What do you do with recycled gifts given to you, and what do you do with the people who gave them to you?
Or gifts that you know people put zero thought into. Like a millionaire giving you something from a dollar store?
Would you keep socializing with these people?
And have you been guilty of this crime?
gifts symbolise love, care and affection.
for me, it really is a turn off when someone doesn't gift you something nice on an important occassion especially when, in the past, you haven't shown any kanjoosi in giving them gifts, and also when you know that they are well capable of buying something nice and simple as a gift..
Whether I would continue socializing or not depends totally upon my relationship to the person...
PS: Yes I am guilty of this crime :@: If I get something I won't use (such as those beauty bath kits, since I have my own shower gels n stuff that I stick to) I just don't open the packs and do pass them onto either my sisters or to someone else as a gift... I would recycle them as long as they're nice and not cheap.. and I would only forward them to a person who I know would use something like this and it also *depends on the occassion... *
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I recycled a pair of earrings that were given to me on my birthday, it was pretty stupid of the mate to buy the earrings since I do hijab, and I seriously can't be bothered getting done up in the house for no reason. They were very nice earrings though, so I shall not be ashamed...much
:o
^ yup thats what I mean... if you're recycling something that has never been used and is nice (and suitable for the person/occassion), there isn't anything wrong with that...
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I don't put a lot of stock in gifts. If I get them, I am grateful. If I don't, I don't care.
I KNOW people recycle gifts. If I get something I don't like, it goes to my parents' basement. They donate stuff from the basement every now and then.
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Well it depends. I know someone who is very cheap when it comes to gifts but she herself shops at cheap places...and shes' like that with everyone...so i don't take offense to it at all, after all it IS the thought that counts.
I think a rule for a gift should be that you should give what you would like to receive.
Well it depends. I know someone who is very cheap when it comes to gifts but she herself shops at cheap places...and shes' like that with everyone...so i don't take offense to it at all, after all it IS the thought that counts.
I think a rule for a gift should be that you should give what you would like to receive.
Except when it comes to man giving woman a gift or vice versa...j/k...:D
I thought recycle term means the item has been used and now is passed to another. (bad)
If it is still brand new and not really being used let's say one already had same or similar item then nothing wrong in passing along to someone else, even as a gift. The problem there is that you might not want to break someone's heart by telling them "we don't need it, thank you by the way"
On the other hand is it really necessary to buy something new to pass along when something is at home and is packed brand new and other person could use it?
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I normally pass on unopened boxes of chocs and lately unstitched clothing.. as I don't have the heart to say no to the gift but wouldn't be seen dead in sequinned shalwar kameez
As it is usually Aunties or wanna be Aunties who gives me the shalwar kameex they end up going to other Aunties..
The only exception is if the gift is from a close loved one, then I keep it no matter if I don't like it.. but luckily they know my taste
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All these problems would go away if they just stopped it with the boxed gifts and gave cash only.
That's what they say on wedding invitations now, "no boxed gifts please"
But you shouldn't recycle gifts in the first place, what if the original gifter ends up seeing it? how embarrassing
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A person who judges people by the type of gifts they give deserves to get only recycled gifts.
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I niether ask for gifts nor accept them.... and nor do i give out gifts...
Simply becuase i find the whole process pointless.
I was once on my deathbed and none of my so called rishtadaars came to see me... even though i had showered them with gifts in the past and gave my blood to thier demands for water.
Hence i see no reason to be social. However i think things are gona have to change wether i like it or not becuase of my current status.
ive given gifts away such as clothing to my friends but i always tell them it was gift.
about a few months ago some family friends dropped by to congratulate my sis for finishing the Quran for the first time. they gave her a fancy biscuit tin and right away i could tell it was a recycled gift cos it had xmas scenery on the tin so i knew it was from xmas. later on i looked closer at the tin and noticed that it was out of date!!
i was really annoyed and so was my mum… like what is the point of giving someone an out of date biscuit tin and hoping they wont notice! maybe they didnt realise it was out of date but still they shouldn’t have bothered giving anything at all. a few weeks later we invited them and another family for a dawat and before they were about to leave my mum handed the biscuit tin back and told the lady that she should take it back to where she bought it cos the guy sold her an out of date tin of biscuits… i gotta say i enjoyed seeing her squirm with embarrassment 
after they left the other family told us that they got given an out of date chocolate box on eid!
