What is a White Elephant Gift Swap: Definition and Funny Gift Ideas

A White Elephant gift exchange, also known as a Yankee Swap, is a fun holiday gift exchange where participants bring humorous and inexpensive gifts to exchange. White Elephant gifts are usually tacky, have very little use, are inexpensive, and are funny. The funnier and more absurd, the better! The best part of the game is "stealing" gifts from other participants. White Elephant gift swaps are great because they can bring a lot of entertainment to a party. They are especially great at work parties to bring out a bit of comedy.

1. Minimum of 4 participants, but the more people involved in the gift exchange, the better!
2. Each participant brings a wrapped humorous gift. Usually someone predetermines a maximum price, most likely no more than $10 or $20. Gifts can be re-gifted, too. Items you have around the house are sometimes the best gifts as long as they are funny.
3. The organizer puts numbers in a hat from one up to the number of participants.
4. Participants choose a number, which determines the order of the gift selection. Each participant will be able to choose a gift in numerical order.
5. The participant who chooses number one gets to choose the first gift. They then open the gift and show it to everyone.
6. The second participant now has a choice. (Here's where the fun begins!) The second participant can either choose to unwrap a new gift or steal an opened gift. If they choose to steal an opened gift, the participant, who's gift was stolen, can choose an unwrapped gift from the pile. (Another option is for the participant who is stealing a gift to choose one from the pile first.  They can swap this gift with the stolen gift.)
7. This process occurs until all gifts have been opened.
8. Unofficial White Elephant rule: Gifts can only be stolen three times. After a gift is stolen for the third time, it is now "safe" and can't be stolen again.
9. Unofficial White Elephant rule: The person who chooses the first gift gets to steal the last gift after everyone else has gone. It's up to you if they can even steal "safe" gifts that have already been stolen three times. I think it's more fun if they can!  

Here are a few of my favorite white elephant gifts for the office. While white elephant gifts are usually funny, when you are purchasing a gift for the office, you have to keep in mind your audience. While a saucy book might be funny for a friend gift exchange, it might be very uncomfortable for your boss! Appropriate white elephant gifts for the office can be fun and safe.

1. You can always choose something from your house. Remember, the gifts are suppose to be cheap and a funny item that was given to you in the past is a great gift. Re-gifting is definitely allowed with this gift exchange.
2. A nice gift. If you want to go the "good gift" route, choose an item that you might want. A great travel mug, a pair of fingerless gloves - great for typing in the office when it's cold, a gift card to a local eatery, a coupon for work to be done, a night of babysitting - if you work in an office with lots of families.
3. Funny white elephant gifts. These are my favorites! Here are a few ideas:

• Fake mustache kit
• Fake chest hair (Austin Powers style)
• A personal photo in a frame (I once gave a childhood picture of myself - it was hideous - bowl cut and all!)
• chocolates - of course, half have to be eaten when the gift is opened. This is even better if the gift gets swapped a few times
• Jesus or unicorn bandaids. These are great, but make sure you're not offending anyone
• Star Wars items
• Chia pet
• Snuggie
• Any item from As Seen on TV.
• Alcohol - these are always a favorite and traded multiple times.

This is where it gets fun! Of course, you should know your audience, but in our group of friends, the more off-color the better! Here are a couple of ideas:

• Books that would make their parents blush. Any book that is off-color and makes you laugh out loud when you read it is a great gift.
• A personal recording. Record yourself singing and put it on a disk. This is so easy with today's technology and could bring on a lot of laughs. Christmas carols would be great.
• Blown-up photo of yourself autographed. If you could put it on a t-shirt, even better.
• One year a friend gave bull testicles that hang from the back of your car - very funny.
• For those participants that have kids, the book Go the F**k to Sleep. It's really funny and very inappropriate.
• Polly the insulting parrot - this is not for kids. Super funny
• Emergency underpants in a little tin can
• A yodelling pickle - really, can it get any better?
• Oinking kitchen timer