Finding fun and unique ways to share gifts between family and friends is a challenge for every group. The white elephant gift exchange is a great tradition for gift sharing during the holidays, but sometimes it gets a little old-hat.

AlbinoPhant attempts to mix-up the fun by offering several variations of this classic party, including an online white elephant gift exchange.

Try a combination gift auction and white elephant exchange for your next gathering and be amazed at the fun and conversation that you will start.

The following white elephant gift exchange rules will help you host the white elephant auction party of the year…

Prepare for the white elephant party by going to the Dollar Store and get several packages of money. This is like the Monopoly money used in the board game.
Next, create several envelopes with varying totals between 200 and 500 dollars. We have found that $20 dollar or $50 bills are the best. Have each envelope contain a different total so that there is variety among the party participants.

On the day of the white elephant gift exchange, set the room up like you would for the traditional gift party. Make sure all players have easy access to the gift pile and that they sit where they can see everyone in the game.

#1 Put all the wrapped gifts in one place

#2 Put every players name into a hat

#3 Draw the first name, read it and then put it back into the hat.

#4 The first player opens a gift and shows it off.

#5 The first player can choose two options:
A Keep the gift
B. Start a White Elephant Auction

#6A If they keep the gift the next name is drawn from the hat and then the name is returned to the hat.

#7A Player two has the same two options, ether keep the gift (until stolen or swapped) or hold a white elephant auction)

#6B If they choose a white elephant auction, they will act as the auctioneer and start the bidding at any level that they think that they can get.

#7B All players can choose to make a bid for the gift and the auctioneer will give the gift to the highest bidder and collect the cash.

NOTE: Players that have an open gift can add the gift into the auction bidding. For example a bid could be: I will give $100 dollars and this great ???? gift for your ????gift. If the winning bidder has a gift they will exchange the gift and the money.

#8 Another name is drawn from the hat and then returned into the hat.

#9 Player selects from three options:
A. Steal another opened gift.
B. Open a new unopened gift and display it to others.
C. Hold a white elephant auction on any open gift in his/her possession.

#10 Following the actions of ether the steal, the open or the auction, the next name is drawn from the hat and returned.

#11 The next player again has the 3 options explained in #9.

#12 In the event that a player with an opened gift has their name pulled from the hat they have two options:
A. Swap for any other opened gift
B. Hold a White elephant auction for their existing gift so that they can open a new gift.

#13 Game play continues until every gift is opened.

#14 An option would be for the host to provide a prize for the person who has the most money left over at the end of the party.

You are going to love this party!

Put the words wedge, pregnancy and “Boppy” together in a group and someone will have something cleaver to say.

Cleaver banter is what makes the white elephant gift exchange a popular holiday event, and when friends and family members see this white elephant gift coming out of the box, they all will  teasie the new owner.

The fun will spin out of control from there!

You are going to love this Party Gift!

I selected this gift for the online white elephant gift exchange because I can see how much fun it would yield in the party.

Google “Boppy” and see if you could find something interesting to talk about….

I found this gift in the $15 dollar white elephant gift idea marketplace here in AlbinoPhant.

For so many years the board game was the activity of choice when a group gathered for some fun. And then we adapted party games for engaging members of a group during important life celebrations. These games where the activities that friends used to enjoy time and conversation when they got together.

It comes as little surprise that even today, games are played among friends. Yet we need a survey to discover the obvious. The report titled: Spending and Usage Patterns of the Social Gaming Audience, found that we still play with those we know.

Even though the internet has blessed us with casual games and social games and multi-player games of all types, we still like to play with our friends, co-workers and classmates.

With mass audience opportunities in every corner of the web, we still want to join our private group to enjoy time and conversation together as we play a game.

Maybe the future of gaming will come in the form of more private affairs, with the opportunity to share small portions of the activity with the broader internet.

Even with all of our advanced technology, we still look for solutions like the board game or party game to mimic what it was like to be in the family room with our friends buying hotels for Park Place.

You can’t have a great party unless there is some sort of group activity that breaks the ice and spools-up the fun. Usually these activity involve a game that gets everyone talking and escalates the engagement…

There is a growing number of thought leaders who are suggesting that fun and games will put a happy face on the world. Chris Brogan suggests that we take some time and watch a video presentation by Jane McGonigal, a game expert.

