Fun: Funny White Elephant Gifts

My husband and I were attending a work holiday party and needed a white elephant gift. So I asked this question in some Yahoo Groups:

“What are some of the funniest white elephant gifts you’ve seen/received?”

I received so many great answers, I am posting some of those ideas here.

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Fruit Cake A real White Elephant plastic toy Old videos you have already seen

- anonymous

I made a "Hillbilly briefcase". You take a large pair of men’s underwear and sew the legs closed. I then cut out two "handles" out of cardboard and glued them inside the band of the underwear. With the legs sewn closed and handles, you can open the top and put stuff in it. You now have a "briefcase". My dad is in the bishopric and he took these to one of his bishops' meetings. Got quite a few laughs. - Melissa C.

The best white elephant ever is a jar of beans with a decorative top and a tag saying, "Hillbilly bubble bath." - Sharee Z.

A sitzbath from the hospital when I had a new baby. It was new and never used but quite funny. My daughter brought one women's high heel that had elbow macaroni glued all over it and spray painted gold and on the toe was one shell macaroni painted red, very cute. One year I canned peach pits while I was doing my canning thinking ahead for white elephant season, I thought it was super funny but the people who got it didn't think it was funny at all. You never know what people will laugh at.

- Sue W.

A box of SOS pads……no one wanted it…..someone got stuck with it……only to find $20 inside! Makes the one who gets stuck have the last laugh!

- Jo

I once received a couple of nice hand towels and dishcloths that had extension cords duct taped to them, with a note that said “Electric dishwasher and dryer.” They were a really nice set of towels and the cords were great too!

-anonymous

I always wrap up something useful like a heavy duty flashlight. I top it with a fun little stuffed animal so if it is to be bid on, it is usually sought after. Have you considered something like a couple of canisters of Play Dough? Or an absolutely huge elephant-sized item of clothing (from an outlet)? Or a very strange jar of food from an import store? Maybe a wig from a thrift store. Or maybe you could make a macaroni necklace with a really strange object hanging in the middle of it as a pendant.

- Janis K.

One of those huge Costco cans of Spam, or hominy, that is a good one too.

- Michelle D.

A silver Y2K baseball hat 8-track tapes A bobble head pig bamboo planter An old Thighmaster An amateur painting of Snoopy on black velvet Napoleon Dynamite sleep mask Funny trend cookbooks or other specialty or how to books Anything from the 60's or 70's Old electronic equipment - once I found some device to make your TV louder (it was like a speaker you plugged in to bring the sound closer to you)! It had to be over 30 years old. Virtually anything hand knitted or crocheted by a beginning knitter! The multi-colored yarns are always a big hit! Toaster cozies, any animal accessories for the kitchen, stylized soap holders, etc. Anything that you would buy on late night TV! Our RS exchange next week is using the term "Shuvunda" gift - something you would "shove under" the bed!

- Elaine S.

The best one we had last year at our RS enrichment was the wife of one of the bishopric gave some kind of 70s looking dance movie. One time I got a Chevy Door handle from a decade or so previously.

- anonymous

One we did was a frame with a picture of our family. The all time favorite though was a box of chocolates. We had my 2 year old take bites of a few different ones (and she ate some) so there were a couple missing and a couple with bites out of then. Then, to top it off, we took pictures of her eating them and printed them and stuck them in the box too! The person who got the box was excited it was chocolate (and then confused when they new our other gift was funny) so we made him open it and everybody LOVED it! Cheap, easy, hilarious!

- Sarah

I have given things that are no longer used--like fondue pans or some fad or craze, like a chiapet.

A Mr. Magoo Santa and another one of those “press-here” plush reindeers that sings and I loved him so much I opened him myself and kept him!

Some thrift stores have lots of Christmas decorations that you would never want, but can give away. We have had this traveling monstrosity of a magi, he is sprayed gold, made with some dip and drape fabric and glue over a glass bottle. He has no hands and whoever made it commercially used a Santa mask on him. My daughter bought him at a dollar store or something years ago and this guy has made the circuits every single year.

