Work Christmas (err.. Holiday) Party: White Elephant Gift Exchange

38Chevy454

38Chevy454

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So my work is having our group's Christmas party potluck and has a $15 white elephant gift exchange. OK, I am good with that, but what just sits wrong with my FIRE attitude is why spend money (or regift) on some stupid crap item nobody would want? I can understand the gift exchange, we do the draw numbers and then you can pick unwrapped or steal process, can be some fun. I can't understand spending money on something a person will not like and get stuck with? Many co-workers do try and have a good gift item, but several make an effort to have something ridiculous.

To me giving some useless junk that is just a waste of money defeats the purpose of a gift exchange. Can someone help me improve my attitude about this? :mad: Right now my only consolation is this is the last time I put up with this. My DW said to just put up with it and try to have fun, but I am forbidden from throwing away my gift at work if I do not like it. :nonono:
 
"One man's junk is another man's treasure"

Just because you think some of the gifts are ridiculous doesn't mean someone else won't love it. The two most popular gifts at our exchange this year were really, really ridiculous (one was highly inappropriate to boot). The next two most popular were both practical. Make your contribution something useful (wine always goes over well) and if you end up with something ridiculous, drop it off at a Goodwill on the way home. Somebody out there will LOVE IT.


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Most people I know just find something around the house that qualifies as a 'white elephant' gift, might even be re-gifting (we just did exactly that with a god-awful candy dish someone gave us year ago). Shouldn't be a need to buy a white elephant gift...surely you have something new/like new that qualifies?
 
It's $15... get over it. Gift cards to a local restaurant or coffee place would be useful.
 
I always hated these stupid gifts that nobody wants, also. Luckily at my former workplace, there was a very low maximum that one was permitted to spend on the gift, I think around $5-$7.

The best one I ever got, was a $5 gift certificate to Starbucks (which was right across the street from work).

I thought that was pretty cool because I didn't want to pay for Starbucks normally. I was saving for retirement, so you all know how that is.

Another gift I liked was a stupid, wacky, very low quality, cheap stuffed animal that I put on top of one of my file cabinets, to spruce up my office. It was a small stuffed alligator IIRC.
 
Last edited:
Another vote for gift cards. After going through the belongings of 3 relatives and throwing out so much junk and useless crap, we will now only give "stuff" to our grandchildren and limit that to things they need.
 
This has nothing to do with work Christmas parties (I skipped every single year), but...

Around the time I started my job, there was this ad campaign for raisins with a singing group, The California Raisins, doing "I Heard It Through The Grapevine". Claymation or something. I loved it. Word got around and at the time one of the fast-food places offered a California Raisin with purchase.

For several weeks, I'd get back to my desk and find a new raisin sitting there. Fantastic! I kept them all and when I packed everything to move this year I took that whole band along with me.
 
+2 gift card. Amazon would likely go over well.
 
For the finL few years of w*rk, my standard office gift was a donation to a charity. Some charities are set up to provide the giver with a card to give the recipient of the gift. You can judge your popularity and your colleagues' naked freed by the responses when they open it.
 
FI by 2024 said:
Make your contribution something useful (wine always goes over well)
Click to expand...

It doesn't with me. I don't drink alcoholic beverages of any kind, and neither does F. A gift like that would end up in a dumpster before I even got home, if I received it, and I would be a little cranky about it. And no, I wouldn't re-gift it.
 
Our church just had a Christmas potluck and white elephant gift exchange. Fortunately, the exchange was voluntary. I just told them DH and I had de-cluttered before moving this year (which was true); thus had no white elephants to contribute and didn't want to bring any home.


I would have brought a wine-cooling bucket that belonged to my ex in-laws. It's over a foot high, extremely heavy metal, over-ornamented with cherubs, grapes, etc. and painted gold. I was going to leave it out as a free item on Craigslist but jokingly posted it on FB first and my SIL wanted it. She and my brother are down-to-earth LBYM people who know their way around Home Depot better than Crate and Barrel. I think she wants it just because it's the exact opposite of their usual tastes.
 
W2R said:
It doesn't with me. I don't drink alcoholic beverages of any kind, and neither does F. A gift like that would end up in a dumpster before I even got home, if I received it, and I would be a little cranky about it. And no, I wouldn't re-gift it.
Click to expand...


