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Regifting or regiving is the act of taking a gift that has been received and giving it to somebody else, sometimes in the guise of a new gift.
Regiving differs from recycling in that recycling is most often associated with breaking components down and rebuilding into new products. Wednesday, July 22, 2020
Another variant introduced in Seinfeld is degifting (see Indian giver), which refers to the act of demanding a gift back from the receiver.
Regifting has become a popular addition to many white elephant gift exchanges or yankee swap events. There are no rules that specifically prohibit or encourage the practice of regifting at these parties, but generally the host of the party suggests regifting if it is an option. However, if the host suggests a spending limit for the party, it is generally poor etiquette to regift in lieu of making a purchase. The online variations of these exchanges eliminate this situation through their online purchasing requirements. One example of a formalization of this activity are the white elephant gift exchanges, in which items can be regifted from year to year.
A variant of regifting was mentioned as one of Oprah's Favorite Things during the recession-themed 2008 episode.
A Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind Poll in December 2010 showed that regifting was commonplace.Leslie Kwoh, "Four in 10 New Jerseyans have regifted presents, poll finds," Star-Ledger, Dec. 21, 2010, p. C1. Burçak Ertimur, one of the investigators in the study, and a professor of marketing at FDU, said “The popularity of regifting is driven by many things for different people. For some, it’s thrift in difficult economic times, or it’s a way to get around annoyingly high expectations about gift-giving. It’s also awareness of, or guilt over, how much stuff goes into the landfill. But the main reason might be just the sheer volume of stuff we have,” she said.Tom Hester Sr., "Regifting’s popularity driven by many factors," New Jersey Newsroom. Dec. 20, 2010 accessed at http://www.newjerseynewsroom.com/style/regiftings-popularity-driven-by-many-factors
Regifting has recently become more acceptable when it was adopted by environmentally and budgetary conscious people that encourage the green gifting concept.
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