Don't Waste Your Money: Rules of regifting - ToledoNewsNow.com: News, Weather & Sports for Toledo, OH

(Toledo News Now) - The hottest trend in gift giving these days? "Regifting," when you take a gift someone gave you, rewrap it, and hand it to someone else. It can be fine, as long as you know the rules.

Use Caution When Passing Along A Gift

AOL Daily Finance says you need to be careful. You don't want to get caught regifting, which is what happened back in 1995 when the term "regifting" was born on the TV show Seinfeld. (Elaine accuses Jerry of being a "regifter," when she discovers a gift was a hand-me-down.)

Daily Finance's rules for regifting:

1. Make sure the item is unopened, with no seals broken.

2. Doublecheck for personal names, initials, or monograms, which are red flags for hand-me-downs.

3. Be sure to wrap it in fresh paper, so it looks as though you bought it and wrapped it lovingly. Never just reapply tape to the old wrapping paper.

Doesn't That Stink?

From the Doesn't That Stink file comes avoiding what Daily Finance calls the "Seinfeld Scenario." That's when you accidentally give it to someone in the same social circle and they find out.

So the most important rule of all:

4. It's best to give that secondhand gift to someone on the other side of your family, or someone who doesn't know the original gifter. In other words, if it is from work, never regift to anyone connected with your job or employer.

Bottom Line

There is nothing wrong with regifting, as long as you are careful, and don't do anything that embarrasses you or the person who gave it to you.

That way you don't waste your money.   

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