That's funny. I am allergic to alcohol, but that's what I took home this year. I figure it'll be a great hostess gift next time I'm invited to a dinner.


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This kind of stuff reminds me of the upsurge in the "ugly sweater" Christmas party. What's the point of buying an ugly sweater?

I think the OP isn't objecting to the 15 bucks.. it's the white elephant part he doesn't like and I agree I don't want to buy something worthless and then take another something worthless home. Having said that, our local Menards had the perfect white elephant gift on sale for under 15 dollars, it was a plastic R2D2 Starwars showerhead!
 
W2R said:
It doesn't with me. I don't drink alcoholic beverages of any kind, and neither does F. A gift like that would end up in a dumpster before I even got home, if I received it, and I would be a little cranky about it. And no, I wouldn't re-gift it.
Click to expand...

A wine is a terrible thing to waste... :wiseone:
 
My thoughts were exactly like W2R on the wine as I never drank alcohol...until this year. When is the party?
 
I second the suggestions of wine (can buy some very good vino for less than $15, and it will probably get stolen several times) and re-gifting (got rid of a hideous gift that way; for some reason, the person who got the re-gift thought it was wonderful). Me, I always went for the bath/toiletry sets that others brought. I love bath products, and fortunately am not allergic to scented products.

From the broader perspective, "holiday" parties are a love/hate thing with almost every work group I've been part of, and that's a large number. I don't have to attend them now that I'm just a part-time consultant :D While working, I always dreaded them, until about halfway through...when I realized that I was having a pretty good time just being silly with other silly people.

The ones at restaurants were the worst (invariably, terrible crowd food) while the potlucks in the actual office, where we all brought our favorite things to eat, were the best.

Amethyst

38Chevy454 said:
So my work is having our group's Christmas party potluck and has a $15 white elephant gift exchange. OK, I am good with that, but what just sits wrong with my FIRE attitude is why spend money (or regift) on some stupid crap item nobody would want? I can understand the gift exchange, we do the draw numbers and then you can pick unwrapped or steal process, can be some fun. I can't understand spending money on something a person will not like and get stuck with? Many co-workers do try and have a good gift item, but several make an effort to have something ridiculous.

To me giving some useless junk that is just a waste of money defeats the purpose of a gift exchange. Can someone help me improve my attitude about this? :mad: Right now my only consolation is this is the last time I put up with this. My DW said to just put up with it and try to have fun, but I am forbidden from throwing away my gift at work if I do not like it. :nonono:
Click to expand...
 
W2R said:
I always hated these stupid gifts that nobody wants, also.
Click to expand...

I love those! I call them "targets".

W2R said:
It doesn't with me. I don't drink alcoholic beverages of any kind, and neither does F. A gift like that would end up in a dumpster before I even got home, if I received it, and I would be a little cranky about it. And no, I wouldn't re-gift it.
Click to expand...

Don't you even cook with wine? I don't drink it (not that I don't drink, but I don't like wine), but I use it to cook with a lot. Makes great sauces, and after cooking there's no alcohol remaining. Don't consider it a beverage, consider it a condiment.
 
This is the perfect opportunity to "re-gift" something that you have on a shelf from the last time you went to one of these...
 
There are a lot of decent bottles of wine for $15. Buy two and enjoy one yourself while you're at it.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum
 
ivinsfan said:
This kind of stuff reminds me of the upsurge in the "ugly sweater" Christmas party. What's the point of buying an ugly sweater?

I think the OP isn't objecting to the 15 bucks.. it's the white elephant part he doesn't like and I agree I don't want to buy something worthless and then take another something worthless home. Having said that, our local Menards had the perfect white elephant gift on sale for under 15 dollars, it was a plastic R2D2 Starwars showerhead!
Click to expand...

You got my point, it is not the money, it is wasting the money on some crap item. I have no problem getting something good to bring to the exchange. $15 is not going to affect my retirement plans.

We can't bring alcohol into work, even unopened; I guess I could just put a picture and swap in parking lot, but it supposed to be somewhat anonymous. The gift card is a good idea, and Starbucks seems to be a very popular one that most anyone would appreciate. Might just do a gift card.

Maybe I should buy some lotto scratchoff tickets, that would be be potentially be more effective for some coworker's retirement :LOL: :facepalm:
 
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