Fun and Creative White Elephant Gift Ideas for the Holiday Season!

I have been a part of quite a few white elephant gift giving parties and I can tell you from experience that this is an extremely fun way to celebrate the tradition of giving! White elephant gifts will spice up any holiday party! A quick review of how to play will give us ideas for gifts!

There are two ways of going about this: New and Used. I have done both. Both are great in their own right. One tends to be funnier than the other and, depending on your crowd, or the number of people participating, you may want to do both, for different sets of people.

Now, as with type of gift, there are many ways to play. I'll explain the general rules of play and apply different scenarios to each.

Let's start with USED. I took part in a very funny white elephant party when I was in school. My classmates and I each went home and rifled through our toys and things and found something that would make a unique and memorable gift. Some of spent a dollar or two at the local dollar store, but for the most part, the gifts we gave were one-of-a-kind items that we had owned.

So, there were 25 of us playing. Each of us wrapped our gift before arriving at the party. We sat in a large circle and each held our gift in our laps. (Here is where technique changes according to size of party!) We began at one side of the circle and made our way around the group. The first person, not wanting his own gift, placed it in the middle of the circle and took someone else's gift. He could open it or leave it wrapped, it didn't matter, but he wasn't safe yet either! The second person could either take the gift from the middle of the circle, or take a gift from someone else in the group - including Number One! If this happens, Number One can take another person's gift. THIS CAN ONLY HAPPEN ONE TIME! Otherwise, the game may never end!

A second way of playing is to gather all of the gifts together on a table, then give each person a number. In numeric order, choose a gift from the pile, unwrap it and go to the next person. Taking another person's gift is okay here too, but the person who loses their gift must choose another from the pile (or if gifts have already been opened, take someone else's).

Okay, so back to USED. A used item needs to be both clean and complete, meaning all of the parts are together. SOme great ideas for a USED white elephant gift are:

CD. A cd from your collection that you no longer listen to. This is a great gift! Wrap it up and share the music!
DVD or VHS. How about an old movie you no longer watch? Do you have kid movies and no kids? Just make sure the case is with the movie!
PUZZLE. Do you have a puzzle lying around, not being put together? Wrap it up!
STUFFED ANIMAL. These are cute, cuddly and always loved!
A SET OF COASTERS.
A GAME like dominoes, or checkers.
TRIVETS, MAGNETS, NOVELTY COFFEE MUG.

There are lots of things you can find in the corners of your home, that will make a unique gift - and a memorable one!

Now onto the NEW. This is easy, because it's a little less creative. The hard part? Finding things that are good for both men and women. First things first: Set a price limit for new items. $5? $10? These items shouldn't be expensive!

Okay, now to go shopping. Check out your local discount store. They normally have an aisle set up of items that are great for teachers, co-workers, neighbors, etc. These items are great gifts, but they aren't real personal - perfect for white elephant since you don't know who is ging to get your gift!

I have bought jars of candy, hot chocolate sets, drink mixes, tins of cookies or popcorn, sets of hats and gloves, and many other things for a small amount of money. They all make great gifts for white elephant because they are usable by both men and women.

You can also check out the sale rack at your favorite store. Are there scarves or wallets on sale? What about something for the men (some games are played by gender - there are lots of ways to play!) - a sack of recycled golf balls, a tie, or a hat. Kids can easily be bought coloring books and crayons, books, or art materials.

Have fun with your game! This is a great way to spend some time with your family without the hassle of trying to buy gifts for everyone! This is a tradition that will be sure to continue on for years to come!