October 27, 2020

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

White Elephant Party

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.

Elephant

You don’t have to literally bring a white elephant, but you could!

The basic rules are as follows:

  1. Each person brings one wrapped gift to add to the gift pool.
  2. Players draw numbers to determine the order they will choose gifts.
  3. Everyone sits so that they can see all of the gifts.
  4. The first player selects a gift from the pool and opens it.
  5. 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!