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January 2011 Moms
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Returning Gifts?

kesryakesrya member
in January 2011 Moms

Did you return any of your shower gifts?  I've never had a problem returning gifts previously - but that was when they were things like wedding gifts not on our registry (ie. not something we would ever use or had room to store) from people who lived far away, weren't very close to us and they would never notice, or something that was a duplicate item off our registry.  I always wrote very nice, polite thank you gifts 'cause I did really appreciate the thought.

But it feels a bit different with baby shower gifts, mostly b/c these people are our closer friends and family who live nearby and will notice.  For example, one friend neglected to read the note on our registry explaining our nursery theme, and came up with her own theme based on one item on the registry that said "jungle green" on it.  She got us a ton of stuff - none of it on the registry - all in the theme she created for us. Which is mostly fine b/c most of it is stuff that we will use outside the nursery and are very thankful for.  But one item is a wooden wall hanging - and since it doesn't fit the nursery theme at all, we have no use for hanging it.  She comes over to our house every now and then, and even recently commented on how perfect the color we painted the nursery is for the "jungle" theme - despite other guests at the shower telling her that that wasn't our theme.

What do you do with things like this? We have another shower coming up in 2 weeks - what if we are gifted more items like this by people close enough to us to notice that we aren't using them?

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Re: Returning Gifts?

  • pawcallpawcall member

    I returned several things and didn't feel guilty about it.  My take is that these people really just want us to have the things we need.

    I tend to completely forget what I even gave people as shower gifts fairly soon after the gift-giving occasion.  I'd honestly be shocked if someone came over and actually SAID something about not seeing their gift.   

    ~Mom to an amazing Jan 2011 boy~
    ~EDD Nov 18, 2017 with my IUI success story~

    [spoiler]
    BabyFruit Ticker[/spoiler]

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  • freeatlast2014freeatlast2014 member
    This is a tough question - but for me personally, I wouldn't keep something that I didn't want to hang up for fear of hurting someone's feelings. Do you think even if she did notice she would say something to you? If so, you can say that it didn't exactly match with the room so you exchanged it for ___. It doesn't mean you are ungrateful, and honestly if other people at the shower told her that you had a completely different theme then she'll probably put 2 and 2 together. I would take back the wall hanging. I think people for the most part are understanding and wouldn't want their money to go to waste, so if it's not something you'd prefer, then get something you would.
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  • DaniGirl0517DaniGirl0517 member
    I returned a TON of stuff!  I had very few things purchased off my registry and most everyone bought clothes and blankets, seriously I had enough to start with.  I wouldn't tell anyone that I brought their gift back but if they asked about it I would say something like, "Oh it just didn't fit with the theme we went with in the nursery so we got xyz that fits instead" regardless of if you did switch.  Or what I'm sure I will get, "Has he worn the outfit I bought?" and reply with, "Yes but he only got to wear it once sadly, they grow so fast!" when really it is already back on the store shelves.
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