Re-gifting? Try me-gifting

Here’s a little gift-buying hint for the busy Christmas shopper: When shopping for someone special, ask not what you can buy for your special person - ask what you can buy for yourself.

We’ve all heard about re-gifting, the act of re-wrapping a present someone else gave to you and then passing it along as a gift to someone else.

Well, why not me-gifting? Buy that special person a special gift that you really wanted for yourself.

I don’t think I’m inventing anything new here. Men have been doing this sort of thing for years.

You’ve heard the one about the husband who buys his wife the pipe holder for Christmas? Or how about the guy who gets the snow blower for the live-in girlfriend? Nice, boys.

And then, there’s Mother of all Male-Purchased Me-Gifts: Lingerie. No self-interest in that, is there, men?

These are all examples of me-gifting, but they’re me-gifting in its most unsophisticated and transparent form.

What I’m talking about is a more refined type of me-gifting. You don’t want to be so transparently self-interested that your gift becomes a cliché, like the pipe holder?

No. So what you want to do is wrap your naked self-interest in a cloak of seasonal good will and magnanimity.

The trick, my friends, is to make them think you are thinking about them, when in fact what you’re really doing is thinking of yourself and coming up with a good ruse to make them think you are thinking of them. (Or at least, I think that is what I think.)

As you can see, this takes a bit of thought and forward planning. If I went out and bought my special person (who can’t be named in this column) a bottle of bourbon, he’d see straight through it right away.

And if he didn’t see through it right away, he’d know as soon as I grabbed it out of his hand and hid it from him. No, the bourbon is always going to be a dead giveaway where I’m concerned. And this makes the bourbon a bad me-gift.

So, what would be a more appropriate me-gift for the special person in my life?

Hmmmm, let’s see. Well, he adores cooking. He spends hours perusing cookery magazines. And he loves nothing more than sharing the food he cooks with me.

Well, that was easy, wasn’t it? I’ve bought him a one-year subscription to a beautiful, glossy cookery magazine.

It’s the perfect me-gift. He will think it’s a Christmas present for him, when in fact, what I’ve gone and done is buy myself one year’s worth of exquisite meals that he will cook from that magazine.

Hmmm. Maybe I should boost that present up a two-year subscription. Such is the bottomless pit of my generosity.

So remember, Christmas shoppers, t’is the season to kill two birds with one stone. Give the me-gift that they will love and you will treasure always.

Then everyone will be happy.

Freelance me-gifter Gail Lethbridge gave her special person an espresso machine last year and every morning she enjoys the benefits. Visit her blog: http://giftedtypist.com