Posts Tagged ‘White Elephant Gift Exchange’

A sitting elephant can join your next party

The white elephant gift exchange is the most popular group gift party in North America. Families, church groups and businesses use this fun gift giving event to bring people together in a lively social experience during the holidays.

The white elephant party involves people sitting down to play a gift swapping game, so it seem fitting to use some sitting elephants as a part of the decorations for the event.

The best and most wacky white elephant parties will carry some theme throughout the event, so we have gathered together some ideas for the sitting elephant gift exchange.

There are several places you can purchase sitting elephants carved from teak, like the one pictured on this page. Prices range from $15 to $25 dollars for a carved sitting elephant. You may be able to find a sitting elephant figurine molded from resin for less money, but you will need to search around to find this option.

We have found that it is fun to add an extra gift suprise at the party. You could award a carved sitting elephant to the person who brings a gift that is stolen the most during the game. Another idea is to have a random name drawing and give a unique gift away raffle-style. This extra award is similar to the Master of ES award that we offer in the AlbinoPhant online gift exchange party.

We have included a couple of YouTube videos for some other elephant decoration and desert ideas, so let your imagination and creativity take the party from here… Your going to love this party!

Sitting elephant cake…

Create a paper sitting elephant

If you have family and friends that live a distance away, then an online verision of the white elephant gift exchange might be fun. You can “test-drive” the AlbinoPhant system HERE.

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PartyWeDo
The AlbinoPhant Creators
Your Party 2.0 Specialists

Images of Elephants in the Room

To further our understanding of the use of the Elephant in our language and our art, we have included some fun images of the elephant in the room. We have also included some of the context that are supported by this imagery.

We believe that the tyranny of distance is the elephant in the room for families and friends when it comes time to share gifts with each other. This is why we have created an online platform for sharing gifts, no matter the distance..

Enjoy these images of the elephants in the room…

Elephant in the boardroom.
Venture Beat suggests that multi-billion dollar funds could soon be a thing of the past, so the investment firms are ignoring the possibility, thus and elephant in the room.

Elephant in the Room represents net neutrality.
The Sponge-ist blog discusses a massive elephant in the room in the debate over abandoning net neutrality?

Elephant in the Room and Poetry
Amy Abrahams shared this image and a poem concerning the elephant in the room.

The 800 lb nuclear elephant in the room
Pamela Geller likens political posturing to a large elephant in the room when it comes to government policy for Iran.

Elephant in the Room and blogging

Fuel Your Blogging posted that some stories like Haiti, create an Elephant in the room when it comes to planning a blog post.

The elephant in the room for many families during important gift events is the missing people who could not attend the party. Sharing time together is an important social support system and we feel badly whenever someone is left out of the activity.

This is the reason that many chose to stay connected online using various web-based tools.

How are you addressing the elephant in the room?

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PartyWeDo
The AlbinoPhant Creators
Your Party 2.0 Specialists

$30 White Elephant Gifts and Banter…

The white elephant gift exchange party is a remarkable group event. Gathering as family and friends to share gifts with one another in a fun way has become a great tradition in our society.

Finding the best white elephant gift makes you a shopping genius and gives you banter bragging rights during the gift exchange

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We want to share some $30 white elephant gifts that would really start the banter going with the group. AlbinoPhant, the online white elephant shopping center has several markets full of fun white elephant gifts from $15 to $50 dollars.

Now, look at the images of these $30 gifts and see if you can identify them…

Mouse over the image to find out what they are and you will see how much fun the conversation will start when the great white elephant gift is opened.

Be a great AlbinoPhant shopper and find the perfect white elephant gift for the party and you will bring exciting and funny conversation into your next gift exchange.

You are going to love this Party!

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PartyWeDo
The AlbinoPhant Creators
Your Party 2.0 Specialists

The top White Elephant Gift Exchange game names…

There is a debate as to what is the most popular multi-player holiday game. Many suggest that the White Elephant gift exchange is the title of the most popular game. Others say that it is the Secret Santa gift exchange.  Then there are the many other gift parties that do variations of the gift swap activity and they each have a name and a following of loyal players.

