Big Perm Posted December 16, 2007 Share Posted December 16, 2007 Curious if anyone had worthy White Elephant gift stories? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Reni Posted December 16, 2007 Share Posted December 16, 2007 I think my favorite was from my last place of employment. As a joke, my friend Kimberly wrapped a framed picture of herself in some cheesy glamour shot pose in front of a beach backdrop. I think it was from a cruise she went on or something. So, the woman in the cube next to her, Celeste, gets it.....everyone laughs, knowing its a joke and that Kimberly really has another gift for the exchange.....but, Celeste clutches the photo and hugs and goes, "I love it!" She then went and prominently displayed it on her desk....... Later in the day people in other departments started coming up to Kimberly asking why on earth Celeste has a framed 8x10 of picture of her on display. Kimberly finally had to pull Celeste aside and ask for the photo back and gave her the real gift. I think Celeste was disappointed. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Beltmann Posted December 16, 2007 Share Posted December 16, 2007 One year a friend gave me a large, framed picture of G. W. Bush with a faked autograph. He always did know how to piss me off. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Big Perm Posted December 16, 2007 Author Share Posted December 16, 2007 I think my favorite was from my last place of employment. As a joke, my friend Kimberly wrapped a framed picture of herself in some cheesy glamour shot pose in front of a beach backdrop. I think it was from a cruise she went on or something. So, the woman in the cube next to her, Celeste, gets it.....everyone laughs, knowing its a joke and that Kimberly really has another gift for the exchange.....but, Celeste clutches the photo and hugs and goes, "I love it!" She then went and prominently displayed it on her desk....... Later in the day people in other departments started coming up to Kimberly asking why on earth Celeste has a framed 8x10 of picture of her on display. Kimberly finally had to pull Celeste aside and ask for the photo back and gave her the real gift. I think Celeste was disappointed.that's a good one. I almost wrapped a plate of nachos this year, I was gonna make them just before we went to the party, but I ran out of time. This is my dream though, and one day I'll make it come true. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Saint Genevieve Posted December 16, 2007 Share Posted December 16, 2007 In high school I got a big red mallet and a very old capgun. The gun has long since been lost, but I still have the mallet, and treasure it deeply. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
a.miller Posted December 17, 2007 Share Posted December 17, 2007 Someone at our office got electric underwear. Just like an electric blanket, only underwear -- and it plugged into the wall. Also, another guy that works here said he was at a white elephant party and someone bought a big mac on the way over, wrapped it with duct tape and gave it as a gift. After all the gift trading / swapping, the only vegetarian at the party wound up with the still warm big mac. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sir Stewart Posted December 17, 2007 Share Posted December 17, 2007 This all sounds like what we call a "Yankee Swap" around these parts. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
quarter23cd Posted December 17, 2007 Share Posted December 17, 2007 Several years ago I was working a crappy temp job (albeit a decent-paying one), and at the Xmas party we did one of these gift-swap things. The owner of the company had ended up with a rubik's cube--a decent gift, as these things go--and he seemed quite happy with it and was playing with it at his table. When it got to my turn, I got some really crappy gift, but I also had the option to swap gifts with anybody else who'd already had a turn. So I took the rubik's cube. A couple weeks later I was informed that I was "not working out" at my temp position and was asked to leave. (coincidence?) I still think I made the right choice in taking the boss' toy. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mr. Kinsley Posted December 17, 2007 Share Posted December 17, 2007 A few years back at my old job we'd do the gift exchange game, and there was one present that whoever got it, had to put it back into circulation. It was a sort of badge of honor to get stuck with the hideously cheesy porcelain mask with ribbons all over it. Of course, the one person that eventually ended up with it was this really obnoxious know-it-all girl from Berkley who, for some unknown reason, had a collection of cheesy porcelain masks. Game over. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
EL the Famous Posted December 17, 2007 Share Posted December 17, 2007 before she passed, my grandma wolf and my aunt linda re-gifted the same freaking dish towel to each other for probably close to 20 years. they would try and outdo each other every year in giving it back to the other person...it was placed in the bottom liner of x-mas cookies, delivered by my uncle dan dressed up as santa in a blizzard, left on my aunt's doorstep swaddled around a toy baby, baked inside a friutcake, etc. no one knows where the towel is today...my aunt linda thinks it was probably hideen in a gift or something and nobody found it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
cryptique Posted December 17, 2007 Share Posted December 17, 2007 There's a cheesy cassette tape that my brother and I have been passing back and forth for a while now, but not as a part of any gift exchange -- just as an ongoing prank between brothers. Unfortunately, I think I lost it the last time he stuck me with it -- but now that I'm thinking about it, I need to look a couple of places tonight to see if I can find it. That really needs to go back to him this Christmas. The typical scenario for trading it back and forth involves one of us finding it at the bottom of a piece of luggage after returning from a visit to the other's place. We haven't lived in the same part of the country for many years now, so immediate revenge has never been an option (and just mailing it back to him wouldn't be any fun). At this point I don't even remember which artist/album that tape is ... but it was something especially putrid from the '80s, that much I remember. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
