You'll Be the Hit of the Party with These White Elephant Gifts (2024)

FAQs

What is the meaning of white elephant gift? ›

A white elephant gift exchange, Yankee swap or Dirty Santa is a party game where amusing and impractical gifts are exchanged during festivities. The goal of a white elephant gift exchange is to entertain party-goers rather than to gain a genuinely valuable or highly sought item.

“There [are] some things that you can't go wrong with in general: beeswax candle sticks, pretty stationery, a box of chocolates, lottery tickets, a small bottle of rum if it's the right crowd to give alcohol to,” Smith says. “There are certain general things that can make for really fun gifts.”

A white elephant is a burdensome asset, property, or investment whose cost of upkeep is not in line with its usefulness or value. The term derives from the old Thai custom of gifting rare, expensive-to-keep white elephants to the reigning monarch. Nowadays it is often associated with unprofitable real estate.

The White Elephant Game Rules

Bring a wrapped, anonymous gift to the shindig. Draw numbers to determine who gets to unwrap a present when. Sit in a circle and place the gifts in the center, preferably under a festive tree. The person who drew #1 selects a gift from the pile, opens it, and holds it up for all to see.

The organizer may require people to bring a gift that fits a certain theme. The most common one is a re-gift (i.e., an unwanted item that people have lying around the house). However, the theme could be anything – ornaments, coffee table books, candy, do-it-yourself crafts, etc.

Secret Santa is when members of a group receive random assignments to give a gift to. In some cases players make a small list of ideas for what to get them. The identity of the gift giver remains anonymous until the receiver opens the gift. White Elephant has players put an unmarked wrapped gift in a designated area.

An unwanted or useless item, as in The cottage at the lake had become a real white elephant—too run down to sell, yet costly to keep up , or Grandma's ornate silver is a white elephant; no one wants it but it's too valuable to discard .

Whatever budget your office sets, these are white elephant gifts worth stealing. We know one thing for sure. If you bring a co*cktail related item or alcohol itself, you will be the most popular person at the party.

The Office

An office white elephant gift exchange should have a price target of around $10, according to White Elephant Rules. There may be people who don't want to participate and may have hurt feelings walking away with an undesirable gift. This is why it's best to keep the target low to head off any negativity.

A white elephant is a possession that its owner cannot dispose of without extreme difficulty, and whose cost, particularly that of maintenance, is out of proportion to its usefulness. In modern usage, it is a metaphor used to describe an object, construction project, scheme, business venture, facility, etc.

What is a synonym for white elephant? ›

albatross encumbrance. Weak matches. burden burthen more trouble than it's worth onus.

something, such as a new building, plan, or project that is a waste of money and completely useless.

If you're running out of time and ideas for your upcoming white elephant gift exchange, you might want to consider bringing a gift card to the festivities. You can pick out cards for dining, gaming, music and so much more.

The player who has number 1 will select a wrapped gift from the table of gifts, and unwrap it – showing the item to the other participants.

White elephant gifts should be goofy, yet desirable enough that someone would want to steal it. Trust us. It makes it more fun! Think one pound of HERSHEY'S KISSES candies.

White Elephant Rules

White elephant is a gift exchange, so each person must bring one wrapped present to the holiday party. Once everyone is assembled, have each person draw a number. The person with number "one" chooses a present to unwrap.

The person who drew number 1 takes a gift from the pile, opens the gift and sits down with the gift in plain sight, generally on her lap. Then "2" then takes a gift, either from the pile or from 1. Then 2 sits down with the gift displayed. If 1's gift was taken, then 1 gets to take another from the pile.

'Bad Santa' Kris Kringle

Whoever gets number one gets to pick a present and unwrap it, and so on. The catch is that anyone who unwraps a present can steal a gift from the person before them. If family member number two decides they don't like the present they've unwrapped, they can swap it for yours instead!