White Elephant Gifts to Add Some Holly Jolly to Christmas

Happy Holidays everyone! It is that time of year again to celebrate your family, friends, co-workers and even your hairdresser. Many of you have probably been bombarded with the stress and panicking of finding the perfect gifts for everyone on your list. You have probably also been invited to several holiday parties or may even be hosting one yourself. Well here is an idea to ease the tension and maybe get rid of some old gifts that you never used or some piece of junk that you are just dying to get rid of....have a White Elephant Gift Christmas party. Every year a group of my friends, around 10 couples, gets together to have a White Elephant Christmas Party. We have found out that in all the hussle and bussle of the season that a good party with lots of laughs and no expectations on how much everyone spent on each other, is the perfect stress buster. It's really fun...and there really is no set way to do it, but here's how it goes for us:

We all gather at one of the couple's houses and each couple brings their own special gift, this year it was the early 90's era patchwork leather jacket that my father-in-law bestowed on my husband last Christmas. Each gift is wrapped in a conspicuous box or manner. After catching up over a few drinks and appetizers we sit down and each couple draws a number. Whoever has the lowest number goes first. They get to choose the box they prefer and see what fun gift they have received. Then the second lowest number gets to choose a gift, but here is the fun part - they can choose to open the present they have or switch with the first gift. Then the third person has two choices to pick from or to open a new present, and this continues on and on until everyone has a gift that they probably will never use, but it lends to some good pictures, jokes, and laughs! Just what the holiday season is about....Celebrating!