My husband’s extended family has long since gotten too big for our budget.
Buying Christmas gifts for every person in his family about broke everyone. Not to mention that we were really giving each other clutter — nice clutter, beautiful cluttery gifts that I appreciated, but gifts that cluttered just the same.
So, a few years ago, we pitched the idea of a White Elephant gift exchange for adults. We’d still get individual gifts for the little kids, but adults would only get one gift. Everyone jumped on it. I guess we weren’t the only ones weary of spending mountains of time and money shopping for beautiful, appreciated, cluttery gifts.
True White Elephant gifts are supposed to be gifts that you’ve gotten that don’t quite fit your body, your style, your taste buds or your life. Yep, it’s legal and organized re-gifting that can be extremely hilarious and rewarding when you’re able to ditch a piece of crap for something you really like. We do such an exchange at work, which is where we got the idea.
For family, though, we decided on new gifts and set a spending limit of $25 per gift. Here are the details on our family’s White Elephant exchange:
- Everyone brings just one wrapped gift. A couple can bring one gift and participate as a couple. Or they can bring two and participate as individuals.
- Count the number of gifts/participants. Write numbers on slips of paper and put in a hat, or bag.
- Each person/participant draws a number.
- The person who drew #1 starts the game by selecting a gift from the pile of White Elephant gifts and opens it.
- #2 then can select a gift from the pile … or steal the gift that person #1 drew
- If #1′s gift got pilfered, s/he gets to select another gift from the pile and opens it. If #2 selected and opened a gift from the pile, then it’s #3′s turn.
- #3 can select a gift from the pile, or pilfer one of the gifts #1 or #2 have already opened.
- Play continues like that through all the numbers.
- At the very end, after all the pilfering and opening of gifts, #1 has the option keeping what they have or exchanging their gift with any one of the others — and the game is over.
We’ve instituted a rule where a gift can only be pilfered twice and another rule that the original person cannot steal it back. Otherwise, a popular gift can get stolen again and again, and you’ll be there all week.
It really is a lot of fun. Listening to brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, aunts, uncles and cousins make packs and deals to get a present they really want is hysterical.
Although, if your family is extra sensitive, beware of hard feelings when someone loses a gift they really liked. Especially when their no-go-rotten husband didn’t help them get it back. <cough, cough>
This year, we changed it up a bit and did a right-left game. Eh. It was OK. At the end of the story, I unwrapped a tower of chocolate! Yes, yummy! However, my hips weren’t happy anticipating yet another expansion. So, I traded my niece for HER gift that I love – the little doctor’s bag of tools! Now if I can just keep my husband’s paws off of them!
Yeah, it was an OK game, but everyone was wheeling and dealing, and swapping stuff at the end of the story anyway. I’d rather do the White Elephant again next year. It’s so much fun stealing gifts from your loved ones! Muhahahahaha.
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Inis – We do this White Elephant Exchange in our family, and have been doing so for about 4 years. We usually have between 20 and 30 participants. It is an absolute HOOT! Your rules are almost identical to ours. The elder generation (mine) is 40s and 50s and the younger generation is the whole gamut of 20s. There are no grand-babies participating yet, but I am sure in a couple years we will have some of those also. The 20s have to be reminded to keep it rated PG. We also have had a rule that wavers from year to year… not only must the gift be a re-gift or gently used, but it must not be wrapped in new materials either. We have given prizes for the most creative use of wrapping materials.
.-= Read Stephanie´s last post … Pretzel Rolls! =-.
Stephanie, that gift wrap idea sounds fun. I’ll have to suggest it to my family!
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