completely depends on the receiver.

Both of my SILs are high earners and have quite similar tastes.

One would be thrilled with a 2nd hand bargain gift and the other would be (secretly) horrified!