Gift With Purchase ReGifting Etiquette

Beware the Greedy Gift Givers that plunder the free gifts

We all know at this time of year that every make-up, perfume, or beauty-related manufacturer lures us to their counters with the Free Gift promise. If we spend seventy-five dollars we get something supposedly “worth” one-hundred and fifty dollars, for example. These are usually trial size items which we would have no way of checking the value of. It seems like fun in concept.

But what if the gift you receive at holiday time is obviously of the Free-Gift-With-Purchase nature? This has happened to me on numerous occasions and I actually don’t mind getting your “Free Gift” as my gift.

With one exception. I get irked when I open the gift that is the free gift and notice that some of the “free” items are missing. In other words, the Gift Giver picked out the items included in the free gift that are to their liking and gifted me the rest!!! I do not consider that proper holiday etiquette in any way, shape or form. Would you gift someone an eye shadow pallette but scoop out the colors you like to wear first? No! Of course not. Would you present a great friend with some Days-of-the week panties but keep Tuesday and Friday for yourself? That would be tacky. Shameful even.