^ omg that reminds me of the time my brother was in quite a serious accident and my mum’s chacha and chachi came over to see him after he came out of hospital. They handed him a chocolate Easter egg which would have been all well and good because he was a child at the time but this was in the middle of August and it was out of date as well 
I’ve despised them ever since tbh
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^lol! i dont really have that much of a problem with recycled gifts if its something at least half decent and u know the other person will like it or appreciate it then its all good but out of date food stuff is just plain insulting!!
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The worst I have gotten was from a distant family member. When my daughter was born, they came over to see her. My cousin's wife handed me a gift bag for her..all fine and dandy. When I checked the gifts later....oh my goodness....it was used clothes!!!! Dirty full jacket with like little hairs inside it, it was gross!! Then there were 2 full body suits with stains on them...like WTF! I was very insulted! Don't give me anything at all, but dont give me crap....used at that! That's just gross and really really stupid. Especially when I gave them really nice stuff for each of her kids...etc. Which is fine, but its rude to do that to others....and this coming from a lady who lovesssss talking about others.....hmm. Eventually that baji was over for a quran khani and i simply told her "Baji, thanks for the gifts you gave Umaiza but there were a bunch of dirty outfits inside the bag, perhaps you or the kids left them there accidentally and I wanted to give them back to you". She was embarassed, but really I was annoyed. Oh there was 1 new outfit in there....that was a christian christening dress...complete white satin dress...with a cross and everything.......what the heck....seriously!!!!
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We dont mind getting recycled gifts unless its totally outragious (like my son on his first birthday got gift which was “not for children ages under 5”.
We recycle too but we make sure that its something of use for the recieving party. If we don’t have any such item sitting at home, we go buy one.
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Ok so I threw a party and I have to be honest I was super impressed with peoples' generosity. I was super touched. But there were like 3 people I was super surpised at and maybe I'm making a big deal out of nothing but....
My best friend from childhood who I haven't seen in like 4 yrs because of my schooling and what with her constantly having pregnancies - her husband and in-laws are loaded. Her MIL is a khandaani friend of ours and she gave a decent gift but this friend walks in with a cheap no-name clutch from walmart when she herself is always to be found at the coach counter getting purses for herself. If it was anyone else, I wouldn't care but she was a childhood friend.
My cousin's cousin who lives here gave me a men's perfume set. It was a nice set but I was like...I'm not a guy and you should have known that.
A really rich woman in our social circle gave me a nine west handbag. Colored mustard and I know it was a 4 yr old design so of course that purse has been making it's rounds.
My friend who throws parties more often than I do (this was my first party ever) says it's common. She got a gift once from someone and it was the same gift she had given to someone else. So that gift was passed on and eventually ended up with the very person who bought it.
And I'm not acting like a spoiled princess. If you had arrived with no gift or with a 5 dollar gift card, I would have been fine with it. I just think passing on gifts, especially when you put no effort into it, is just disrespectful. The whole dinner party cost me a couple thousand dollars and I could have used that money elsewhere if I was going to have such rude guests.
Our crowd is generally good though. People were overly generous and they really didn't need to be, so I appreciated that.
But comon. A men's perfume??
Oh well, I gave it to my dad.
This was our first party ever, so maybe I'm not aware of these desi customs. That's why I opened a thread. I go to American parties all the time and this handing down gifts behavior is looked down upon.
Our family made a pact. Any gifts we couldn't return, we are giving to charity. No need to pass it on to someone else and have them feel bad. Plus, what if I gift it to the original owner? Great way to burn bridges.
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And no, I'm definitely not a git. I had guests who I know are poor or strapped for money and some did not bring any gifts. I am not complaining about them at all, and I feel bad that they had to sit there and look at ladies with glittering jewelry. How do I make them feel better? I was thinking of calling the ladies in those families.
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beat this
Our kids received a gift on Eid party couple of years ago from family-A in a gift bag that we gave with gift to family-B. How we figured that out? well, family-A forgot to take off the card tied to gift bag which still had
"wishing you a elmo-holic birthday. from
written over it. Look like that gift bag changed hands only to reach its rightful owners :D