alison the wilca Posted December 17, 2007 Share Posted December 17, 2007 at one christmas party in college, someone wrapped up a ficus tree of some sort. that was an unusual one. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
EL the Famous Posted December 17, 2007 Share Posted December 17, 2007 best yankee swap present i ever got was the animatronic singing, dancing james brown. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
theashtraysays Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 Two years ago I got a can of "Spam Lite". I still have it on my desk, and it still has about one more year of shelf life. I find this somewhat disturbing. The first ingredient in Spam Lite is "ham with pork" which seems a tad redundant. The second ingredient is "mechanically separated chicken". The rest are less appealing. The only disappointing thing was that the cans don't have that little metal strip with the little key that wraps it up any more to open it. It's just a pop top. Alas. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Serak_the_Preparer Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 When I was in grad school, the department had a white elephant party and my buddy didn't have a gift - so on the way over we found a molted cicada body and put it in a box and wrapped it up. A new professor ended up with it at the end of the night and he was totally pissed off because he had brought a nice bottle of wine from Napa Valley. Sucker. My roommate ended up with the wine and we laughed about it for years after. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
isadorah Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 When I was a docent at the Nashville Zoo, we had a big docent Christmas party. Most of the fellow docents were significantly older than me (by 20 years) to give you a sense of the crowd, and there were around 50 docents. We did the whole gift exchange where you bring in a present and someone steals it from you or opts for a new present. I kept having my presents stolen, things like candles and wine bottle stoppers, so I go to the table to select yet another present. I pick one that has very girly teddy bear wrapping paper. Sit down and start opening it, all eyes in the room are on me (since it was something like the 4th present I had been through) and it was a Hooters Beer Stein. Scantily clad girl molded into the side of the Beer Stein. It was hilarious!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
M. (hristine Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 before she passed, my grandma wolf and my aunt linda re-gifted the same freaking dish towel to each other for probably close to 20 years. they would try and outdo each other every year in giving it back to the other person...it was placed in the bottom liner of x-mas cookies, delivered by my uncle dan dressed up as santa in a blizzard, left on my aunt's doorstep swaddled around a toy baby, baked inside a friutcake, etc. no one knows where the towel is today...my aunt linda thinks it was probably hideen in a gift or something and nobody found it. I love these stories! Since they were teenagers, my former husband and his brother exchanged "The Green Rubber Knife". The irony of the object was the insult, but the clever disguise of the wrapping the coup de gras. The joke has passed down the generations, with many more unwitting recipients now in the family. Sometimes Chrismases are skipped, just to lull the younger ones into complacency. Even though I'm not a married part of the family, every year I am regaled with the hilarity of the current year's story. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
cryptique Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 I bought something last night that might start a whole new tradition: 30-minute DVD includes a "The Making of" feature, plus outtakes. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RaspberryJam Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 Great thread.My extended family buys Vegimatics at garage sales and gives them to each other at christmas. The best one still had food from 1978 attached. When I got married, I gave one to my new sister in law thinking it was hilarious. Judging from her reaction, the hilarity was pretty one sided. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Big Perm Posted December 18, 2007 Author Share Posted December 18, 2007 before she passed, my grandma wolf and my aunt linda re-gifted the same freaking dish towel to each other for probably close to 20 years. they would try and outdo each other every year in giving it back to the other person...it was placed in the bottom liner of x-mas cookies, delivered by my uncle dan dressed up as santa in a blizzard, left on my aunt's doorstep swaddled around a toy baby, baked inside a friutcake, etc. no one knows where the towel is today...my aunt linda thinks it was probably hideen in a gift or something and nobody found it.amazing, simply brilliant, can I buy the rights to that? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sir Stewart Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 Someone probably ate a fruitcake one year and didn't notice the towel in it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
EL the Famous Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 amazing, simply brilliant, can I buy the rights to that? as long as i can direct or star or grip or just do coke off of a strippers ass in an airstream next to catering. seriously, they would open certain boxes like they were diffusing a bomb...hide the towel in whatever was in that box, keeping the integrity of all packing materials intact and then professionally re-seal it. my guess is that somebody returned something to a store, not even realizing the towel was in there. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.