Holidays in the Boroughs

Ho-Ho-Hosed: The Worst Gifts Ever Received

Patch Contributor John Markert goes in search of the worst Christmas gifts ever.

Tis better to give than to receive. I'm not sure who said this. It's a wonderful sentiment, but then again, it doesn't take mitigating circumstances into account. For example, what if the person receiving does not enjoy the gift, or worse, openly protests it. Do the words still ring true in these instances? I went scouring the streets of Kinnelon, Butler and Bloomingdale to answer this question. I wanted to find instances when it might be better to just hold off on the giving. More specifically, I wanted people to tell me about the worst gifts they ever received and I wanted to find out how they reacted to these "gifts." Some recalled forced smiles, some remained stoic and some openly wept on the spot. But all were ungrateful. This …

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Truth Unwrapped: 38% Admit Regifting In FDU Poll

Patch asked NJ residents what they think of the practice.

Maybe they're thinking green (or maybe they're just thinking about saving some green), but more than a third of New Jersey residents admit to "regifting" in the latest Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind Poll. "The popularity of regifting is driven by many things for different people," said Burçak Ertimur, a professor of marketing at FDU's Silberman College of Business. "For some, it's thrift in difficult economic times, or it's a way to get around annoyingly high expectations about gift-giving.  It's also awareness of, or guilt over, how much stuff goes into the landfill. But the main reason might be just the sheer volume of stuff we have." As a complement to the poll, Patch also asked residents throughout New Jersey what they think…

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