With Christmas come all sorts of gift exchanges from Secret Santa to white elephant exchanges. Historically, white elephants were considered tokens of power and prestige owned by the wealthy. They required special care that only kings and members of the nobility could afford to give.

A white elephant was considered the gift of all gifts, unless, of course, the recipient did not have the means to care for the animal. Such was often the case when a king would give one to a servant he was displeased with. Upon receiving the gift, the servant might believe they were being honored, only to realize later they weren’t, as the expense of caring for the animal became a burden.

While white elephants continue to be revered in some Asian cultures today, few people actually own one due to the enormous maintenance costs involved. They must settle instead for a white elephant gift. Unusual and useless to some degree like their namesake, white elephant gifts can be exchanged in numerous ways.

Participants most commonly select a white elephant gift within a certain price range. They wrap their gift and bring it to the appointed location. Everyone draws a number to determine the order in which they will select a gift. The person with number one selects a gift, opens it and holds it up for everyone else to see. The person with number two then selects a gift and opens it. If they like the gift, they keep it. If not, they may exchange it for the first person’s gift. Play continues in this manner until all of the gifts are taken. Participants may be permitted to make further exchanges afterwards.

There are several variations of the white elephant gift exchange. Gifts might be purchased or found, exchanged after or before unwrapping, limited to a certain number of exchanges and so forth. Whatever the rules, a white elephant gift exchange can be a lot of fun, in spite of the impracticalness of the gifts. The exchanging can get really wild when a gift pops up that everyone wants!

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