Welcome to WhiteElephantGifts.com, the official gift exchange listings for some of the latest and greatest white elephant gifts and white elephant gift ideas! We've updated the selection of these wonderful Christmas party presents for 2023, so rest asured that we still are the best source for your gift exchange shopping year after year!
Did you know that the very first ever white elephant gift given to someone was an actual elephant? Read more about the origins of this party and gift giving trasition in the "What is White Elephant?" section. Also have a look at white elephant rules page to understand how the game is played.
Choosing a white elephant gift to bring to your gift exchange party can be very easy or quite difficult depending on several factors, including the white elephant rules that may have been set by the organiser. But in most cases, you will want to just worry about two things: How much to spend, and what type of item to select. Few types of present categories come in mind whether you are attending a corporate event, hanging out with friends or having a big ol' gettogether with your exteneded family. Let's explore the examples of white elephant gift types:
You could choose funny, hillarious white elephant gifts below and know that not only those who open it will love it, but everyone else in the party as well. Since humor is a big part of any good Christmas party gift exchange, you know that the item you have chosen will not dissapoint as long as it can make people laugh.
If you are organising the gift exchange and you want to encourage guests to bring good white elephant gifts, you can set a bounty for the most swapped and stolen item of the evening, which means the person buying the most desired gifts gets additionally rewarded for thei effort. This makes eveyone want to try to buy the greatest white elephant gift they could find still within the budget and impress eveyone with it enough to have it snatched the most. Could you find just the right present to be the best one around?1
What are some of the best white elephant gifts that are fun and eveyone wants them? Something that starts heated rivalries and prompts exciting gift swapping frenzy that light up the entire evening? What could you buy and bring to the party that would be considered the perfect white elephant gift and a top gift of the night? The answer is simple: you have to choose something either so bizzarre and embarasing that everyone would want to have it as a trophy, or buy a useful white elephant gift that is not only practical, but also fun to own.
With all the great options available online with the added convenience of not having to go anywhere to buy something to bring with you to the Christmas party, why would one want to o anything but shop online? We already do lot of out Christmas shopping online for family and friends, so adding an elephant gift to the shopping basked makes a lot of sense. You save time and hassle as well as have bigger selection than what we could find in any specific store.
While this all makes sense, there is one area where online shopping will not be necessary. This is when the group has agreed to eexchange creative and funny white elephant gifts that were home made. Not everyone has time for DIy whie elephant gifts, but those who do, put extra effort into it and the results often show. For example, a caricature of the boss is often a very very hot item during the office party. So if DIY is your think, clever gifts can be made at home that will rival and beat any other presentat the exchange. On more but not last benefit of turning to your creative side and busting out the crafty project yourself is that it can cast to next to noting to make it yourself and if time is not an issue and you want to have a cheap whiet elephant gift idea, the posibilities are endless.
Often it is hard to decide where the boundary line ends for what's appropriate as a gift to bring to a white elephant gift exchange.It's easy when it comes to family or friends, but when it comes to the office party or a corporate event, we must show a bit more consideration. Staying safe means buying something that's funny but not inappropriate, but that might be limiting if you know that your paricular work culture allows for some vulgar, filthy and inappropriate gifts.
The simple rule to follow is: if you have a feeling that a particular gift may not go over well with the management or HR, it's a good idea to abstain from it, however if you have always wanted to ge fired in style, there are always great GAG gifts that could put you in hot water. But not all GAG whiet elephant gifts are inappropriate, some are a good prank and well suited for even the prudest corporate events. It's fair to say that as long as you do not bring something exrememly shocking, most white elephant gift ideas for work will work just fine!
In the end, whether you opt to buy a serious white elephant gift, or go for a GAg item, there are a lot to choose from.
Most of the time pranky, GAG ideas are qute fitting, but other times it's worth considering stepping up the game and researching what's currently trending in terms of novelty gadgets and maybe try and find something that exceeds traditional white elephant expectations and going above and beyond with an awesome white elephant gift that's so cool that you might actually buy an extra one for just yourself!
One question we often get here on our site is: "Do I have to buy unisex white elephant gift"? The answer is - No, not really. The whole point of this gift exchange is not to have everyone "win" so to speak and have something that they love receiveing. believe it or not, when it comes to the gift exchange, there are some sour smiles to be had. This is why you should not concern yourself too much with the idea that all gifts should be appropriate for any gender. It's OK not to buy a unisex toy, but if you do choose to, there are fortunately many options.
The only time when you want to tone down the naughty factor aside from some corporate events is when you are buying white elephant gifts for kids. Gift exchange is one of the most favorite parties that youngsters love to join parents, so it is important to keep that in mind when setting the game rules and expectations. You should aim to have adults only party or ensure that the gifts brought by the guests will not be inappropriate if children will be playing.
Some of us, whether we like it or not will get overwhelmed by all the Christmas and holiday cheer, or should I say chores? When this happens, it is possible to forget to buy and wrap your present in advance. There you are jsut a day or two before the party when you realize: "Wait! I had to buy a white elephant gift and i still have not done so!" That's when you can skip all the creativity, and find an easy white elephant gift that you can buy and wrap as soon as possible. Last minute whiet elephant gift ideas can be easily picked up in local stores, but can be also ordered online. If you are in a rush and there is Prime shipping available in your area, you will be the lucky one to still make it, and if not - you will have to check the local stores for something appropriate.
In the end, let's not forget that white elephant gift exchange is all about celebrating the end of year, having a good time and having a good laugh. Do not let the gift shopping or swapping frenzy overpower the true spirit of the yearly favorite event! Try to have and give as much positive experience as possible!
Have a great white elephant gift idea? Submit it via our contact form and we'll add it to our list for everyone to see!
How to host a white elephant party