As we get older, the holidays become less about the gifts we receive and more about spending time with loved ones and coming together to be with people we wish we saw more often (and people we already see more than often enough). The ten-year-old versions of ourselves would beat us up if they heard us tell our parents that we don’t really need or want anything for Christmas.

But regardless, the gifts start coming (and they don’t stop comin’), and thanks to your weakly laid out guidelines, you may have gotten a whole lot of stuff that you really didn’t want. That can actually be a blessing in disguise, because now you have items prime for passing off as a thoughtful present for somebody else. Re-gifting is the most environmentally friendly form of gift rejection, but John Oliver warns in a web-exclusive Last Week Tonight segment that the practice is not without its dangers.

As Oliver put it, “It’s the easiest way to pawn off something you can’t stand aside from sending your child to summer camp.” Despite that, there are still rules to this practice if you don’t want to get caught re-gifting. His ultimate tip is to re-gift at your office’s secret Santa, because it’s like peeing in the ocean: “It’s not right, but it’s an ultimately harmless solution to an urgent problem.

There’s a bit more to it than that, so check out the video above, and then let us know in the comments about the worst gift you’ve ever gotten, or the worst gift that you’ve ever given. It’s very likely that the two will be the exact same thing.

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HT: Flavorwire

Featured image courtesy of HBO