Because we sponsor an online version of the traditional white elephant gift party, we have decided to do some research and get to the bottom of this once and for all.  Our recreation specialists were tasked to discover and list each of the gift exchange game titles, using the internet.   Then we asked the research department to find a way to find a winner and rank the popularity of the different gift parties.

What we found is that there is a bunch of ways that people describe the gift exchange activity and yet many of the rules are the same. We will catalog the rules for you here on this website as we do more research.

Here is our listing:
Yankee Swap
Scottish Gift Exchange
Chinese Gift Exchange
Chinese Christmas
Chinese Auction
Thieving Elves
Dirty Santa
Dirty Secret Santa
Thieving Secret Santa
The Present Game
Rob Your Neighbor
Dirty Christmas
Pollyanna Swap
Cajun Christmas
Devil’s Santa
Backward Auction
California Swap
Steal-a-Thon
Snatchy Christmas Rat
Gift Grab
Cutthroat Christmas
Nasty Christmas
Parcel Pass
Redneck Santa
White Elephant Gift Exchange
Rob a Santa
Grinch Exchange
Left Right Exchange
Scotch Auction
The Grinch Game
Eskimo bingo

NOTE:  If you know of other names, please add them in the comment box at the bottom of this page and we will add them to our listing and do the ranking.

After we had the list of White Elephant exchange party titles, we assigned the research staff to find a way to rank the names on a list, from most played to the least played…

That left them scratching their heads….  The problem is that these are played in homes, churches and offices everywhere, and so who do you, ask?

 

They used Google!

They used a Google Keyword Research Tool to discover how many people made a search for each of these titles within the last 12-months.  The idea is that if people are searching for the word, they must be searching for the party, right?  Well, right or wrong it is how we have ranked these gift exchange parties. We recorded the Global Average Monthly Search results for each of the gift exchange titles and got a ranking.

So here are the results of this highly scientific study of the most comprehensive list of White Elephant Gift Exchange game names…

NOTE: Some search results had less than 20 and did not record on the Google tool.

Secret Santa = 135,000 per month average searches
White Elephant Gift Exchange = 18,100
Yankee Swap = 9,900 (Popular in the NE)
Parcel Pass = 9,900 (Popular in England)
Chinese Auction Game = 9,900
The Grinch Game = 2,900
Chinese Gift Exchange = 2,900
Pass the Present = 1,600
Left Right Gift Exchange = 1,300
Dirty Santa game = 880
Nasty Christmas = 720
Rob Your Neighbor = 320
Chinese Christmas Game = 320
Redneck Santa = 320
Pollyanna Gift Exchange = 320
Dirty Christmas Game = 140
Gift Grab Game = 110
Dirty Secret Santa = 91
Grinch Exchange = 73
Thieving Secret Santa = 58
Thieving Elves = 46
Eskimo bingo = 46
Pirate Gift Exchange = 28
Backward Auction = 22
Scottish Gift Exchange = Did not record
Cajun Christmas Swap = Did not record
Devil’s Santa = Did not record
California Gift Swap = Did not record
Steal-a-Thon Game = Did not record
Cutthroat Christmas = Did not record
Rob a Santa Game = Did not record
Scotch Auction game = Did not record
Snatchy Christmas Rat = Did not record

The winner is Secret Santa with 135,000 average monthly searches, with the White Elephant Gift Exchange coming in second at 18,100 searches..  To be completely accurate, the Secret Santa activity is not really a game, but an activity mostly used to share gifts with individuals in a larger group.  Many of the others on these lists involve a gift exchanging party game. It should also be noted that the Chinese Auction Game is usually used as a fund-raising event for charities, but it did get 9,900 average searches in our study.  The Parcel Pass game is very popular in England and the Yankee Swap is a very well known replacement for the white elephant gift party in the Northeastern US..

