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Gift recycling is perfectly acceptable nowadays. You can give away gifts that you have not used, or you do not need, or you know somebody else will appreciate them. However, you have to consider certain factors in recycling gifts to avoid embarrassments and hurt feelings, the worst of which can lead to broken relationships.

Sentimental Value

You cannot measure the worth of gifts especially in terms of sentimental value. Before you even think of recycling gifts, you have to think back to the occasion when the gifts were given to you.

If they hold sentimental value for the giver, like a groomsman gifts perhaps, then do not recycle it. If it is a business gift with no discernible corporate logos, then you can recycle it. In all likelihood, you have many more of the item in your attic anyway.

Usability Value

If you cannot viably use the item without harm to yourself, then it probably cannot be used by the intended recipient either. Just because you do not need it does not mean that you can inflict pain on others with it!

You have to assess if your intended recipient can actually use the items in everyday life. If your groomsman gifts are what you intend to recycle, be sure that others can use them, too. Unfortunately, groomsman gifts are often engraved with your name, which precludes recycling on your part.

Personal Items

In gift recycling, you have to be very sure that personal items are absolutely unused. Aside from insensitivity to others, you are practicing unhygienic gift-giving when you give truly-hand-me-down personal things. You want the recipient to say "Thank you, lots", not "Are you nuts?" when he opens the gift.

Used Items

For items that others can still use, like a used laptop, you can give them as gifts to friends and family who need them but cannot afford to buy on their own. You have to be sure though that the intended recipient is on the same wavelength as you are on this need-but-cannot-afford area.

Second Hand Only, Please

If someone gives you a recycled gift, assuming that you know it is one, do not recycle it again. You might just end up giving it to the original giver! You would have unwittingly created an embarrassing situation! Unless, your idea of a joke is recycling recycled gifts, you have to avoid third-hand-me-downs.

Think of this awkward situation: You receive groomsman gifts from your best buddy's wedding. You recycle them because you saw no need for them, the groom said okay, and you think the intended recipient can use them. Your gift recipient thought otherwise and gave it to the groom! If you are best buddies, it probably is one for the book of laughs but situations can turn ugly, too.

One of the best ways to recycle gifts is to keep track of who gave what. This way, you will not make the mistake of giving the recycled gift back to its original owner. Talk about a social faux pas!