The Elephant in the Room: White Elephant Gift Exchange Ideas

A white elephant gift exchange is a popular holiday party game. If you're not familiar with the concept, here's how it works: each guest contributes one gift to the game. It should be wrapped but not labeled in any way. Numbers are drawn, and the person with #1 selects a gift from the pile, unwraps it and shows everyone. The next person can either steal the gift that's already been opened or take one from the pile. If the gift you are holding gets stolen, you can steal someone else's gift or open a new one. As you can imagine, this can go on for quite some time, so it may be good to set some ground rules ahead of time, such as "once a gift has been stolen twice, it can no longer be stolen." Ultimately, you don't really know what you'll end up with until the game is completely over.

The type of gift used in white elephant gift exchanges is often decided ahead of time, such as "gag gifts," "something less than $15" or "something red." But then again, sometimes the field is wide open, in which case, you may need some ideas. Here are a few to get you started, from funny to practical.

• Chia Pet

• Calendar

• No-Doze

• Stress Ball

• Mug with Packets of Tea & Cocoa

• Old Fruitcake

• Gift Card

• Used DVD Movie

• Designer Toilet Paper

• Candy

• Duct Tape

• Lottery Tickets

• Fake Tattoos

• Travel Game

• Paint-by-Number

• 8 Track Tape

• Old Fruitcake

• T-shirt with Funny Saying

• Yodeling CD

• A Pile of Mismatched Socks

• A Half-Empty Bottle of Mouth Wash, Wine, Perfume, etc.

When it comes to a white elephant gift exchange, pretty much anything goes. Use the suggestions above to get the ideas flowing, and then just have fun with it!