Gifts are deeply seated in the organisation of social life. We all give and receive gifts and tend to think of the rituals of exchange as both ubiquitous and rather pleasing. But what happens when the usual traffic of gifts is delayed or displaced? Foregrounding the diversity of gift-giving practices as well as the heterogeneity and contingency of their meanings, we examine objects, gestures, and performances of giving that might not fit the classical anthropological definitions of what a gift is and does. Our intention, however, is not to so much to replace classical anthropological gift theories as to supplement them and carry them forward by exploring contemporary forms of gifting. Indeed, we suggest that the Maussian model still serve to understand practices of reciprocity in late-industrial societies, yet this Special Issue contributes to delineate the heuristic potential and limitations of classical models in the present.