Electric Fishwrap has moved

Behind the story: The period between Christmas and New Year’s Eve is pretty dead in most newsrooms. I decided to head to the mall and find a story. I recorded my interviews with my audio recorder as people were shopping because it’s too hard to take notes and walk. I had not planned to make an audio presentation, but Mr. Dipzinski was too hilarious to pass up. It took me about 15 minutes to record the intro and edit this to its final form.

By KATE MARTIN

Skagit Valley Herald staff writer

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BURLINGTON — The holidays are a time of family get-togethers, food and exchanging presents. But even good intentions can miss the mark.

Regifting, the practice of giving unwanted gifts to others as presents, has been around long before there was a name for it. The term originated in the mid ’90’s from the popular “Seinfeld” sitcom. Some say the practice is tacky, but others say regifting is another method of recycling.

On Thursday, shoppers at the Cascade Mall were taking advantage of post-holiday sales, returning ill-fitting clothing and cashing in gift cards.

Shelly Nelson of Bow took advantage of a sale at Bath and Body Works on Thursday with her family. She said she and her family don’t regift as a matter of practice. But this year, she unwrapped a package from a friend that she recognized from the year before.

“I sent her some perfume last year, and I got it back this year,” she laughed.

Regifting can be a humorous pursuit, from items that never should be given as gifts in the first place to odd kitchen items.

Like the cast-iron fajita platter Eric Dipzinski of Oak Harbor got for Christmas one year. He said he would never use it. Not in a million years.

“I had no need for this thing, so as a joke I regifted it to my sister-in-law and everyone else in the family knew it,” he said. “She’s such a sweetheart, she wouldn’t say it was an awful present.”

After years of regifting himself, Dipzinski is quick to spot others’ efforts, like that opened DVD of “Twister” from a few years ago.

“The plastic wasn’t on it anymore,” he said. “You know they had watched it, thought the movie was terrible and then regifted it and gave it to me.”

He paused, then said, “I passed it on, too.”

But, he said, there are limits to what you should regift.

His girlfriend, Nicole Lance of the Chicago area, said she’s returned and exchanged a lot of gifts this year, from clothes to remote-control items to electronics.

Clothes don’t usually fit, she said, and most of the time it’s the wrong style.

But one gift stuck out in her mind as a prime candidate for regifting: an ugly, sparkly shirt from her grandmother.

“You can’t regift an ugly shirt,” Dipzinski interjected, “There’s got to be standards. Clothes are the one thing you can’t regift. Everything else is up for it.”

Quinn Hooker, 18, of Sedro-Woolley, shopped for a calendar with his mother. He said he’s regifted many times, though he hesitated when asked about the items. Regifting is an acceptable practice with one caveat:

“As long as you don’t get caught doing it,” he said.

His mother, Staci Hooker, paused for a bit to try to remember if she’s ever regifted anything.

“I think I would be more apt to give something away that I didn’t want than to give it as a gift,” she said. “I think there’s nothing wrong with it, if you know somebody could use something.”

Originally published Dec. 29, 2007.