Is Re-gifting Ok?

Recently I did one of those “what kind of a…” online quizes. This one was about re-gifting. The outcome was to tell you if you were comfortable with passing on a gift you had received from someone else. Turns out I am not an avid re-gifter. That’s too bad too because we are in a recession and I personally am in debt. I started to think about the issue more deeply. Is it inherently wrong to pass on something that someone else gave us?

When I was little, back in the old country (Poland, to be precise), I remember hearing tales of a lady in the family who was known for re-gifiting. At the time I never thought much about it. I just knew that whenever you invited aunt Sabina for Christmas celebrations, you should expect to be given something she either received from someone else or something she had had for a time and was tired of. There was always a knowing smile that accompanied these family confessions. As a child, I had no idea that perhaps she could not afford to buy everyone a present. I just knew it was wrong on some level. Perhaps that is what colours my perceptions of passing on gifts now.

I wonder, does re-gifting go against the giving spirit? After all, as the giver whose gift gets passed on, you should not have any reservations. You do not give things conditionally. In the act of giving, you are gving the other person permission to do whatever they choose with your gift. It is now, after all, theirs. You can have no say in what they do with it. In our consumerist society the number of goods is staggering and keeps growing. Is it not better that an unwanted thing gets passed on to someone who might use it?

And yet… A few Christmases ago I gave my mother a sweater. In a recent visit to Poland she gave that sweater to my grandmother. I am happy that my grandmother is enjoying the sweater. I am more than a little cheesed at my mom.