We hope that this exercise in gift exchange party research will be helpful as you attempt to find great ways to share gifts with family and friends.  We think that you should try some of these out and then let us know how they went. We would also invite you to try out an Online White Elephant Party call AlbinoPhant. Our family has played this gift exchange party for several years and it perfect for groups that live too far apart to gather in one place, so they gather on the internet and share gifts and fun.

Our recreation experts have begun the process of compiling all of the rules, ideas and suggestions for each of these gift parties you see on this list. We will catalog them HERE as we get them organized, so you are welcome to return often and find out more about the white elephant gift exchange and its many fun cousins….

If you would like some other information on these titles we have linked to sites that are sharing more details.

Just click on the title.
Yankee Swap:
Scottish Gift Exchange:
Chinese Gift Exchange:
Chinese Christmas:
Chinese Auction:
Thieving Elves
Dirty Santa:
Dirty Secret Santa:
Thieving Secret Santa:
The Present Game:
Rob Your Neighbor:
Dirty Christmas
Pollyanna Swap:
Cajun Christmas:
Backward Auction
Snatchy Christmas Rat:
California Swap
Steal-a-Thon
Gift Grab:
Cutthroat Christmas:
Nasty Christmas
Parcel Pass:
Redneck Santa
White Elephant Gift Exchange
Rob a Santa
Grinch Exchange:

Left Right Exchange:

Scotch Auction

The Grinch Game
Devil’s Santa:
Eskimo bingo:

Do you know of any other variations?  Please leave us a comment and share your ideas…

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PartyWeDo
The AlbinoPhant Creators
Your Party 2.0 Specialists

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Amazon runs huge product warehouses. In fact, there are now 24 of these massive distribution centers world-wide, stocking everything from CDs to bicycle tires.

The online retailer moves 3-times as much product through these warehouses than it’s next closes competitor.

Over 40% of the products that move through the supply system are sold by merchants other than Amazon itself. There are over 1.3 million suppliers who provide the products that are for sale on Amazon.com and through these other merchants.

When consumers  rank the trusted technology companies for privacy, they usually put Amazon in the top 5.

In 2009 PartyWeDo was looking for an e-commerce partner for the gift party application, AlbinoPhant. The natural choice was Amazon.

Amazon works great for a gift merchandising application because of their massive selection and top-notch customer service.

The gift exchange system uses a level pricing system for each custom AlbinoPhant marketplace. Each host selects the level at which their invitees will spend for the gift and the AlbinoPhant software sorts through the Amazon Warehouse to display products in that pricing category.

PartyWeDo hired the Utah based e-commerce software firm Gyrofly, to build the special interface that would allow each party guest to pay one price and cover the cost of the gift, the shipping and the fun.

The resulting markets are filled with thousands of gifts that can be used to share in the fun of a Yankee Swap or White Elephant Gift Exchange.

When any gift is selected from one of the AlinoPhant markets, it is identified by a unique number. This number allows us to use the image of the gift during the game play period and also ship the correct item from the Amazon warehouse to the correct players doorstep.

This system allows the virtual world of the internet to marry seamlessly with the real world of gift shopping and delivery.

All of these marvelous technologies and efficient shipping systems allow family and friends to purchase gifts, share them online and then receive a present at their home.

Thank you Amazon, for joining the party!

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PartyWeDo
The AlbinoPhant Creators
Your Party 2.0 Specialists

Hosting any event requires determination and ingenuity. We appreciate the efforts of a party host who takes the time and energy to pull off a great social experiences.

We really give a tip of our hat to the host who goes the extra mile to make the party memorable for everyone involved. It is amazing how even the small differences can make a huge change in the level of fun and engagement at the party. It is the host’s responsibility to find the “little extra” that will turn the party into a social explosion.

One of the galvanizing aspects of any group event involves joining attendees together in a common activity, like a party game. These activities are proven social bonding tools that turn mundane events into great social experiences.

