# White Elephant? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 27, 2006, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-elephant/374400 "2006-09-27T19:23:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2006, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-elephant/374400/61 "2006-09-29T16:37:43Z")
Ok you hosers, this is what I got: Anaamika Anyrose Avarie537 BrattiAtti Chaoticbear Corporate Hippie dafisheroo Dasgupta Draelin Edward the Head FairyChatMom Garden Traveller Geobabe gigi Hal Briston Jahdra Jayjay melondeca mlerose Mr. Bus Guy Nava OneCentStamp PapSett Phall0106 picunurse rocking chair Shirley Ujest Squeaker Snow StarvingButStrong Surok Susie Derkins The Punkyova thetruewheel Tristan ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2006, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-elephant/374400/62 "2006-09-29T16:47:06Z")
Wow! I am smack dab in the middle of moving, so this seems to be the perfect time to White Elephant some stuff! I’m in. I’ll send my email out shortly. Neat! ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2006, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-elephant/374400/63 "2006-10-01T04:18:08Z")
[QUOTE=StarvingButStrong] Me! Me! I missed last year’s thread ☹ and have been collecting neat-o crap ever since. 😃 Just checking: is re-gifting allowed? Because I got something neat but not my style in last year’s office swap. [/QUOTE] Of course re-gifting is allowed, in fact it’s the whole point! At least, it could be… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2006, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-elephant/374400/64 "2006-10-01T04:40:51Z")
Hey alice, let me just add that I’m happy to WE two people if it’s helpful; I’ve got buckets of cool stuff. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2006, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-elephant/374400/65 "2006-10-01T04:42:21Z")
[QUOTE=OneCentStamp] Hey alice, let me just add that I’m happy to WE two people if it’s helpful; I’ve got buckets of cool stuff. [/QUOTE] Hold that thought - someone will wind up elephantless at the end (they always do) and then I get volunteers to send out second rounds. It saves me from having to send out 10 packages myself. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Seventh\_Deadly\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6bbea6/32.png) [@The\_Seventh\_Deadly\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Seventh_Deadly_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2006, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-elephant/374400/66 "2006-10-01T12:00:06Z")
[QUOTE=OneCentStamp] Hey alice, let me just add that I’m happy to WE two people if it’s helpful; I’ve got buckets of cool stuff. [/QUOTE] Hey I just got laid off at the newspaper today, so I won’t be doing any shopping for a while-- this will probably be my only chance this year to indulge my American passion for More Crap. So I’ll be happy to take any overflow (after everyone who wants a box has gotten one, of course). I’ll make sure to post some trenchant cultural criticism about my haul for y’all’s perusal. ---
**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2006, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-elephant/374400/67 "2006-10-01T16:14:41Z")
Oh, what excellent timing. I am the opposite of a packrat, you see. Once every year or so I go through all my closets and drawers and do a ruthless purge of anything I no longer need or want. All the previous white elephant exchanges have taken place shortly after one of these purges, so I haven’t participated due to lack of good stuff to send. However, by purest coincidence, I am beginning one of my periodic purges _today_. I’ve got a nice box here and all the best gleanings of my hall closet, and my craft closet, and my son’s closet and my daughter’s closet will go in there and be shipped to some very lucky Doper. Aren’t you all excited? ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2006, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-elephant/374400/68 "2006-10-01T18:59:53Z")
I’m considering the matter. Actually signing up would violate a couple of my usual practices–not telling anyone my e-mail or mailing address-- but it might be worth it. But, before I decide, I have a question. Is there any sort of size limitations on the white elephant? I mean does the box to be shipped need to be bigger than a shoe box or smaller than a packing box, or just whatever size holds an amount of “treasures” that I can find and am willing to pay for shipping? ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2006, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-elephant/374400/69 "2006-10-01T19:13:38Z")
