Good Fun: Thrifted Gifts Make White Elephant Parties Unique
Good Fun: Thrifted Gifts Make White Elephant Parties Unique
By Jessica Bertsch, Marketing Assistant, Goodwill Omaha
A white elephant gift exchange often becomes an exciting game filled with hilarity.
Need a fun idea for the holidays? A white elephant gift exchange is sure to please — it’s fun, festive, inexpensive, and unique. These events are also referred to as a Yankee Swap or a Dirty Santa.
My personal favorite thing about white elephant gift exchanges is that they never have the same outcome. Our family always uses a couple themes to make it even more fun. Last year, we had three themes: Goodwill Finds, Something Shiny and International. You could just use one theme or try to include all three.
You don’t have to literally bring a white elephant, but you could!
The basic rules are as follows:
- Each person brings one wrapped gift to add to the gift pool.
- Players draw numbers to determine the order they will choose gifts.
- Everyone sits so that they can see all of the gifts.
- The first player selects a gift from the pool and opens it.
- The next person and all subsequent people can choose to either pick and unwrap a gift from the pool or steal an open gift from someone who has already chosen.
There is usually a rule that a gift can only be stolen a certain number of times. We usually do a limit of three times. Otherwise, this game could go on for a long time. The possibilities are endless and you can easily put your own twist on the game.
The greatest part? Goodwill makes a great destination to find your holiday white elephant gift. Happy hunting!