A popular gift was an empty box because the girl wrapping it forgot to put in the horrible Christmas tie and we all just giggled (her husband, through the trade, ended up getting the empty box back), a bobble-head picture frame that also travels--it was wrapped with another equally awful picture frame, 2 exercise videos, the good gift was a Christmas apron and hot pads with snowman peeps and a snowman chocolate bar, a hot and ready t-shirt from little Caesar's pizza with a free pizza coupon, another dated video about teaching children something or rather, a sheep-shaped welcome friends sign, and the other good gift was a candelabra that held 4 round candles on it.

- Jennifer F.

Someone I know did a ten pound bag of spuds in a really nice package.

- Lori C.

The most unusual one I've seen was a live gold fish in a bag - it was wrapped in the most beautiful looking box and safely secured inside with padding. It went around as the most exchanged/wanted one and at the end no one could believe what was inside.

Candy/chocolate are always the biggest hit. I wouldn't be brave enough to give a box of chocolates with a bite out of each one, but I would use a nice chocolate box and put something else inside like nuts, etc.

- Holly S.

One year I wrapped a package of batteries & wrote a tag that said "toy not included". We have also gotten a toilet seat cover & hot glued stones to it to "bling it up" a bit.

- Sam C.

One of the best ones though was when a sister opened up a small box with grass in it, and a small green snake. She picked it up and looked at it and commented on how real it looked then it stuck its tongue out at her. One of the men had brought a harmless grass snake as his exchange.

We once made enough caramel popcorn to fill a 5-gal bucket and brought that. The fun part about it was when you opened it the smell was so good that everyone was trying to figure out how to steal it away from the sister who had picked it.

- Darlene A.

We got a Mr. Potato Head Santa from Target that we used for YM/YW and they loved it.

- anonymous

The funniest thing I've seen was a very petite woman receive a XXXL size pair of boxers!

- Tricia M.

The ones I always thought were fun to get were the really practical ones. I once got a box that had a flashlight, toothpaste, chocolate bar, stuff like that. Everyone thought it was very funny, but I loved it because I actually was planning on stopping at the store on the way home to get toothpaste! I also once open a ceramic white elephant! That was hilarious! Here are some other great ideas: toilet paper rubber chicken fruitcake can of beans, gas-x, air freshner copier paper and one of those fake 1000 dollar bills brown lunch bag or sock paper that you made

- Allison Y.

About 10 years ago, I took a Twinkie, dated it about 5 years back as the "use by date" and it was a huge hit! The funniest part of it is that it keeps recirculating at the annual Christmas party! Now it's even older! And it still is soft and un-moldy.... creepy, huh?

- Brenda

Activity Day Program: Nerd Night

When I saw this one, it just cracked me up! Getting Dad to come dressed up as a nerd to Activity Day (although that's not a stretch for some...sorry honey!)

• Source: Sugardoodle.net
• Created By: Angela Miller

Christmas Fun: Passing the Gift

Fun gift exchange idea for Christmas.

• Have each guest bring a wrapped gift for the gift exchange.
• Everyone sits in a circle while a narrator reads the following story.
• Each time the words LEFT, RIGHT, or WRIGHT are mentioned, the gifts are passed in that direction.
• Each person will keep the gift they are holding at the end of the story.

It was a beautiful Christmas Eve. The snow was falling. Everything seemed perfectly RIGHT for the evening. There was enough hot chocolate LEFT to share with Santa, RIGHT along with the plate of cookies LEFT for him by the fireplace.

Ed and Myrna WRIGHT thought it would be a great time to drive across town and deliver Grandmother WRIGHT'S Christmas gift. Grandmother WRIGHT had not LEFT her home for a week. She was RIGHT down in bed, as the flu had LEFT her feeling weak.

