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

[MoustachaNatasha]

I know this will sound ungrateful, and I know the obvious answers are “just stop doing gifts,” “be glad you got anything at all,” or “maybe that’s all they can afford.” I get all of that, but that’s not really my question.
I always put thought into gifts I think my friends will genuinely like, but every year I seem to receive a random mix of toiletries or odds and ends that I can’t use, and feel too embarrassed to re-gift. Some of them are literally the free gifts you get when buying full sizes. They go straight into a cupboard and today I’m bagging them up to donate to my DD’s Christmas fair. It even crossed my mind that I’ll probably end up receiving something back from there in the next round of gifts.
So my actual question is: if you re-gift toiletries, do you honestly believe the recipient won’t notice, or do you just not care if they do?
Genuinely curious how others see this.

No idea. My mum always gives me makeup at Christmas and it's always the free samples that you get when you buy from one of the higher end brands that she uses.

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!

If it’s a packaged gift I would, but never something opened or a free gift.

My MIL has a Christmas sack of random £1ish presents that she lets people do a lucky dip from and it has random things in like toiletries, chocolate, gloves, socks, reusable shopping bags etc. It’s funny when people get a ‘booby prize.’ If you put them in something like this then free samples are ok I think.

I will regift if good quality products that I just won’t use. Anything high street I’d give to charity etc (though I tend to use most things I’m gifted)

edited for typo

I try to buy gifts I think will mean something to the recipient, I've only once re gifted and it was something nice, it just wasn't a scent I liked. I think it's a bit insulting tbh, because it's hardly giving when you offload free samples

I think it's usually quite obvious when anything at all has been regifted, unless its a very nice brand like L'Occitane that the original person for some reason doesn't want. I hate being given any toiletries really because i think skincare is very personal, especially the really crummy stuff like Baylis & Harding (can anyone actually get it to fucking lather?) I wouldn't dream of regifting anyone this stuff and usually these items go straight to the charity shop or in the bin.

Someone came to DD's birthday party and gave her one of the most crappy art sets I've ever seen, this person had similar aged kids and was certainly not short of money, it was very obviously an unwanted gift. I was quite pissed off at that because you really don't have to spend more than a few quid on a nice gift for a toddler.

I guess they don’t care as long as they offer something. We have stopped buying presents for friends for years now as you always end up with random things. Usually on birthdays our group of friends organises a surprise experience followed by a dinner for the birthday person (lots of thinking goes there to make sure fits the person’s interests) and for new years that we usually spend together people bring in expensive wines or cheeses etc to contribute to the meal. We all of us have kids and some years we even agreed before meeting for the new years party not to buy presents for the kids cause all of them have lots. We are super comfortable to discuss all that with each other. If you regularly get random things maybe discuss with your friends to start new transitions!

I have very rarely regifted anything. Last Christmas a ‘friend’ (who was very snobby about what toiletries she used and hated Bayliss & Harding) gave me a clearly regifted present of not only B&H but the donor had written greetings on the cardboard box!
It was very badly wrapped too, and clearly a last minute effort after I’d had a lovely Christmas bouquet delivered to her the previous day.
Since then she’s totally blanked me, hence the invert commas! Until that point we’d been what I thought good friends, even holidaying together 🤷🏼‍♀️

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..

I find that very odd. Why would you regift something your kids bought you if you couldn’t afford it. Why not enjoy it. Why leave expensive gifts on the way out, why not give it to the host normally?

I think regifting is weird and rude. I use most of my gifts or, if I can't, donate them. I wouldn't dream of regifting something. After all, what are the chances that it would suit the recipient? Not much.

I got a wonderful free clutch bag from No7 boots many moons ago as part of a Xmas free gift thing where you spend a certain amount & receive a free ‘gift’. Anyway I wore it to a wedding & another guest had the same bag & we both said how lovely it was & I mentioned I couldn’t believe it was free… well obviously hers had ben re-gifted and her face was crestfallen. I felt so bad for her..

I do regift but am always upfront about the fact that it is a regift, and only to certain people (mum, best friend , daughters) and when it clearly is more suited to them than me (eg I don’t use soap, mum loves nice ones, ditto dd and candles) We also have a set of truly hideous glass flowers given to me years ago by an aunt that we regift every Xmas to someone else in the close family, always beautifully wrapped and aim is to get them to open it without realising what it is, then they are stuck with them until next Xmas.

I believe the idea of buying gifts is to actually put some thought into giving something the recipient would appreciate.
My MIL buys loads of stuff throughout the year when its cheap, hat and gloves sets, make up bags, travel cups and gifts sets, she then allocates each item to a relative at Christmas. We all get some random item, nothing is bought with the person in mind which I think is pointless. Everything I get is sent to the charity shop as I don't need a travel mug or insulated bag. I wouldn't dream of regifting as no one else has a burning desire for those items either.

Hmmmm………don’t really mind a gift that’s been re-gifted…….but a do draw the line at receiving something that’s obviously been opened and partly used 🤔🙄

Indeed. As a (now 55 year old) ‘kid’ that buys my father expensive gifts that he could never afford (but will appreciate), I would be pretty pissed off if I found out he was passing my gifts on to his various friends.

Luckily (for the sake of our relationship), he doesn’t regift them. Instead they get “kept for best” 🙄so I assume I’ll inherit them all back one day, grrr.

I only regift to people I don't really know - like if I'm at a relative's at Christmas and gifting is happening but they have an in-law there, I might look in my regifting box for them. Never toiletries or food though.

I currently have some cat patterned socks in mine. Not quite sure who those might be useful for!

I wouldn’t regift for the reasons people describe

I do object to receiving gifts that have not only been regifted but clearly opened. I have a friend who does this and I now feel like doing the same back. I would really like to stop exchanging gifts with her altogether but just don't know how to approach it.

Send it back. It'll become that Christmas tradition you'll look back on fondly

Don't do birthdays just load of hassle n don't really do Xmas either but will meet friends for dinner/drinks in place of presents that way you don't end up with loads of tat you never gonna use Xmas is for kids really so I don't get the adults throwing toys out of pram over birthday/Xmas gifts they get

I’d never give someone a toiletry set, let alone regift one. Unless I knew someone loved a specific brand and wanted that. I don’t get it either. I do like to receive toiletries if they are as I said, specific brands that feel like a treat. Otherwise I feel receiving a generic toiletry set is the ultimate ‘I don’t really know you or care about what you like’. Harsh but true!

DH once got me a hideous lavender toiletry hamper off Amazon and never did it again. He thought it was really nice because it had like 26 items. That looked and smelled like grannies. Not my most edifying post but cathartic!!

I re-gift items that I won't / can't use, but not as Christmas / birthday presents. I just hand them over to someone who I know / think can use them and I'm very blunt about it- "I received this as a gift but it doesn't fit - would you like it?" Or, "This cream makes my skin itch - do you know anyone who likes this brand?" I don't wrap it up or anything - just hand it over to someone who would like/use it so it isn't wasted.

Ive got countless toiletry sets from secret fucking santa. Last year took the biscuit i recieved a scaff complete with body odor.
I do give away these unwanted cheap toiletry sets to the charity shop or to a friend (not as a gift). Don't know how to get rid of the bad juju.

Another layer to this - I have a friend - very comfortably off so its to due to money issues - who either sells or regifts everything she's given. She's returned gifts I've given her, repackaged, and said "I thought you could really use this!" - as if she's been to a shop and got it for me specially. So now, I only buy her stuff she can't sell or pass on - last birthday I got her flowers (really nice ones though not a supermarket bunch) and her face was a picture.