Ms McGonigal’s thoughts seem to endorse the work that we are doing to provide family and friends an opportunity to play games together and then share real gifts during important life events.

She shared some wonderful ideas on how to change the world by playing games. She suggests that we have a highly trained and skilled group of problem solvers, involved in game play. She claims that if we channel their efforts in one direction, we could see remarkable results for the people of the earth.

We are training ourselves to solve world problems with games…

The average 21 year-old will have spent 10,000 hours playing games, or about the same time they will have spent in their school studies. There are 500 million people on the planet that spend at least 1-hour per day in games. So the training system seem to be in place to fix many problems.

Here is a real world problem that affects millions of dispersed families: Gifts arrive by a delivery service in a rather dull manner and without any emotion…. just a delivery guy and a brown box…

What would a gamer suggest to solve this problem?

You are correct… A GAME!

The gamer solution would be to add in some fun memories that could be triggered when the box arrives at the door and find a way to bring back the excitement of sharing gifts into a virtual gift game.

The McGonigal video tells us that “games create a supportive structure that helps bring our best self forward” and supporting research suggests that “we like people better after we play a game with them… Even if they treat us badly.. it builds trust, bonds and cooperation”. Games within a close group of family or friends only increases the odds of a good result.

It makes perfect sense that we could cooperate and solve many pressing world issues, if we took a fun and games approach to these problems.

The gaming industry is a hot investment right now, with game developers receiving big investment deals, and major entertainment companies entering the gaming space. This should only add to the “game as a problem solver” opportunities on the internet.

The world of fun and games is expanding and we are thrilled to see this playing out in front of us every day…

Thanks to Kaleidoscopeylife for the image

The game market has fractured into several niches over the years. Gaming includes everything from board games played around a table to social games that only live on Facebook. It has been interesting to watch the gaming space evolve and expand with the assistance of the internet. Today, there is an online version of almost every game known to man.

Companies like Zynga have millions of players using social networks to play games that involve farms, fish and you name it… These are called social games.

EA made it’s fortune producing and distributing video games for the X-box/Playstation crowd and now is moving into net-based games.

Hasbro has ruled the board game category for years and is now into online gaming. Television game shows continue to draw good ratings, with some game shows, like Family Feud, making the transition to the web as well.

The point is that there are many ways to play games, and millions find time to enjoy a game on the internet regularly. Game play is a big and diverse business!

Now a new niche is beginning to emerge on the web: The Party Game..

These are the party activities that we have learned at countless birthday parties, bridal showers or company parties. They are being developed as mimics of these familiar party games and used to support online parties for the important life events.

It seems logical that if every other genre of game has made a move to the online world, that Party Games will be in the space eventually as well.

What Party Games do you enjoy? Pin the Tail on the Donkey, Spin the Bottle, Yankee Swap or maybe Truth or Dare?

There is one measurement that I have been interested in this year:

How did Facebook do?
Particularly; how did this social network do in the most social period of the year; Christmas?

Well, according to Allfacebook, the season was bright for Facebook this Christmas. Not only did they end the year with great user growth, but they claimed the title of the most visited site on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and beat the mighty Google…

Why did a network that connects people from remote locations do so well on these two days?  I believe that there is connection between the holiday based upon sharing and our human tendency to reach out to those we love during important life events.

Millions entered Facebook on those two days because they wanted to share in the lives of friends and family. They craved an opportunity to reclaim an old memory or to add a new one. They believed that others would be there, and they joined them in a virtual gathering place, as a substitute for real human contact.  If you can’t be together in person, then a virtual meet-up is a viable substitute.

This technology is a gift, and it is understandable that on the two most gift-focused days of the year, we would open this network and share in the experience with others.

I have long believed that Facebook is similar to a traditional Christmas party, where the host has a huge address book and owns an enormous hall for gathering people together. Once invited to this party, a guest finds a group of friends, family or acquaintances and begins one of many conversations.

There are loosely organized activities that facilitate interaction between the participants. There are tables set-up around the hall displaying various board games that appeal to many interests. There are name tags and scrapbooks to assist in doing introductions or starting discussions.

This huge Christmas party has a grasious host who allows almost anyone to enter the hall and enjoy the event.

