Finding White Elephant Gifts at Thrift Stores and Freecycle

When you're in need of a white elephant gift and you've wracked your brain and ransacked your household to no avail, don't despair. Thrift stores and Freecycle can save the day.

Freecycle is all about keeping serviceable items no longer of interest to their owners from the trash heap. The offerings can be almost laughable, like half-used bottles of perfume, or brand-new, never-unwrapped, high-quality items the owner never got around to using. You never know what you'll see advertised on Freecycle, but there's a good chance of a credible white elephant selection almost anytime you check.

Thrift stores are full of serviceable, used household goods alongside "head-scratchers," those items you would never have had the gall to put in a donation bag. What's fun about thrift stores is they're full of multi-generational household items, including things you couldn't buy new.

What kind of white elephant gift are you likely to find in a thrift shop or on Freecycle?

1. Specialty gadgets that were the rage yesterday: Remember coffee presses? Ice cream churns? The fads passed. Some folks never wanted the gadgets and some didn't use them enough to justify allocating them space. So, they shipped them off to thrift shops in new or indistinguishable-from-new condition. If you know someone who would enjoy and use one, play matchmaker. If it's a gag gift white elephant exchange, there's something your recipient will disdain stocked in every thrift store, guaranteed.

2. Ty beanie collectibles: If there's a beanie loving child on your list, or an adult beanie collector, you're in luck. Thrift stores often offer clean, tagged Ty beanie collectibles at bargain prices. Freecyclers often give them away when their children outgrow them.

3. Baskets, baskets and more baskets: Lovely wicker baskets of all sizes and shapes make a great gift beginning. All you have to do is fill it. What you fill it with depends on whether your white elephant gift is intended to be serious or humorous. If the latter, you could fill it with chipped, faded, and broken thrift store bargains. If the former, soaps, candies, used paperbacks, or coupons might do the trick.

4. Dress ups: If there are preschoolers through second graders at your white elephant party, especially girls, put together a cheap dress-up outfit or a couple of dress-up accessories. It's pretty common to find sequined vests or tops, ballet tutus, old uniforms, tuxedo jacks, silk scarves, glittery purses, feathered, veiled, or ribboned hats, high heeled shoes, old cowboy boots and costume jewelry that could do the trick.

5. Knickknacks: China, glass and ceramic knickknacks abound in thrift stores. They are also offered fairly frequently on Freecycle. The variety in thrift stores, particularly, is staggering, since they may be one year old or sixty years old. Since china, glass and ceramic knickknacks usually sit on shelves and receive virtually no wear, they are likely to be in near pristine condition. Some are inevitably quirky enough to make a silly white elephant gift.

What is a thrift store after all but a collection of white elephants waiting to be claimed?