Wed 5 Dec 2007
They don’t call it that anymore but almost every party we are invited to this year mentions bringing a fun gift around $10.00 for exchange or playing that exchange game.
Any ideas for what make a good gift for that game?
Nathaniel brought home a box of clementines last night from the 2nd party of the season. I thought that was a jolly good gift and I commended him for selecting it. He took a coffee mug filled with chocolate truffles.
Christopher took an Alabama cap to his Chick-Fil-A party and came home with some perfectly horrid bottle of Stetson cologne which I have forbidden anyone to open. He also brought home several t-shirts and sweatshirts from his generous boss.
So I thought I would ask the Blogging Brain Trust for ideas. We have several more parties ahead.
3 Questions:
What was your best white elephant gift (given or received)?
What was the worst white elephant gift?
Any good ideas for future gifts?
I am especially looking for good ideas!!
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Anything chocolate is always good by me. Another good one was a box of (fresh) batteries in a commonly used size.
Comment by Cheryl (Copper's Wife) (December 5, 2007 @ 12:10 pm )
White Elephant exchanges are so fun!
Best gift received~ Christmas tea towels
Worst gift received~ a used can of Bag Balm
Ideas~ inexpensive fleece throws (around $5 at Wally World); homemade cocoa in a mason jar; Christmas ornament
Comment by Mrs. C (December 5, 2007 @ 2:42 pm )
A little something from Starbucks is always a good gift. ie. mug, small bag of ground coffee.
One that was very hot last year at our family exchange was one of the “Borne” movies. The movies with Matt Damon.
I was not very pleased when Dave got stuck with a Chia Pet last year.
My sassy brother-in-law threw in a very spicy BBQ sauce with a very unusual and sassy name. It starts with Big….
Um, how about giving a book….;)
Can you find Frango Mints? Oi. Those would be wonderful to give as a gift. I’d FIGHT over those.
Do you steal your gifts? In our exchange the gift can be stolen 3 times. It’s fun!!
Comment by Janet (December 5, 2007 @ 2:43 pm )
One of the more popular gifts my sister and I ever brought to a White Elephant exchange was a large box of the imperfects left over from our cookie baking.
The one that annoyed me most was when DD (2 then) brought home from a children’s exchange a tacky plastic toyset of the sort I never get. DH is very strong on property rights, though, and wouldn’t let me get rid of it. (Nothing WRONG with it, just tacky.) Fortunately as such toys tend to be, it’s been mostly lost.
We tried getting rid of old books one year, but they weren’t very popular. I get very tired of the seasonal decorations that tend to show up.
Water guns or dart guns are likely to be popular if it’s a mixed-gender group, and the world is always overloaded with gifts that appeal primarily to ladies.
Comment by Queen of Carrots (December 5, 2007 @ 3:00 pm )
We usually do the steal a gift thing also.
I took a book that I love last year and a girl got it who really loved it but most people were bringing funnier things so I felt a little weird about a book.
Comment by Cindy (December 5, 2007 @ 3:42 pm )
$5 or $10 gift cards from McDonald’s or Starbucks or some such place are a good idea. I’d go easy on the coffee mugs.
I have mugs galore that were given to me as presents. Many of them have really sappy “quotes” on them. Yuck. However, I do enjoy tea cups!
Comment by Linda (December 5, 2007 @ 3:43 pm )
Oh, and Celestial Seasonings tea bags! But I guess those are typically “women” gifts…
Chocolate-covered espresso beans! Mmmmmmmm.
Comment by Linda (December 5, 2007 @ 3:45 pm )
The most desired gift at a party my daughter went to last year was a Redwall book (junior high aged kids). They did the gift-stealing thing. My daughter ended up with a gift card to Half Price Books, which she enjoyed, but not as much as she would have liked *the* book. I think it was the most recent release or something.
Comment by Katie (December 5, 2007 @ 4:29 pm )
I was just perusing your blog as a passerby, and thought I’d post on this topic, too….
My White Elephant gift experiences have been giving gifts you DEFINITELY do not want. My personal favorite (funniest) gifts received were: an autographed photo of a friend and his old clunker car, and a bowling trophy someone must have bought at Goodwill.