**Eureka** , you ship whatever you want - the point is to get rid of stuff you don’t want any longer. Whether it’s one item or a tractor-trailer load is up to you. The vast majority, from my experience, are smaller than copier paper boxes. I’ve recycled Amazon boxes myself. So your third option pretty much sums it up. ---
**Author:** ![Surok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@Surok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surok)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2006, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-elephant/374400/70 "2006-10-01T20:03:36Z")
**alice\_in\_wonderland** , when is this whole thing going to kick off? I’m asking not because I’m impatient, but I’d like to make sure my Doper isn’t stuck waiting with baited breath while I am off on business trips and completely ignorant of what’s going on. ---
**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2006, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-elephant/374400/71 "2006-10-01T20:14:08Z")
Wow – some lucky person is in for a treat. I just finishes emptying my daughter’s closet and the white elephant box has some _excellent_ stuff in it already! ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2006, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-elephant/374400/72 "2006-10-01T21:12:03Z")
[QUOTE=Surok] **alice\_in\_wonderland** , when is this whole thing going to kick off? I’m asking not because I’m impatient, but I’d like to make sure my Doper isn’t stuck waiting with baited breath while I am off on business trips and completely ignorant of what’s going on. [/QUOTE] > [@alice\_in\_wonderland](#): > > Lets make the cut off October 15th just because I like that date. It’s in post #7 ---
**Author:** ![Surok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@Surok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surok)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2006, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-elephant/374400/73 "2006-10-01T21:26:48Z")
[QUOTE=picunurse] It’s in post #7 [/QUOTE] Thank you, **picunurse**. I missed that first time round in my excitement. I assume that’s the cut-off date for signing up, and emails giving us our victim’s, sorry, eager recipient’s details will be sent out some time after that. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2006, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-elephant/374400/74 "2006-10-01T21:46:55Z")
Yep - sign up before the 15th. I’ll most like send out the assignments on the 16th. ---
**Author:** ![sunstone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunstone/32/3372_2.png) [@sunstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunstone)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2006, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-elephant/374400/75 "2006-10-01T21:47:04Z")
Email to you…I wanna play! ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-elephant/374400/76 "2006-10-02T10:06:58Z")
I told Mom about this and she grinned bigger than the grin smiley. Turns out the previous afternoon she’d saved some Stuff that Lilbro wanted to throw away. He’s in the process of moving out and she’s a packrat 99% of the time; the other 1% you have to sit on her to keep her from throwing away the clothes on your back. So my box may not be very big but I think it’s going to be fun to go through 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-elephant/374400/77 "2006-10-02T11:25:04Z")
[QUOTE=Eureka] I mean does the box to be shipped need to be bigger than a shoe box or smaller than a packing box, or just whatever size holds an amount of “treasures” that I can find and am willing to pay for shipping? [/QUOTE] You should have seen the size of the package I was shipped a couple of years ago. It came via UPS and had these huge movie posters and stuff like that in it. I’m almost positive that it came from Zebra. Now I just have to figure out what I want to pick out. ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-elephant/374400/78 "2006-10-02T12:27:08Z")
Wait a second, so for this WE, we send a _box_ of [del]crap[/del] delicious goodies? This is more exciting than I thought it was going to be. ---
**Author:** ![fisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@fisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fisha)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-elephant/374400/79 "2006-10-02T12:47:24Z")
The post office has ‘flat rate’ shipping boxes for free. If you use one of those boxes, it can weigh up to 70# and you can send it anywhere in the US, or APO/FPO for around $8. Only takes 2-3 days for delivery, and is much more economical than standard shipping, especially if the package is heavy. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-elephant/374400/80 "2006-10-02T13:06:23Z")
[QUOTE=picunurse] Too bad we don’t get to choose. I have enough knitting stuff to fill a box by itself. _Someone’s_ gonna have to learn to knit! 🆒 [/QUOTE] You are such a tease! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-elephant/374400.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-elephant/374400.md?page=5)