Re-gifting Goof Up

Everyone re-gifts -- the items received start mounting up and soon no room is left for one's beloved treasures. Re-gifting is a form of recycling -- one way to help the planet manage all the clutter one has acquired. Re-gifting comes with specific requirements that must be followed in order to ensure the receiver doesn't know the gift they were given has been recycled.

At a recent birthday party, guests arrived with gifts in tow. Excitement mounted as the celebrant eyed the gifts. From facials to massages and candles and books to dinners, all gifts were appreciated and all givers were thanked profusely. Givers beamed as they received praise for their most generous gift selections.

Displaying the birthday cards and gifts at home resulted in an interesting discovery. One gift, a lovely large votive candle housed in a circular sage green container, as seen in the photo, came with a card obviously attached at the manufacturing site. That was not the problem. The problem arose while removing the previously attached card revealed best wishes from a previous giver to the most recent giver who gave the gift to me. Ouch.

The votive candle is loved as much today as it was on Monday but the message is clear: when re-gifting one must be sure to remove all signs of previous gifting to avoid a major faux paus. Laughter ensued when the discovery was made, but should the error be left as is, or should the gift giver be reminded to look carefully at re-gifted items to avoid future embarrassment? As the kind person I have been said to be, I will do nothing but remind readers to look before re-gifting. Take the proposed gift out of it's box and examine it; look at all attached cards. Removing the previous giver's name is a cut away. And so ends another birthday celebration until next year.

Photo attribution: somewhatfortyplus