https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Tue, 28 Apr 2026 13:16:55 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-play-white-elephant#post-441595 Mon, 10 Dec 2012 15:36:46 +0000 banana 441595@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Leialou: Oh really? hahaha. That's pretty funny actually. I guess I was the only Dirty Santa of the group. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-play-white-elephant#post-441591 Mon, 10 Dec 2012 15:34:51 +0000 Mrs. Pickle 441591@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Adira: @banana: I've heard it called Dirty Santa too. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-play-white-elephant#post-441590 Mon, 10 Dec 2012 15:34:49 +0000 Adira 441590@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@banana: Maybe White Elephant is supposed to imply the gag gifts and you would call it something else (like Yankee Swap or gift exchange) if they're supposed to be normal gifts? Or maybe it's a regional thing, haha. I had never heard of White Elephant before today! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-play-white-elephant#post-441583 Mon, 10 Dec 2012 15:32:55 +0000 ladyfingers 441583@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I've only done it at work. Gag gifts are encouraged, we play it like you do. Some people bring serious gifts, most do not. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-play-white-elephant#post-441573 Mon, 10 Dec 2012 15:31:08 +0000 banana 441573@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Sweet T: I love WE when there are gag gifts! It's just boring when 6 out of 8 gifts are gift cards. Two people even brought $25 Starbucks gift cards. And they swapped with each other! Man, I have some boring friends. haha Yeah, you're probably right. They're probably not thinking about it anymore... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-play-white-elephant#post-441569 Mon, 10 Dec 2012 15:29:20 +0000 Sweet T 441569@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My family used to do white elephant every year! It was so much fun! We usually did normal gifts with a $10 or $20 limit and gag gifts were allowed (and definitely given!).</p> <p>Try not to feel bad. The game varies so much depending on who's playing is and there's nothing you can do about it now anyway. I'm sure nobody's even thinking about it anymore. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-play-white-elephant#post-441565 Mon, 10 Dec 2012 15:28:36 +0000 banana 441565@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Adira: Yes! That's exactly how it works. I guess it's the same game but with two different names. I always thought White Elephant meant gag gifts though.</p> <p>@BabyBoecksMom: That's what my husband said. He was like "Isn't this just a gift exchange then?" lol Gag gifts are so much more fun!!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-play-white-elephant#post-441545 Mon, 10 Dec 2012 15:23:17 +0000 Adira 441545@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@banana: The specific rules of a Yankee Swap vary depending on the people, but the basic gist is that everyone buys a gift, and then you all get a number and you go in order starting from 1. You can either choose to open a new gift or steal a previous gift. If your gift gets stolen, you get to open a new gift. I've never heard of a Yankee Swap being joke gifts though, although you could definitely do that if people specified that ahead of time. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-play-white-elephant#post-441543 Mon, 10 Dec 2012 15:22:53 +0000 BabyBoecksMom 441543@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@banana: It depends on the party, but most of the time when I hear WE, I usually think of bringing something from the house or a gag gift. If it's a "normal" gift, then I call that a gift exchange. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-play-white-elephant#post-441538 Mon, 10 Dec 2012 15:21:00 +0000 banana 441538@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Adira: I think so? I don't know what Yankee Swap is! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-play-white-elephant#post-441535 Mon, 10 Dec 2012 15:20:10 +0000 Adira 441535@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I've never heard of this before. Is it like a Yankee Swap? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-play-white-elephant#post-441516 Mon, 10 Dec 2012 15:06:47 +0000 Mrs. Pen 441516@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>It varies by group! </p> <p>We only do a WE gift exchange with my mom's side of the family and we do both nice and silly gifts. There are usually some gift cards thrown in there in $5-$20 increments, cash, coffee, etc.. But silly gifts like regifted things (last year we gifted a redbox DVD that DH never returned haha!!) are common too..</p> <p>Usually when I see invites it will say bring a silly gift, or else nothing at all and then I would assume it's decent gifts. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-play-white-elephant#post-441509 Mon, 10 Dec 2012 15:02:21 +0000 banana 441509@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@JennyLayneAZ: I know! It was so boring too. It was like "Oh, you got a gift card? Cool. I got one too. I'll steal your gift card. Oh, wine glasses cool. I wanna steal that." zzzzzzzz.... