As we sat there at our annual girls’ Christmas dinner, my friend eyeing off the silver star necklace around my other friend’s neck, I knew I’d made a grave, grave mistake.
This, friends, is a Christmas regifting horror story, and the reason I’ll never EVER do it again.
It all started back in June when my lovely, generous friend, let’s call her ‘Friend A’ gave me a not so lovely – ugly, even – necklace for my 29th birthday. A 50 cent-sized diamante encrusted star on a chunky silver chain, I knew the moment I unwrapped it that it would never touch my neck.
“Ohhhhhh, gee this is so… pretty,” I choked out at the time, extremely conscious my poor friend legitimately thought she’d done a great job selecting that gift for me.
Then, for months, it sat in its original packaging collecting dust at the bottom of my ‘crap’ drawer with old concert tickets and a half eaten chocolate bar. She never brought it up again, and neither did I.
It wasn’t until just last week that I even remembered it existed when another friend of mine, ‘Friend B’ dropped a hint she’d gotten me something for Christmas. Short on time and funds, I made the, in hindsight, truly terrible decision to regift that fateful necklace to her.
After sticky taping up the packaging and wrapping it in fresh Christmas paper, I presented the second hand gift to her over coffee. She LOVED it and put it on right then and there. Job done, I thought.
I justified the decision to regift the necklace by telling myself it'd be better the necklace be worn by someone who could really enjoy it, rather than not at all. I actually thought it'd suit her, and I'm sure it would've cost Friend A a decent amount of money - not that much considering the style. It'd be a shame for it to go to waste, right? It was a win, win for everyone, yeah?
Oh was I wrong.
Because two nights ago when I rocked up to our annual girls Christmas dinner, where all the girls from my year at school get together and pretend we're still friends, I came to the God awful realisation that both of my friends would be there.
Just like out of a predictable rom-com, there sat Friend B proudly showing off her 'new' necklace to Friend A, who 100 per cent knew it was not new at all.
"Is that from Zara?" Friend A asked Friend B. F*ck. F*ck, f*ck, f*ck, f*ck, F*CK.
LISTEN: This Glorious Mess discuss the passive aggressive Christmas presents we've all received. Or given (post continues after audio...)
What followed was the most awkward three hours of my entire existence, desperately trying to avoid eye contact with Friend A while trying to discretely signal to Friend B to shut up about the stupid, bloody necklace.
I haven't heard from Friend A since the debacle, and now I have no idea what to do.
Should I message her and apologise, that I didn't want to hurt her feelings by being honest about not liking the necklace, or pretend it never happened and suffer the consequences?
Have you ever regifted something and been found out? How did you handle the situation?
Top Comments
Lie!!! Tell her you knew friend B would love one too so you went to Zara & got her one, then hightail it to Zara & purchase another for you to wear next time you see friend A. Gee will she feel bad for questioning you then hahahahaha. Just kidding, I don’t know what you should do.
I agree with option A as I think it'd be the only option that might salvage the relationship. And learn from mistakes, I don't think it's bad to regift, just need to make sure they're not going to cross paths!