On the really, really off chance I’d even remember a gift bag I bought & used last year, I would not be offended.
I re-use gift bags all the time, as long as they’re in good shape.
The obvious other use for a used gift bag is to take it shopping for your groceries.
That was my thought – it’s a fricking gift bag! Are people seriously going to look at it and say “Green with red ribbon design?! Sherri gave that to you last year! How dare you use the same bag?!”
I have bought exactly zero gift bags in my life, but I have a good 20 of them in our closet. When you give me one, it goes in with the rest – when I need one, they’re there.
Anyone who had a problem with me doing that would immediately solve the problem of what to get them next year.
Everyone I know, male or female, gladly re-gifts the bags. Not only are they easier to wrap with, but they’re inexpensive and re-usable. Shoot, I gave some gifts to my wedding attendants and some of them left the pretty, pretty bags at my house saying things like, “these are so pretty, make sure to use them again!”
Re-using bags is fine.
If I were trying to make an impression with the gift, I definitely wouldn’t do it. When it’s a really thought-out, special gift, the wrapping is part of the whole gift-giving experience. Well, I guess if I could integrate it into the message, like establishing a tradition, or having treasured the gift bag all year in anticipation of giving it back to you with this special gift, or as the appropriate wrapping form for a set of those reusable grocery bags sewn in developing countries for fair wages… And if you are just trading jars of jam with someone in a fairly routine gift-giving activity, I don’t think it’s a problem. But in a dating relationship, I think it could signal a transition from “light of my life” to “oh, you again.”
My family has been known to wrap presents with the Sunday Comics. We are a thrifty bunch and reusing bags is common. I think if I did it with other people and they were insulted … well, I guess they wouldn’t be getting any more gifts from me.
I also like the idea of having part of the gift be the packaging. One year I put my sister’s gifts into one of those fabric bins for closet storage. I also like the idea of making some fabric bags that can be used for other things, however the recipient desires.
Apparently a lot of people love using small fabric bags when they travel, to keep things organized. And even more people love just having them around the house. I only give out my fabric bags if I’m fairly sure that they will be re-used, and I always count the bag as part of the gift.
And yes, I WILL be hitting the fabric stores in January. That’s when the holiday theme fabric is on sale.
Oh, heck yeah. I reuse those things all the time.
Remember, it’s not the wrapping, it’s the present. Chances are I’m not going to remember the bag I gave you your present in, so why not reuse it to give me a gift?
I doubt if I’d recognize a gift bag after a year, and wouldn’t care if I did.
I might even take it as a compliment.
Hey, look! She liked my bag so much she saved it and used it again!
My mother did the same thing with a group of women several years ago, and they made tons of gift bags. I always re-use the fabric bags, of course. When I give someone a present in one, they always comment on the bag, and are happy that it can be re-used.
In my family, there’s a gift bag that’s been passed around for years. It’s translucent white with purple pansies on it. I got a birthday gift in it from my mom last month for my birthday, and I’ll give my sister her birthday gift in it later this month. It’s become a tradition.
A hijack, but maybe some will enjoy a laugh.
As a wee lad, we were going to the BIG Christmas family get together. Lots and lots of folks.
I really wanted to give my grandfather something, so I picked out my coolest Hotwheels car (or something like that). I needed a small box. I scrounge around for one, put the gift in it, and manage to wrap it up, keeping the whole production a big secret.
While doing the gift exchange, I make a big deal that “I got Grandpa a gift”. Hey, I am cute kid so everyone is watching of course. Grandpa, being very nice, makes a big deal outa it too. So, we are in the spotlight, with most everyone watching !
He unwraps the box.
Its an empty (besides the hotwheel) Tampon box.
Needless to say, some folks were not amused, while others nearly died laughing.
So, if anyone ever personally gives you hell for regifting a gift bag, use something like that next time and then ask em if they would like you to go back to using gift bags 
I’d have been collapsed on the floor in laughter, myself. 
I agree with Katz - It all depends on the woman.
I would have no problem with getting the bag, or giftwrap, or even a rattan fancy basket back. recycling is a good thing.
Some people have to feel like special snowflakes that you went to Tibet, skinned an ox and made the basket, then traveled around the world finding absolutely every perfect bath accessory then found the oldest bristlecone pine tree and shaved a branch to make the packing shreds, and hand dyed them yellow with saffron stamens you hand plucked in spain, and red with cochineal bugs you hand picked off the cactus in Mexico … and then hand deliver to them on Christmas morning.
Meh, give me a basket of cookies you made and decorated yourself with your kid helping and Im golden.
My wife, her sister, and her niece round-robin the same gift bag from one occasion to the next. Sometimes they get out of sync and one ends up calling the other to find out who has ‘the’ bag.
Everyone I know uses these bags and we deliberately don’t write on the tag, so that they can be used over and over.
My bags usually only last one gifting cycle. By the time I’m supposed to have used them again, they are either lost or torn. I will not use a torn bag.
+1 for it being okay to reuse the bag, but better to avoid giving it back to the person who gave it to you. In my gift-giving circle we do write on the tag, which is helpful for a poor memory - you just take the tag off for the second use.
This is what I was going to post. 95% of the time, re-using a gift bag is the right thing. But if you bought your girlfriend an expensive pice of jewelry, or the iPhone she’s been wanting, or a Ferrari, you sure wouldn’t put it in a used gift bag.
For the OP, though, go for it. Seems perfectly acceptable.
I’m flattered when I see that the gift bags I used to put gifts in last year are re-used again. The recipient must have liked it enough to hang on to it and make use of it again. It’s also environmental.
Great idea about the fabric bags. If I ever work my way through the gift bags I have stored away, I can make fabric bags. That would be cool.