# White Elephant Christmas Gifts

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-elephant-christmas-gifts/137734>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [November 20, 2002, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-elephant-christmas-gifts/137734 "2002-11-20T13:31:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Oblong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c0e974/32.png) [@Oblong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oblong)\
**Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-elephant-christmas-gifts/137734/1 "2002-11-20T13:31:07Z")

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For our yearly gift exchange it was decided to do a “White Elephant” gift exchange. I sort of understood what that meant but not fully. I blurted out “You mean like a plunger” and they said “Yeah, that’d be a perfect example, as long as it’s new of course”. But that’s all I could think of.

Anyone have any ideas?

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**Author:** ![EchoKitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@EchoKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EchoKitty)\
**Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-elephant-christmas-gifts/137734/2 "2002-11-20T14:07:00Z")

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That’s not how I understand the White Elephant. It is a used item from your home that you no longer want to keep. Sort of like re-gifting. It can be funny, but doesn’t necessarily have to be. Some examples are:

A really bad sweater that Aunt Edna gave you three years ago.

An ashtray with a palm tree and a Hawaiian Hula dancer painted on it.

A wind-up monkey that plays cymbals.

A holiday candle that you can live without.

A really obnoxious lamp (that works!)

Toe socks (laundered, of course)

I once received a square-dancing tape from the caller himself.

Wooden shoes

Books or CDs that aren’t your cup o’ tea, but might be someone else’s.

A Groucho Marx statue

Does this help???

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**Author:** ![Oblong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c0e974/32.png) [@Oblong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oblong)\
**Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-elephant-christmas-gifts/137734/3 "2002-11-20T14:15:36Z")

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Ahh… ok. Makes perfect sense now.

Thanks

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**Author:** ![EchoKitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@EchoKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EchoKitty)\
**Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-elephant-christmas-gifts/137734/4 "2002-11-20T14:26:28Z")

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No charge! 😉

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**Author:** ![EchoKitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@EchoKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EchoKitty)\
**Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-elephant-christmas-gifts/137734/5 "2002-11-20T14:27:47Z")

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Actually, some people really like the crap they get at these things, but more often than not, everyone laughs really hard at the stuff.