Mr. WRIGHT and Mrs. WRIGHT LEFT in their bright red car. They had just turned LEFT out of the driveway when Mrs. WRIGHT said to Mr. WRIGHT, "I LEFT Grandmother's present RIGHT there on the kitchen counter." Mr. WRIGHT quickly turned RIGHT back into the driveway and Mrs. WRIGHT leaned LEFT as he did so. She hopped RIGHT out of the car and LEFT her door open. Mrs. WRIGHT said, "I will be RIGHT back." Snowball, their dog, saw the door open and jumped RIGHT into the car, RIGHT over the front seat and RIGHT into the back seat. About this time, Mrs. WRIGHT showed up with Grandmother's present and said to Mr. WRIGHT, "It was RIGHT where I LEFT it, in the kitchen."

Mrs. WRIGHT was surprised to see Snowball in the car. Mrs. WRIGHT thought they had LEFT him in the back yard. However, Mr. WRIGHT had forgotten and LEFT the gate unlocked. Mr. and Mrs. WRIGHT LEFT Snowball in the back seat of the car as they once again LEFT their driveway for Grandmother WRIGHT'S home. As Mr. and Mrs. WRIGHT drove along enjoying the beautiful scenery they felt as if they had LEFT all their worries somewhere else. It was Christmas Eve and they were surrounded, both on the RIGHT and on the LEFT with new falling snow. They were getting that wonderful feeling that often comes at Christmas time.

Mr. WRIGHT'S car turned RIGHT onto Holly Street where Grandmother WRIGHT lived. As they approached Grandmother WRIGHT'S they could see she had LEFT her porch light on. It felt RIGHT chilly when they stepped out of the car. However, they LEFT their jackets in the car. Mr. WRIGHT and Mrs.WRIGHT were glad they had not LEFT Grandmother WRIGHT'S gift home.

They could see Grandmother WRIGHT peeking through the curtains as they walked up her steps. Snowball began to bark as he did not want to be LEFT out. What a nice surprise for Grandmother WRIGHT, she had not been LEFT alone on Christmas Eve. Mr. WRIGHT and Mrs. WRIGHT walked RIGHT up to the door and knocked. Grandmother WRIGHT, stood RIGHT by the door and opened it RIGHT as soon as they knocked. It almost LEFT them speechless to see Grandmother WRIGHT up and about. Grandmother WRIGHT said, "What a wonderful surprise." Mr. WRIGHT and Mrs. WRIGHT were also surprised to see that Grandmother WRIGHT had LEFT her bed. She was RIGHT spry and it was easy to see that her illness had not LEFT her weak.

Grandmother WRIGHT wanted to celebrate what was LEFT of Christmas Eve. So Grandmother WRIGHT LEFT Mr. WRIGHT and Mrs. WRIGHT and went RIGHT into the kitchen to stir up a pot of hot wassail. She said, "I need my glasses to see this festive recipe, and they are not RIGHT here where I LEFT them." The three of them LEFT the kitchen and looked in other rooms to see where she had LEFT them. Grandmother WRIGHT yelled out, "Well here they are, RIGHT here where I LEFT them." Sure enough they were RIGHT there on her night stand where she had LEFT them.

Grandmother WRIGHT made sure she had all the RIGHT ingredients in the hot wassail. Mr. WRIGHT built a fire in the fireplace and it LEFT a warm festive feeling as they sat on the cozy stuffed sofa, listening to soft Christmas music and sipping their wassail, which was just the RIGHT temperature. Mr. WRIGHT opened the door to check on Snowball and he was fast asleep, RIGHT there on the doorstep where they had LEFT him. Mr. WRIGHT and Mrs. WRIGHT will never forget this special evening as they were LEFT with the true spirit of Christmas in their hearts, and they knew they had done the RIGHT thing by sharing their Christmas Eve with Grandmother WRIGHT.

• Source: Homeschoolzone.com