Our family uses the gift exchange format to add a spark to our gift giving parties and create unity. But this year we went a bit further and added just another dimension to the fun.

On the day of our Christmas Eve party we invited all of the attendees to meet us at the local Goodwill store, just before coming to the event. We suggested that if they had not purchased a gift for the exchange, that this would be a good time to find the perfect present…

But we had another surprise in mind.

We asked everyone to shop for a silly hat to wear to the party, and it would be our treat.

The hat selection was fabulous and the variety was amazing ( it is interesting to realize that someone paid retail for some of these at one time!). The store was soon filled with laughter as our guests discovered hats and then modeled them for anyone who would pay attention to them.
Down several isles of the store walked grown men with furry or floppy hats, still displaying the price tags. Women that were trying on hard hats and football helmets were giggling like school kids.

The party had started at Goodwill and the excitement was spreading.

The regular store customers and clerks were entertained by this odd display, and our guests were getting into a very festive mood. We didn’t even need to ask the group to continue wearing the hats as they made their way up to the checkout, they just kept them on and delighted the other shoppers.

These unusual hats became the uniform for our party and added a social-glue among the participants of the evening’s activities.

The hats cost about $2.00 a piece, but their value as a group bonding tool was priceless. It created a memorable event for those who attended.

We take our hat off to the host who takes the extra steps to build a better party experience for family and friends.

What have you done to add something extra.?

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PartyWeDo
The AlbinoPhant Creators
Your Party 2.0 Specialists

We have been suggesting that sharing REAL gifts through social networks is a viable solution for dispersed family and friends. We have even built a demonstration application called AlbinoPhant to prove our point.

Sometimes we feel like our story if falling on deaf-ears; because the idea is so new and unproven…

But we know it can be done and are just waiting for others to agree.

We would like to thank the Reddit users for their absolute proof that a gift exchange can be organized and completed using internet connections.

Antonio Cangiano’s Blog shares the story:  Antonio writes; “Dan McComas (kickme444 on Reddit) came up with a website to collect sign-ups, and put forward a few ground rules for participants. For instance, to cut down on the number of ill-intentioned users (the so called trolls), only users who were already registered with Reddit before November 10, 2009 were allowed to sign-up for the gift exchange.”

Further TechCrunch reported that this Secret Santa style exchange has demonstrated that almost 4500 internet users can exchange personal details (including shipping information) and share over 5000 gifts with other online users.

Now,  these were not virtual gifts…
The Reddit group shared $160,000 in REAL gifts!
They even earned a Guinness World Record for thier efforts.

OK, people…. WE TOLD YOU THIS COULD BE DONE…!!!

We also  suggested that sharing real gifts and using the images to represent the real thing, would work as well… Again the proof of this vision is in the redditgifts.com photo gallery.

We now have proof that an online gift exchange can be hosted, organized, facilitated, and indeed work in social spaces.

PartyWeDo will continue to promote this opportunity for family and friends to share real gifts online, using a fun and engaging traditional party game.  We are confident that the rest of the world will eventually catch up…

Thank you Dan and your Reddit community for proving our point…

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PartyWeDo
The AlbinoPhant Creators
Your Party 2.0 Specialists

You have been invited to attend an online gift party like no other.

Your host has used a special offer code (1234) to begin a “test-drive” party that allows you to experience a gift exchange without spending any money…

Like a real test drive!

Here are the step by step instructions on how to get the invitation, RSVP, find a gift (virtually), get it wrapped and then join the party.

It is really easy, once you have done it one time!

Step #1 (these screen shots seem to display better in Firefox than on Explorer browsers, sorry)

Step #2

Step #3

Step #4

Step #5

Step 6

Step 7

Step 8

Step 9

Final Step: HAVE A GREAT TIME.. You are going to love this party!

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PartyWeDo
The AlbinoPhant Creators
Your Party 2.0 Specialists

Party hosting is not for the weak or timid. Successful parties are the result of the extraordinary efforts of a committed host.

