Creative White Elephant Gift Ideas for Christmas

A white elephant gift exchange is a great holiday game where all the participants by a gift, put it in a pool and when the exchange starts, the first person picks a gift, unwraps it and then the next person goes. They can either pick an wrapped gift from under the tree or they can choose the gift the first person opened, allowing the first person to open a new gift. This goes on until all the gifts are disbursed among the crowd.

Many people know this game by other names, such as dirty santa or sneaky santa, but it's all good fun when it's boiled down to it. But what can you get for a white elephant gift if you don't know who is going to end up with it? It can often be difficult to choose something that everyone will be happy to get, so you have to take the time to pick well. It shouldn't be that hard to select a gift if you know all the participants well, but that is often not the case.

Some ideas that make a good general purpose white elephant gift would be a gift card for a local store. That way the person who finally ends up with it can pick out something that suits their need. It's impersonal enough that it is suitable for any person at any sort of gift exchange. This works well for an office white elephant gift exchange or for an exchange where you only know the hosts.

Another great white elephant gift is a non-demoninational, non-personalized gift, such as cookies or candy. Either home-made cookies or already packaged items. The only real concern that one would have giving this gift is the fear of food allergies. If you pick out a food item, make sure that you take note of any sort of allergy problems this could cause and let the hosts of the exchange know as well so that no one inadvertantly ends up ill.

Depending on the price range of the gift exchange, a bottle of wine is a viable option for a white elephant gift. A simple, yet elegant, bottle of red or white wine is a lovely choice. One thing to be aware of when choosing alcohol for a gift, however, is that you need to make sure that no one under age ends up with a gift that is not appropriate. It's not personal, and is something that a lot of people would appreciate.

If you're looking at a white elephant gift exchange for family members that may not be as close, you can choose to make crafts. If you can knit, crochet or sew, why not make some sort of item that everyone would like, such as a neutral colored scarf or a pair of gloves. You can even make blankets using neutral colors as well. You put in a lot of thought and effort for a gift that will last past the holiday season and your family will appreciate the thought.

My personal favorite white elephant gift item, however, is an ornament. It's non personal, it's inexpensive and it is something that can be used year after year. I received a nutcracker ornament when I was in high school as part of a library worker gift exchange and have had it on my tree ever since. That's 15 Christmas' that have seen my nutcracker on my Christmas tree.

With a little bit of thought and effort, you can find the ideal gift for any gift exchange, even if it's not a white elephant exchange.