White Elephant Gifting for Dummies: The 9 Types of Gifts

So you’ve been invited to a holiday party, and the host is insisting you participate in a white elephant gift swap. Don’t know what to buy with your ($10, $15, $25) budget? Look no further, we’ve got you covered!

The Easy Gift:

This is the easy way out, in fact you can probably work this into your daily routine, picking up a Starbucks card when you get your morning joe. While it’s a pretty uninspired choice, it will most likely be among the most coveted.

The Booze Gift:

Always a gift swap favorite, even better if you can hit up Costco and get an extra-large size. But might not work for groups that frown on drinking.

The Naughty Gift:

Bringing a sexually explicit gift is a major risk and we only recommend it if you know the group really, really well. Warning: you may not receive a repeat invite if you go with a gift in this category.

The Gift You Want Gift:

This is when you submit a gift that is very specific to your personal hobbies, with the hope that no one else will want it and you can steal it.

The Thoughtful Gift:

You search high and low for a gift that appears to be, or is actually, worth more than the dollar amount, and would be desired by most people. This is a surefire win.

The Re-gifted Gift:

Just because you have no need for the iron your great-aunt gave you last holiday season, doesn’t mean you should subject someone else to it. And there’s no point to giving a crappy re-gift if it’s not ironic or amusing in some way.

The Cheap-o Gift:

Like the re-gifted and easy gifts, this is a lazy move, but is made worse because you clearly ignored the dollar value requirement. You don’t get to charge for the hours it took to bake the cookies!

The Charity Gift:

A feel-good gift of making a donation in someone's name will probably only make you feel good and will make whoever receives it feel cheated, and then immediately guilty for feeling that way. Good job!

The Gag Gift:

We saved the best for last. The gag gift, if done correctly, will shock, awe and perhaps inspire a round of gift steals.