Maybe a disposable camera and some funny homemade props to take pictures with or a list of photo scavenger hunt ideas would be a fun twist on a traditional WE gift.
Comment by kate (December 5, 2007 @ 5:07 pm )
For a “tacky” W.E.E. party the best gift I ever gave…and lament it is not still in my possession…was a doll head tissue box (square size). I bought it brand new in the 90’s at a craft bazaar, although I am certain the table full of them were made in the 60’s. It had a plastic doll face on the front and the other sides and top were made from bright green faux fur hair. She was groovey and my friend loved it!
One year my husband got an electric fly swatter. At the time I thought it was the worst because it was a rather cheap gift for the budget set…but we still have it and use it all the time. It’s great for killing hornets and wasps that sneak into the house.
For one side of the family we have the “good” kind of W.E.E. Ladies bring a lady gift and Guys bring a guy gift. We find it best to bring something we would like to end up with…makes for a more fun competition trying to get something you want rather than just a mug or bottle of stetson.
The men always seem to pass along their “non-craftsman” tools…maybe you could give a useful ladies tool. Someone might love it, and someone might find it funny. Win/win!
Comment by Roberta (December 5, 2007 @ 5:19 pm )
I want to say that Stetson might be a perfectly legitimate men’s cologne but in our house we always inherit old cologne and end up with the little guys spilling it. This creates an unbearable atmosphere in the home.
Comment by Cindy (December 5, 2007 @ 5:56 pm )
When Steve was still on active duty we went to those every year. My favorite gifts we took home with us were books: a Christmas treasury one year, and a Peterson’s guide to birds another year. We also got a CD of Christmas carols sung by the Vienna Boys’ Choir.
Other years we brought home chocolate.
The only gift I remember taking was a baking set consisting of two cookie sheets, a rolling pin, and some cookie cutters.
Comment by Laura D. (December 5, 2007 @ 6:23 pm )
I gave a fruitcake Monday night at our white elephant exchange. It seemed like a classic! I ahd given a homeschool friend some purple grading pencils as a joke, and they showed up at the WE exchange, LOL! :o)
The best WE gift I ever received was a set of cookie cutters a few years back.
Sorry, Janet, but I think a Chia pet is a great idea, LOL!
Comment by Angela (December 5, 2007 @ 7:17 pm )
The wackiest gift we ever received was also one that we re-gifted at a white elephant party. I must tell you the story behind it. Every year we used to go to Gene’s grandmother’s to open presents with her. She didn’t have much money, so we were used to getting a dish she had or some small thing. But this one year as she gave Gene his gift she said, “I picked this out just for you.” We were all intrigued and stopped to watch Gene open his special gift. Then we were stunned to silence. It was a wooden statue that could at best be described as an African fertility goddess. She was great with child made out of a black stained wood, and was the ugliest thing we had ever seen. To put this in even better context, at this time we had our required 2 children and weren’t even considering having more. It was all we could all do to not break out in hysterical laughter… maybe you’d have to know Gene to understand… but it was hilarious. We never could figure out why “that” would make her think of him.
:lol:
The next year we gifted it to a couple who was trying to get pregnant and they thought it was great.
Go figure!
Comment by Lora K. (December 6, 2007 @ 12:45 am )
Once I brought $5 (that was our limit) of lottery tickets. It was the most popular gift. Lotion from Bath and Body Works is also always popular. Lots of people always bring starbucks cards, which is always a hit, but a bit boring because there ends up being lots of them. I love the clementines idea - I might be stealing that one.
Comment by kel (December 6, 2007 @ 11:32 am )
Lora, that’s too funny. We had a similar ‘goddess’ circulate our white-elephant exchanges for several years when my husband was a youth pastor. The funniest exchange ever occurred when one older lady who had been the previous year’s receipient (sp? my dictionary’s in the bedroom where my boys are sleeping..) made sure she camed ‘dressed’ more modestly than in years past!
I’m with the chocolate and homemade goodies set. I always try to take the one nice gift even if it’s a funny exchange, and it’s fun to see some of those people you think are very quiet become competitive and cut-throat about a box of chocolate or some homemade cookies!
Comment by Lisa W. (December 7, 2007 @ 6:24 am )