A fun holiday party game to play

[fieryred33143]

At previous jobs, we have always done Secret Santa but when I started here they do "White Elephant" which is loads of fun.

Everyone brings in something from their home that you don''t want. It could be anything...old paint, a lava lamp, something for the kitchen you never used, ugly frames...basically anything in your home that you pass by everyday and say "I need to get rid of this." You wrap it up really nicely and put under the tree without putting your name.

Then everyone picks a number out of the hat. #1 chooses a gift, opens it, and places in front of him/her. #2 can either steal #1''s gift or pick another. So on and so forth until the last person has gone up. #1 then gets to steal any gift that has been opened or stay with whatever she/he has.

A gift can only be stolen twice.

It''s a lot of fun, its better than spending money on a gift, and sometimes can be absolutely hilarious. We have one coworker that is notorious for bringing the worst gift ever so we normally try to find which one is his and not pick it. My boss, who at the time had just started working here, chose his gift. It was a huge box filled with paper and inside was a frame with a picture of this coworker winking. It was hilarious. I gave a box of extra paint brushes and rollers the first year I was here and last year gave a chia pet that my mom had gotten and didn''t want anymore. We''ve gotten things that were as bad as a very old lava lamp to a very good/expensive bottle of wine (from SVP, go figure).

Anyway...if you''re looking for something different at your next holiday party, its worth trying.

 

[monarch64]

We call it "Dirty Santa." Same concept. Good times are usually had by all.

 

[somethingshiny]

We''ve done this in family gift exchanges, too. I brought a fish in a bowl. He was the best gift. My DH got the most horrid smelling cologne. So, that''s the gift he brought the following year.

 

[Elmorton]

My family used to do something called "The Game" at holiday time - instead of bringing one gift, you''d bring dozens of small stuff (we''d go to the dollar tree and load up on the weirdest crap - Virgin Mary night lights, tonka truck "Mud", cans or Orzo, one year I got a toilet seat..or we''d grab things out of the pantry or use cereal box toys..anything was game) - and everything would be wrapped. Sometimes you wrap stuff horribly sometimes you wrap it really prettily, but always using left over wrapping paper. Anyway, we''d dump all the presents into a big pile in the middle of the floor.

My entire family would sit in a circle, and pass around two dice. When you got doubles, you got to take a present from the center. When you get doubles, you get to go again. If you roll doubles twice, you get another present. Roll doubles the third time, and all your presents go to the center (bankrupt).

The game is timed - I think we''d play for 1 1/2-2 hours, since it takes most of an hour for all the presents to go. Once all the presents are gone from the center, then you get to steal from each other. People would grow "affinity" for certain items - like the one that rattled, or the one that was a tiny box with a huge yellow bow, so you''d go stealing back and forth. You can''t hide your presents behind you, either.

I''m not sure if the "winner" was the person who had the most of the least! When the game was over, we''d take turns opening things up to see what on earth we were fighting over. It was the best game and we''d be laughing all afternoon.

However, now that we''re all spread out and people travel farther to get to Christmas, we''ve stopped playing. Still, I think everyone in the fam has some fond memory of the lovely gift they got from the game way back when...

 

[Kaleigh]

We have friends that do this, it''s a lot of fun.

 

[neatfreak]

We''re doing this with my research group too. Wish I wasn''t such a purger...I have thrown out so many things this year that would have been perfect for this!

 

[Sabine]

We do that, although we usually buy something funny and new for $10 or under. If any of you remember my wedding pictures, the squirrel candle dressed up by the cake originated from this game and has been passed along to different family members on different special occasions! We always have a blast with it!

 

[laurel25]

This is what Mr.L''s family has always done for Christmas for all the adults. We all buy gifts for the kids, so they have tons of gifts to open and then the adults do the white elephant gift exhange. It''s a riot and we have just tons of fun. We put a $10 limit on the gift and it has to be something new. This year Mr. L bought the game Operation and I got a lava lamp for the gifts we''re bringing.

 

[fieryred33143]

El Mortan What an interesting game! I may have to bring that up...although knowing my very spoiled babies (i.e. my 19 and 20 year old brothers), they would finish the game going "ok where''s our real gifts?"

This year I''m having a hard time choosing something from home although it should be easy because FI is a pack-rat (think closet full of magazines that date back to 1990 that he absolutely has to have because someone made a statement that he agreed with...what statement? He doesn''t remember). I actually have a really pretty red vase that doesn''t go with my furniture and I only take out during the holidays to which I hear "I really dont like that" from my FI for the 6 to 7 weeks that its displayed. I may give out that.

Or I may take a stack of his magazines

 

[snlee]

My family has played this game for Christmas many times but with gifts you''d actually want. We call it "White Elephant" even though it''s technically not. It''s a lot of fun.

 

[sammyj]

My BF''s family plays this at their extended family Christmas party except the call it Dutch Bingo. Sometimes we pick numbers or they will call out a month of the year and whoever has their birthday in that month goes to pick a gift. They are supposed to be gifts around $10 but you can definitely tell that some of the things are re-gifts!!!

 

[BeachRunner]

I highly recommend this game! It''s a lot of fun! It''s a toss up to whether you buy a funny gift, or a good gift, so everyone is fighting over that one during the game! Last yr. I got stuck with rubber duckies and FI got "Blues Brothers". There was some nice artwork a friend of ours made and a few other gifts everyone was fighting over!

 

[HappyAnniversary]

In Massachusetts we called it a Yankee swap, we bought gifts for $10 (about 15 years ago!). It was a lot of fun, but I was so surprised how some people got MAD when you took their gift. It was a freak''in $10 gift that any one of them could easily buy for themselves but they got huffy. It was another look into the minds of your co-workers!!! Each year there was one gift everyone liked, the only one I remember was a poster of the Three Stooges. I bought a little Christmas angel that you could put a candle inside. I thought it was cute. I heard my bosses son say look what a crappy thing I got (yep--it was my angel) and my boss said something derogatory, too. I did not ''fess up and say it was my gift! Part of the problem was they said $10 which I stuck to, but most people paid a good bit more. Anyway, the game is fun but the people-watching can be priceless.

 

[redfaerythinker]

I love white elephant parties! My mother once came home with a bobble head bulldog. I loved it so much that I made her keep it in the car. I grew up, but the dog is still there!