OK, you’ve all done it, so you might as well admit it. You’ve regifted something given to you. You just grabbed that still-in-the-box juicer and rewrapped it for Uncle John.
Admittedly, women are probably worse at this than men, but that’s just because men do so little gift-buying, they don’t have to worry what to get Uncle John in the first place.
These days, you could make a case that regifting is the ultimate in recycling (you know, reduce, reuse, regift!). Even the word “recycling” has been revamped into “upcycling,” which sounds oh-so-much-more trendy and hip.
But there are some things that you’ve received or used on the farm that are probably better left in the shed.
Basically, don’t rewrap anything that’s been near the barn. That eau de manure kind of lingers, no matter how many layers of tissue paper you use.
And I know you haven’t used that old desktop computer in the farm office closet lately, but don’t bother regifting that, even to a starving young farmer. The floppy disks aren’t compatible with, well, with anything.
No one wants to receive those shot glasses you’ve been using to hold iodine tincture during navel dipping, either.
That pair of clippers you don’t like? You may still have the original box and packaging, but the hair in the blades is a dead giveaway.
I know you have that Claxton fruitcake in the cupboard that Aunt Edith sent, but that was back in 1986. I think there’s a statute of limitations on regifting fruitcake.
You can regift the Noba baseball cap, as long as you call it “vintage,” and aren’t passing it off as new. (I mean, how long has it been since Noba merged…?)
I know you might use beer and wine cooler bottles to bottle feed your lambs (those nipples fit them perfectly!), but you probably don’t want to refill them with homebrew and put them under a Christmas tree.
Baler twine and duct tape are always great gifts. But only if the ball or roll is new. Nice try passing off the partially used ones.
The ski mask you got from your mother-in-law 10 years ago is an OK regift. I mean, it gets cold feeding calves at 5 a.m. in mid-January. However, leaving it in the original box — with her original to/from card — switches its status completely.
Castration bands don’t substitute as hair accessories for your niece.
The Case IH coffee cup is fair game to regift only if it hasn’t served as a pen and pencil holder in the farm office for 11 years.
If you’re regifting within the farming community, I’ll tell you what is a golden regift: a five-gallon bucket (not that you probably originally received it as a gift). You can never have too many five-gallon buckets. Or tarps. Or rolls of duct tape or baler twine (see above).
You probably shouldn’t regift any of those promotional gizmos you got from a farm biz salesman. You know, the mini-flashlight, bottle opener, letter opener, desk calendar, magnet calendar, wall calendar, can koozie, or water bottle (even if it is BPA free). Same goes for giving any children on your list the freebie pencils or cow erasers you got from the dairy boosters’ booth at the fair.
And I’ve heard used ear plugs are also probably a bad regifting idea.
I’m curious, have you been the recipient of a bad regift? We’d love to hear your stories. Email them to editor@farmanddairy.com, share them on our Facebook page, or drop them in the mail.
From all of us here at Farm and Dairy, we wish you a very Merry Christmas, filled with love and laughter. And original gifts.