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-play-white-elephant#post-441485 Mon, 10 Dec 2012 14:50:07 +0000 JennyLayneAZ 441485@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@banana: that's the only way I've played it - with gag gifts. That really sucks that they did normal gifts! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-play-white-elephant#post-441459 Mon, 10 Dec 2012 14:34:12 +0000 Smurfette 441459@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I always think gag gifts, but over the years have learned that you have to specify for this very reason.<br /> @banana: Sorry! I have been there before and it sucks. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-play-white-elephant#post-441392 Mon, 10 Dec 2012 13:59:05 +0000 tororojo 441392@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I think a true White Elephant exchange is supposed to be gag gifts. My family does a gift exchange using the same system of drawing numbers/picking gifts/stealing, but they have to be good and there's a set price. If I thought my gift was sub-par, I'd probably just pick it for myself (but if you've already chosen there's nothing you can do!). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-play-white-elephant#post-441261 Mon, 10 Dec 2012 13:05:28 +0000 Mrs. Pickle 441261@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>The rule at ours is that all gifts have to be handmade. Some people make really nice things and there are usually a couple gag gifts too. One year someone made a house of cards. I've gotten a lamp, clock, blankets, scarves, and cutting board over the years. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-play-white-elephant#post-441225 Mon, 10 Dec 2012 12:54:18 +0000 banana 441225@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>UGH! I still feel bad about it! Maybe we should buy the guy a gift card or something. Everytime I played white elephant, it was always gag gifts. I thought that's what the term "white elephant" meant! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-play-white-elephant#post-441220 Mon, 10 Dec 2012 12:53:23 +0000 Mrsbells 441220@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I've never participated in this </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-play-white-elephant#post-441215 Mon, 10 Dec 2012 12:52:24 +0000 Alivoo01 441215@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>It's always been a new item that you wouldn't mind receiving as a gift, and depending on the environment (work vs friends/family), gag gifts are allowed. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-play-white-elephant#post-441214 Mon, 10 Dec 2012 12:52:11 +0000 Mrs. Champagne 441214@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>my family does it as a $10 gift. however, bonus points for the biggest sale item. so gifts have included a $60 trash can on for $10, or a bottle of wine. it totally depends. i usually bring a bottle of wine and try to get DH to pick that for the prize... lol!<br /> @banana they should have made the rules more clear! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-play-white-elephant#post-441208 Mon, 10 Dec 2012 12:47:59 +0000 DpeachLu 441208@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@banana: Yes. Everywhere Ive read about white elephant it tends to be the way you guys participated. Something from home, something funny and so on. So I think the rules need to be stated when wanting something different. I dont blame you! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-play-white-elephant#post-441206 Mon, 10 Dec 2012 12:46:29 +0000 banana 441206@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@DpeachLu: Maybe I should've asked them to clarify the rules. :( </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-play-white-elephant#post-441203 Mon, 10 Dec 2012 12:45:49 +0000 DpeachLu 441203@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We usually have three different white elephant exchanges<br /> 1. family - something new with a price tag of 20.00<br /> 2. work - something new with a price tag of 25.00 no gag gifts , no gift cards<br /> 3. friends - something new with a price tag of 20.00 gag gifts allowed. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-play-white-elephant#post-441194 Mon, 10 Dec 2012 12:42:40 +0000 banana 441194@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We went to a white elephant gift exchange this weekend and we gifted a few unopened DVDs that we already had. They were really old and totally random and we thought it was hilarious when were wrapping them up. When we started playing the White Elephant game, we noticed that all of the gifts were "normal" gifts. Gift cards, wine glasses, books. And they were all brand new. My DH and I felt SO bad because everyone else gave nice gifts and we brought something from our home. We explained to everyone that we thought we were playing the traditional White Elephant and nobody knew what we were talking about! We still feel bad about it because we received some nice wine glasses from the party. :(</p> <p>How do YOU play White Elephant? </p>