A Burden

“The term white elephant refers to a possession that’s more of a burden to own than it’s worth.” (Huffpost)

The term white elephant party first appeared in a joke published in 1907 in Nebraska's The Columbus Journal. A shocking thing happened in one of our nearby towns,” the joke begins. “One of the popular society women announced a ‘white elephant party.’ Every guest was to bring something she could not find any use for and yet too good to throw away ... Nine out of the 11 women invited brought their husbands.” The white elephant joke was later published in newspapers all across the United States—the 1907 equivalent of going viral.

A white elephant gift exchange is a party game where amusing, impractical gifts are exchanged. The goal of a white elephant gift exchange is to entertain party-goers rather than to gain a genuinely valuable or highly sought-after item. The phrase “White elephant” is said to come from the historic practice of the King of Siam (now Thailand) giving rare albino elephants to courtiers who had displeased him so that they might be ruined by the animals' upkeep costs. Here are the basic rules:

1.     Each participant supplies one wrapped gift usually of similar value.

2.     The gifts are placed in a central location, and participants determine in which order they will take turns selecting them.

3.     The first person opens a wrapped gift, and the turn ends.

4.     On subsequent turns, each person has the choice to either unwrap a new present or to steal another's.

5.     When a person's gift is stolen, that person can either choose another wrapped gift to open or can steal from another player.

6.     To avoid never-ending circles, each gift can only be stolen once per turn.

7.     The game is over when everyone has a present.

8.     Generally, it is recommended to have at least six participants for the gift exchange party. With a larger group, game play may be extended.

There are many different approaches to buying a White Elephant Gift. As long as you’re following the price suggestion (typically around $20) and any “special” instructions by the organizer, you can’t really go wrong. Here are some characteristics to look for when looking for a gift to bring to your White Elephant Gift Exchange party:

Funny gifts make the biggest splash at the party, but aren’t always the most desirable items for swapping. Weird artwork and gadgets are also popular at Christmas gift swaps, and are often highly sought after. There’s nothing wrong with buying a genuinely nice gift especially since it has the potential to fuel a lot of competition during the game. There’s a place for all sorts of different items in a White Elephant Gift Exchange party. But if there’s one quality that all gifts should have, it’s that they should be interesting.

“This year, Rebecca instituted a White Elephant gift exchange, that passive-aggressive method of conveying just how little the people you see more often than family mean to you via the splendor of craptastic gifting. “ (Qwen Salsbury)[i]

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[i] Sources used:

·        “Official White Elephant Gift Exchange Rules” by Roberta Jeeves

·     “What's the Origin of White Elephant Parties?” BY Hannah McDonald

·        “White Elephant Gift Exchange Rules” by secret santa

·        “White elephant gift exchange” From Wikipedia

 

This post is dedicated to Tom Critser, friend, blog member, and the facilitator of my small church group.