With Thanksgiving around the corner, we bet your holiday schedule is already starting to fill up! We’ve taken the stress out of either planning or attending a fabulous white elephant party with your favorite people.
Why is it called a White Elephant anyway?
In Thailand and other Asian countries, the white elephant was considered a holy being. But, the upkeep of this animal was outrageous to say the least. They needed special food, holy housing, and all sorts of special treatment. So much in fact, that usually only a king could afford a white elephant. The death of a white elephant spelled DISASTER so these animals were pretty pampered pets. The origin of our white elephant gift began when ancient kings became EXTREMELY DISPLEASED with their assistant. They would make a gift of the white elephant to the assistant. At first, this appeared to be a great honor. But soon, the assistant would become crippled by the financial burden of the white elephant. Hence, when we give silly, ELABORATE gifts of little value, we call them WHITE ELEPHANT GIFTS. 🙂
White Elephant Party Pack
Our new exclusive printable pack has everything you need for the ultimate Holiday gift exchange! This darling white elephant party kit features:
Invite, Game Instructions, Voting Ballots Banner & Decor Ideas Food Recipes {Featuring 10 Desserts!} Hot Cocoa Bar Printables 14 DIY gifts {Print, Attach, & DONE!} AND SO MUCH MORE!
A HUGE thank you to Courtney from All Things Bright and Beautiful for her gorgeous design work on this one-of-a-kind printable pack. I’m in love with the bright color palette she used, along with that adorable elephant graphic!
How to Host a White Elephant Party
This party will surely be one to remember as it follows a tried and true formula: BEAUTIFUL DECOR + YUMMY FOOD + HILARIOUS GIFTS + YOUR FAVORITE PEOPLE = AMAZING MEMORIES We’ve paired essential elements that the HOSTESS with the mostess will need AND our favorite DIY white elephant gifts that are perfect for any party ATTENDEE! There’s something for everyone! Let’s take a closer look at what this kit contains:
White Elephant Party Invite
Our festive invite will set the mood for your party and get everyone excited to see who will come up with the best and wackiest gift!
Courtney designed a unique 3-dimensional pocket-style White Elephant Party invite to “wow” your attendees. If you want to lighten the load, you can feel free to include a handy little insert instructing guests to bring a dish to share. Easy, peasy!
White Elephant Party Instructions
Our ultimate party pack also includes instructions for the hostess in terms of setting up the game and 2 fun variations to mix up your gift exchange. During past parties, I know I’m always scrambling at the last minute to find a piece of paper to assign numbers to my guests. Our pack solves this problem… with style! Courtney designed a darling “Choose a Number” sign and corresponding cards so you won’t be caught in this predicament ever again. I love when practical pieces also double for beautiful decor!
The most common way to play the White Elephant Party game is as follows:
Optional — You may want to give the #1 person a chance to steal a different gift at the very end of the game since they otherwise do not get the chance to do any stealing. If your gift gets stolen, you have the option of either A) opening a new gift or B) stealing an open gift from someone else. Once a gift has been opened it can be stolen by anyone whose turn it is, with two exceptions:
A gift that has JUST been stolen from you is now OFF LIMITS (for you). No stealing gifts back that have just been taken from you.
Once a gift has been stolen 3 times it is out of play and stays with the 3rd and last “stealer”
After the gifts have been opened, it’s time to decide who brought the wackiest present! We’ve included fun voting ballots and DIY ribbon medals in 3 categories: Funniest, Most Creative, & Most Useful.
Simply cut out the circle medallions and add 2 ribbon tails to the back of each for easy, festive awards. Your guests will have a blast deciding who receives these coveted titles! Even if your guests didn’t win a prize, they all will leave your celebration with a fun favor. Simply wrap up a small bag of popcorn, peanuts, or chocolate covered pretzels and attach our darling favor tag.
White Elephant Party Festive Banner
Create a warm and fun atmosphere for your party with this adorable banner!
A big thank you to Diva Chrissy for capturing these gorgeous images of our pack’s DIY banner. This decoration contains 3 tiers of pennants that can be strung on baker’s twine or ribbon.
For added charm, we suggest stringing peanuts and ribbon ties on a piece of fishing line. This isn’t as hard as it looks, we promise! You just need a bag of peanuts and a long sewing needle. I actually had the most success by using a 1/8-inch metal drill bit to drill each side first.
This extra step made threading the garland a breeze!… just make sure to be super careful with the placement of your fingers when using a drill!
White Elephant Party Food
Our one-of-a-kind blank food labels will help make your food table spread shine!
We’ve also included 10 delicious dessert recipes — we hope you enjoy these treats from our kitchen to yours! I’m dying over the chocolate mint brownies from honorary Diva Linda Anderson (Diva Tara’s sweet Mom!)– they sound absolutely divine! Have fun picking out your perfect party treats with this mini cookbook straight from the Divas’ kitchens!
And, don’t forget to assemble darling popcorn and peanut cones using our easy template guide.
Hot Cocoa Bar Printables
Guests will have fun whipping up their own yummy hot chocolate treat to sip on during the party!
Our pack contains a festive 8×10 sign, straw flags, and topping labels. Hot cocoa, paired with our yummy dessert recipes, is a winning combination for any Holiday gift exchange party!
What makes a good White Elephant gift?
Something under $10 Something so ugly that it’s cute A nostalgic toy Something ridiculous or useless ANYTHING from this store would be great: Archie McPhee Or check out all the fun DIY White Elephant gifts from our White Elephant Party pack below.
14 {Done-for-You!} White Elephant DIY Gifts
Last year, our roundup of the best white elephant gifts was one of our most popular Holiday posts! We took note of this overwhelming response and have made your life even easier!! Our exclusive party pack contains 14 labels to transform ordinary household items into HILARIOUS gifts! Yes, you read that correctly– we’ve included 14 ideas for memorable gifts that are sure to make even this year’s Scrooge grin from ear to ear! It’s really as easy as Print, Package, & Go!
Your incredible line-up of DONE-FOR-YOU gifts includes:
Homemade Brown “E”s Can of Nuts Expert Level Jigsaw Puzzle HO + ME Frameable Art No Present Included Exercise Block When Life Gives You Lemons Air Guitar Strings In Case of Emergency Chocolate Print Stress Relief Bubble Wrap Can of Nuts Donut Seeds Cold Hard Cash Furniture Seeds Packet
Get this entire White Elephant Party Kit for just $10.97!
There you have it- all the ingredients for a festive Holiday white elephant gift exchange! We’ve done everything for you so all you need to do is ENJOY THE PARTY!