To think this is a widely understood unwritten rule?

[GiftTag]

At a birthday party and as I was dropping off the present with the others another mum noticed we hadn't written on the gift tag. She asked if I wanted a pen so I could write on it and I politely explained I never write on the gift tag so the bag can easily be reused (this one was actually already being reused probably from my own child's party).

She thought this was completely bizarre and genuinely didn't seem to be able to comprehend that this was quite normal behaviour.

She continued to repeat of course you write on the tag that's why its there and how would they know who the gifts was from (I did say the card was in the bag). She seemed stuck on a loop even asking others nearby if they had heard of people doing this before. It not me is it? This is not weird, most people don't write on the tags so the bags can be reused?

No.

Of course it isn't a widely understood unwritten rule.

What on earth is the point of a gift tag if you don't write on it?

i write on them to give you others - when I receive one - I cut the tag off and reuse the bag .

it’s really not that deep.

Hello 👋 Now you do. 😁

This is super common. I regularly have had gifts for both my kids that either :

• have a bag with tag left blank
• have clearly been re-used with the tag removed

I regularly re-use bags and don't always write the tags.

Everyone sellotapes the card to the present so you know who its from.

If I receive a bag with the gift tag written on it I just rip the tag off and reuse the bag. The tag is made of quite thin card and comes off easily.
If it’s a situation where there are lots of presents I put a card inside the bag. If it’s for a friend I don’t bother with a card they know who it’s from

But you can't always fit the card in the bag?

Childrens party you write a gift tag so that the child can a) write a thank you if they are a family that does that or b) regift the present if not suitable - no tag runs the risk of one regifting it to the child that brought the present.

If people do or don't want to write on bags is doesn't matter, either is fine, but the fact that she wouldn't let it drop and even drew others in was pretty crass on her part OP. She's probably just one of those many tiresome people who struggles with others having their own ideas and preferences on things. Some people are just like that, I guess others doing things differently probably makes them doubtful of themselves or something?

"Two mums meeting at a party. Struggling to understand each others realities. One lives in a reality where gift tags are written on, the other where they are left blank. The latter proceeds to post online to try and gain deeper understanding."

Sure you can, unless you are only giving people wine in wine bottle gift bags.

I've not bought a gift bag for years as I've got loads of them that I recycle. If a tag is written on I take it off, if not I leave it blank, as I'm usually giving the present to the actual person, with a card inside, so they know it's from me. I'm long past the small children/ party circuit but I can see the point of perhaps writing it on in that circumstance but not to the point of pulling you up about it!

DH and I don't write on the gift bag tags and neither does anyone else I receive presents from! My mum reuses the same bags for everyone every Christmas 😀

This will blow your mind! My mum always said not to stick down birthday card envelopes or write anything on the outside so that you could save the envelope "as you never know when you'll need a blank envelope".
My kids thought this was ridiculous, until the fateful day one of them bought a card and didn't pick up the envelope. They had to ask ME if I had any blank ones of that size in my stash. Oh how I laughed!

It doesn't really matter

It genuinely isn't that interesting

The woman sounds like she's either being incredibly passive aggressive implying that you're mean or that she is really stupid and simply has nothing else going on in her head so gets fixated on boring s* that nobody else thinks is worth discussing.

Or possibly both.

I would write on the tag in this situation, as that is the prerogative of the initial bag buyer, but as the parent of the birthday child I would then remove the tag and reuse the bag.

However I think the whole conversation was mental.

Me too

except at Christmas, we have a lot of siblings, each family gets a bag, I write on the tag then, otherwise I would get completely muddled.

but Christmas buying for family/siblings is a whole thread of its own

Most people write on the tag. Then when it’s reused the tag is removed. If nobody uses the tag at any point in the using/reusing cycle there’s no need for it to be on there…

Exactly this.
She is very weird for forcing you to do it, but you are weird to refuse.
Of course everyone reuses gift bags, but if there is a crazy person, I would just pander to her, no skin off my nose. :)

Of course everyone reuses gift bags

Unfortunately not judging by the thread.

I got to the end of page one thinking "yeah, that's right, nobody bothers writing on the tag because there's a card in the bag anyway! And yes, it doesn't matter f someone has written on the tag, you can just take it off and re-use the bag!" before I realised that I have genuinely picked up an old gift bag, checked the tag, and then been annoyed that someone has written on it because now I can't re-use it 🤦
So I guess, thank you to this thread for making me aware of my failure to reason?

Also, round my way, people use those giant gift bags to put all their extra rubbish out after christmas. I'm always shocked and appalled.

If the bag's going to be reused many times anyway, wouldn't it make just as much sense to write on the tag the first time, and then the first recipient takes it off, and reuses with a card inside, or tying on another tag, or whatever?

I’m with you OP. I don’t write on the tag for the same reasons.

Everyone in my home city never writes on the tag. It’s the law.

I'm going to move to your home city 😂.

Huh? I reuse gift bags all time. I just cut the tag off if it's been written on and attach a new one. Problem solved. Doesn't everybody do this? Or am I just weird to have a stash of spare tags that I've accumulated over the years? 🤷‍♀️

No, it’s not weird. I always save gift bags and re-use them.