Annual gift guide: The white elephant in the room

White Elephant parties and Secret Santa are just two ways to make sure everyone has fun and goes home with something.

The Secret Santa gift exchange is a holiday tradition where all the participants’ names are placed in a hat and each person draws a name from it. Once the names are drawn, everyone must keep it to themselves and purchase a gift for the person they selected. Once the gifts are purchased, wrapped and labeled with the recipient’s name, the gifts are place in the center of the room during the party. Everyone takes turns, finding the gift with his or her name. Once the gift is opened, the recipient must guess who the gift is from. If their guess is wrong, the Secret Santa confesses.

If that sounds like too much planning, there’s the option of the White Elephant party. Everyone brings a wrapped gift worth a certain amount. It could be store-bought or something lying around the house — or, if it’s held after the holiday, could actually be used to regift something you didn’t really want.

Each participant draws a number from a hat. Whoever selects 1 chooses a gift from the center of the room first and opens it. The one who choose 2 can either “steal” that person’s gift or pick a new one, and so on. Every White Elephant can have customized rules: Only two steals per turn, each item can only be stolen three times, etc. Participants get pretty competitive, especially when someone spots something they want.

In addition to gift parties, groups of friends who are separated for the holidays can try out the rotating gift box. One person starts by filling a box with low-cost items: Candles, body wash (placed in a plastic bag), candy, socks or other practical items. Make sure there is one item for each friend and a note. The box is mailed to the second person who takes a gift from the box and replaces it with another gift and a note. The box is mailed to the third person where continue it. The box rotates to all the friends and is eventually returned to the person who started it with new items and notes inside.

So while some may gather under the tree bright and early on Dec. 25, others have found a way to get that feeling through unconventional means. And you probably thought the Grinch was the only one who had fun stealing presents.