The Artist White Elephant Party

That’s why I loved this post by Rachael Ray. She makes some great suggestions for fun things to do during the holidays, from a DIY carnival in the yard to a neighborhood scavanger hunt. But of course, the one that grabbed my attention, as the AlbinoPhant party planner, was the idea of an art gallery white elephant swap.

This is a great twist on the traditional white elephant gift exchange! Instead of paying a fortune to visit art fairs or galleries, why not just make your own? If you have kids, this is one way to keep them occupied for hours: have them design paintings or other art projects and then set up an exhibition of their own in your garage or yard. They could really go to town with decorating the venue so that it looks authentic, and you could encourage them to produce and send out invitations, design tickets, even provide refreshments in tall glasses to mimic the champagne flutes of classy art exhibitions!

And it could work just as well with adults, of course, if you and your friends enjoy arts and crafts. Then, once you’ve got your exhibition set up, each person can give an “art talk” about their own contribution to the show. And then you get to turn it into a white elephant party, where all you have to do is use the art exhibits as white elephant gifts, and play the game as normal, so that after a fun time of picking and stealing gifts, everyone gets to go home with one of the original pieces. A great souvenir of a fun-filled day… and you never know, that white elephant might be worth a lot of money one day, if you’ve got some talented and undiscovered artists in your midst!

Thanks to the Artist Boat for the image