There is one thing missing from the party…

It is the thing that drives retail sales in the 4th quarter of every year. It is what we measure much of US retail sales against.

It is the gifts….

Facebook has the party atmosphere and facilities set-up pretty well, but the gifts are missing.

It could be argued that they have a huge gift system, and they do… But they are virtual gifts… They aren’t real.

On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, the real world gathers in homes and halls to share real gifts to demonstrate real support and love. Real Christmas parties involve gifts that can be  felt, both physically and emotionally.

Facebook did win the key-stroke measurement contest on Christmas Eve and Day,  but they missed the opportunity to pass out of the presents.

How could that be fixed?

Thanks to The List for the image

At one time, I wanted our online party application to be considered a social game, but now I am rethinking the association.

From now on, AlbinoPhant is not a social game, but is a Gift Sales Facilitator.

This title is not nearly as catchy as social game, yet it does describes what we do… Maybe we should have an acronym in the title, like GSF party game…

The fact is that we have a great deal of social features in our party game. So we could be considered a social game. There are multiple players joining in a game, and there is a comment stream with shared videos and images on the game play page….   But, we are NOT a game using offer-scams. We are a party game, with REAL gifts to offer. Yes, real gifts that are purchased in eCommerce and shipped directly to each players door.

The stories of these social game scam bother me, and I want no part of the association…

My first introduction to this issue was in an Andrew Chen blog post titled: Are social gaming offers scamming users? A detailed analysis of Techcrunch’s Scamville article.
Andrew’s discussion led me to a link back to the originator of this apparent firestorm, Michael Arrington of Techcrunch. I read Michael’s post and concluded that for sure, don’t want to be called a social game.

This “offers” business seems like a grab for money in an industry that has challenges finding monetizing solutions. Frankly, I am sad to hear that gaming customers are being treated badly and that legitimate advertisers are being drug through the dirt by these negative associations.

So here is how a Gift Sales Facilitator/GSF party game works:

* First, you recognize that people are sharing gifts (real gifts not virtual mumbo jumbo) with each other during the holidays and at events all year long.

* Next, you find the most common party activity that groups use to socialize and share these gifts with each other.

* Finally, you build an application that facilitates the sale of the gifts, and provides a fun way to pass the gifts around in an online party game.

Mix those 3 components into a social network platform and you get a gift sales facilitator on Facebook…

I wish that I could have used the descriptive title of a Social Game. It might be easier to market than breaking new ground. But I choose to distance our White Elephant Party and future products from the mud-slinging, and just pioneer a new category:

I also realize that there is a bunch of money flowing through the Offers model.  But when I look at how many birthday, wedding, graduation and holiday gifts are purchase every year, I say…. Let me facilitate some of that honest and profitable action.

For now just call us a Gift Sales Facilitator or maybe a GSF party game.

Warm up the crowd...

If you’re hosting a white elephant gift exchange party, why not consider planning some extra games to make your event even more fun? Particularly if your guests don’t all know each other, or don’t see each other very often, some sort of ice-breaker game can be a really good way to get rid of any initial shyness or awkwardness. It will get your guests talking and laughing, and into the party mood.

A Yankee Swap or gift exchange party is about so much more than just the presents. More often than not, it’s an opportunity for friends and family to all get together in one room and share banter and laughter, and the best way for that to happen is to ensure that all your guests feel relaxed, comfortable… oh, and know each others names!

You could try out a traditional getting-to-know-you game, if your guests aren’t already familiar with who’s who at your white elephant party. A simple one is to make all the introductions and then play the “Blanket Game” or a variation of it. A blanket is held up between two randomly selected guests, and when the blanket drops, the first person to correctly identify the other wins. You can be sure your guests will be on first name terms in no time!

Or, for a bit more fun and the opportunity for you all to find out interesting and funny things about each other, you could play the Autograph Bingo game, where everyone is given a bingo card listing several different and interesting facts, and has to go around the room trying to find people matching those facts. It’s a great way to get people to mingle, and leads to hilarity as everyone finds out funny facts about everyone else!

There are lots of ice-breaker games out there. With a little planning, you can ensure that your white elephant event gets off to a great start, so that by the time you’re ready to play the gift exchange, all your guests will already be in the swing of things! Have fun!