How to Recycle Gifts While Avoiding Holiday Bloopers

Here we are, November 2026, and time for me to start on what is, for once, a fun chore--preparing holiday gifts (and cards) early, with the goal of getting everything wrapped, packed, and mailed around the time November turns to December. If I don't accomplish that goal, my experience is that I'm stuck in the same rut everybody else is--in a time crunch, rushing to get everything wrapped, packed, and mailed days before Christmas, crossing my fingers that what I send will arrive in time, or at least by the new year. 

Time to once again get into my gift drawer(s) and sort through the new, unopened gifts that my mother never got around to giving. When she died, she left boxes and bags full of brand-new things behind, and whatever I didn't want for myself, I'd put into a designated gift drawer. Gift-giving season has been easier ever since.

My mother also left, in the house, two under-bed storage boxes full of gift-wrapping supplies--and more and more gift-wrapping supplies, enough to fill a few more boxes and crates. When gift-giving time comes around, I match gifts to boxes or bags, and the other way around. Gift A can go into box/bag B. Box or bag X, I hunt for gift Y to put in it. 

You may call what I do "recycling gifts" and to an extent that's true. I'm not recycling what I've been gifted or what I've used, only what merchandise that's already been hidden away, unused. If I can't find an appropriate gift in the gift drawer, I fill in. I'd tell you what's in there now, and who's on my gift list, and what I may still need to get this season, but that'd be a spoiler. 

Recycling or "upcycling" many kinds of gifts is no longer the tacky habit it used to be. It's become a way to be environmentally friendly, with more and more emphasis being placed on, "reduce, reuse, recycle." If you're joining the trend, though, you can't just give away any old thing as if it were new. For example, you may get away with gifting a book you've read--but not if you've marked it up. If you do want to give someone a book you've already marked up, or a purse you've already used, or whatever, don't make it a holiday gift--just hand it over, with, "Here, I thought maybe you'd like this." 

When giving a gift, though, whether it's brand-new or recycled, make the effort to know enough about what the person likes or dislikes, what may be needed or wanted, what size of clothes. If a gift is worth giving, it's worth giving proudly and joyfully.

Here are some holiday gift-giving bloopers, many of which I've been on the wrong end of:

• If you don't know for sure that the person has pierced ears, then why on earth would you deliberately give that person pierced earrings? If you don't absolutely know for sure, it's so easy and simple to just give another piece of jewelry--a necklace, bracelet, or pin--instead. 
• If you're considering gifting someone with food or drink, consider the person's likes, dislikes, and whether the person may have food allergies or other dietary restrictions. Maybe the person doesn't drink alcohol, or maybe the person doesn't like candy with nuts, or is allergic to nuts. Once again, if you don't know, either find out or find something else to give.
• Avoid the cheap useless gag gifts that are going to go in the nearest trash once everybody's got their cheap laughs. Far better to demonstrate that both giver and receipient are worthy of providing and receiving something of lasting value.
• Offering to provide the sales slip for a gift may be kind, but not if you're going to keep repeating, "Take it back if it's not what you want." You only need to say that once. This is of particular concern where apparel is involved, because it honestly may turn out to be the wrong size. That's understandable. Not having the confidence to believe your gift is exactly the right thing, though, can make for a difficult situation.

 Family heirlooms are another category of "recycled" gifts altogether. Jewelry, kitchenware, art, crafts, knicknacks, collectibles, pictures--if you don't want them, a friend or relative might, or you might be able to gift certain things to a charity auction. Make your selections carefully, though. Don't foist off anything broken or unclean. Depending on the item and the recipient, you may be able to make a holiday gift--or just give away whatever-it-is. 

Bear in mind, too, that once you've gifted something, it's gone, even if it's to someone in your immediate family. If there's any little part of you that still wants it, keep it. My father provided a good example of what happens when a person "gifts" a heirloom but not really. When I was around twelve, he gave me a heirloom belt buckle for Christmas, all nicely wrapped and under the Christmas tree. It was a Western belt buckle that he said his grandfather had won in a rodeo, although he didn't know anything more than that. Immediately after that Christmas, though, he got this obsession with wearing that buckle himself. Every day he'd come into my room and ask if he could "borrow" it. This went on for months. I finally told him to just take the thing and keep it with his belts. 

I finally did get that belt buckle permanently--it was part of my inheritance when he passed away. Apparently he couldn't really bear to part with it any other way.