For any event to succeed, someone steps up and takes on the responsibility to lead. It is amazing that millions of parties actually happen every month, when we measure the effort it takes.

We appreciate the efforts of the host…

There must be a compelling reason that drives a host to be a host. The fact is, the rewards of completing a successful party must outweigh the work, or parties would never happen. The recognition and gratitude of guests push a host to invest their time and resources.

In the end, we are all grateful to our host for putting out the effort on our behalf.

Parties require many tasks that are not visible to the attendees, but yet are on the checklist of any host.

• Guests see the invitation, but the tasks of collecting of the addresses, designing and printing the cards are invisible. The labeling, the sealing of envelopes, the stamp placement and the delivery to the post office are all completed behind the scenes.

• A guest enjoys the venue and decorations, but misses seeing the reservation process, the running of the streamers and the clean-up of the room.

• The cake and the drinks are enjoyed openly, but bakery visits and the punchbowl filling are hidden from view.

Even with this large checklist, a host moves through these tasks knowing that the finished result will reward them with social capital, or just a sense of accomplishment.

We salute the host and pay tribute to the extra effort it takes to provide the party for us.

At PartyWeDo, we stand ready to assist a host in providing a fun party atmosphere, when they decide to host a party online. We are building applications that will expand the opportunities for hosts and hopefully make their job a bit easier. We want family and friends to find a way to make a party work for them, even when distance stops personal attendance. There is no reason that parties cannot be hosted from any computer in any local.

The advancements in internet tools, partnering with committed and willing hosts, will move parties into a new dimension, and we are happy to assist in the process…

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PartyWeDo
The AlbinoPhant Creators
Your Party 2.0 Specialists

The social networks can now be used for friendly larceny, with the launch of an online white elephant gift exchange party called AlbinoPhant.

This Facebook application allows family and friends the opportunity to party together in a virtual gift exchange, just like they would if gathered together in one location. They exchange real gifts, share friendly banter and enjoy the holiday spirit, through the online party.

Gift exchange parties are social events that focus on sharing gifts with family and friends and then “stealing” gifts from one another in an organized party game.

www.albinophant.com brings people together to participate in the party on a common game-play page, where wrapped gifts are displayed, opened, stolen and where comments are shared. This application facilitates gift giving among those who would be sharing gifts with each other anyway. AlbinoPhant just provides a fun, conversational and social way to pass out the gifts.

Traditional white elephant parties build lively conversation and great stories around the gifts as they are opened. With the enhanced sharing tools on the web, the online version allows more expressive conversation than ever before. The AlbinoPhant comment stream allows party participants the opportunity to post YouTube videos and images to assist in making the exchange party a real fun game. There are even opportunities to share some of the conversation outside of the party in other social networks, allowing the party atmosphere to spill over in other corners of the web.

The online white elephant party uses a combination of eCommerce and social networking tools to build the party system. AlbinoPhant is a gift purchasing and sharing facilitator, displaying hundreds of Amazon items in level pricing markets for convenient shopping. The host and each party participant use these single pricing markets ($15 to $50) to select gifts for the party. This leveling feature is used to keep the gift spending closer to equal among all of the players, reducing the “big-spender/cheap-skate” issues.

When all of the gifts are virtually wrapped, opened, discussed, stolen and re-stolen, the game ends. The application’s management system then sorts out who gets which real gift and sees that each present is delivered to the correct address.

The online gift exchange is a labor of love by the Christensen family, who are new to Facebook application development. The Christensen’s have tested the online gift swap party with their scattered family members for several years. They hired a team of Facebook developers and other web professionals to take their simple family party exchange and turn it into a fully operational Facebook application. Now they are eager to share this fun exchange, AlbinoPhant, with others.

This holiday season the networks will play host to thousands of gift thieves and promote friendly banter to liven up holiday parties. What is more social than a lively party?

To see press release go to http://myprgenie.com/3333

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PartyWeDo
The AlbinoPhant Creators
Your Party 2.0 Specialists