Every now and then, I post something funny.
Tacky Gift ideas for a White Elephant Gift Exchange. For those who don’t know, a white elephant gift exchange is when a group of people buy a gift anywhere from $5 to $25 depending on the group. The gifts are wrapped (or better yet disguised) and each participant is given a number. He or she will take turns picking out a new gift or stealing one that has been unwrapped by another participant. There is a cap on how many times a gift can be stolen – usually 3x but less if time is short.
The quality of the gifts range depending on the theme. One year, I went to one where the theme was re-gifting, that is, taking items that you no longer want or using an unwanted gift from a previous party, and donating it. Another year was a free for all where I literally got a bag of broken car parts. Eh. Others give tasteful gifts, like Giradellis hot cocoa, or useful ones like an 8GB flash drive. I gave “Taken” and ‘Mamma Mia” double feature last year.
So here’s my list of tacky things that I might give (or gave in the past):
- Flashlight
- Extension cords
- A frying pan
- A water bottle filled with goodies
- A spatula
- A pair of socks – because you can never have enough socks
- Justin Bieber CDs (fake vomit)
- Fake vomit
- The Ferengi Rules of Acquisition – a tie-in to Star Trek: Deep Space 9. The Ferengi are a species that take capitalism to a whole new level… as if the Christmas holidays have not already been transformed into Earth’s version of crass materialism and capitalism.
- A wrench
- Insect repellent
- In ancient Chinese culture, it’s bad form to give a clock as a gift but we’re in America and I’m giving you a battery operated alarm clock anyway.
- A bag of Funyuns and a bottle of Sprite
- A picture frame
- Hand soap
- Mouse and mousepad
- A box of bullets (true story – my brother did it)
The list can go on forever based on my imagination.
amicusveritae 