<p>OK…every year we get some gift that makes us just nod our heads. Yes, we know it’s the spirit of giving but…</p>
<p>This year’s winner in our household…an airfreshener thing you can hang from the rearview mirror in your car (sort of like those little pine trees from the 60’s). Can’t decide if I should regift or toss.</p>
<p>Hey, thumper1… give that to the people you know that have dogs. They can always use them.</p>
<p>send me your address DMD…no…wait…it’s not worth the postage!!</p>
<p>Years and years ago, we used to pick names of siblings and get one “expensive” gift. At the time, I think we tried to keep it down to $25-35, which seemed like a lot back then. My gift to my sister was a Dust Buster. (A what?!!) I couldn’t understand why she wasn’t absolutely thrilled; she had little kids and this new product would save her all sorts of effort. I think we stopped the process of picking names shortly after that.</p>
<p>My gift to my sister was a Dust Buster</p>
<p>When S2 was 3, he wanted a Dust Buster so badly for Christmas. My mom bought him one and we all sat around watching his expression when he opened it up. You’d have thought he had been given the world!</p>
<p>I actually asked my sister for a DustBuster one Christmas - it was one of my favorite presents that year :)</p>
<p>My white elephant gift this year was a little seashell night light from the Dollar Store.:rolleyes:</p>
<p>Organize a Ghastly Gift party with some good friends. The women on our block do this a few weeks before Christmas with a few bottles of wine. Lots of fun to catch up with each other and re-gift some real winners. I can see doing this AFTER Christmas too.</p>
<p>I didn’t get or give any white elephants. What I have occasionally been guilty of, is giving my husband a gift that I (unconsciously?) wanted. This year I gave him a staple gun. When he opened it, he got an expression on his face I have come to recognize, meaning, “Lol, she did it again–gave me HER present.”</p>
<p>Of course, that’s not all he got from me. But I do need a staple gun.</p>
<p>Our white elephant gift was a picture of half our immediate family at a get-together, excluding the other half (who was at the event). It wasn’t actually a photo but a 3x5 black & white printer copy on plain paper.</p>
<p>I got an orangish-brownish golf shirt of a most peculiar shade. I’d feel bad re-gifiting it. But it’s so awful with my skin color that I can’t even wear it when I visit the giver. Any suggestions that don’t leave me feeling like those poor unfortunates who try to rid themselves of that Jumanji game box?</p>
<p>We always do the white elephant gift party. Lots of wine and creative appetizers made of leftovers. The only time it was a problem is when a guest brought the gift from another guest as the white elephant…AWKWARD!</p>
<p>We also have annual Ghastly Gift party with our church - it’s not as fun as it used to be, as our new pastor does not permit wine, however there are a few items that keep going around, plus some people go to garage sales looking for they ugliest things possible. At our neighborhood party this year, I ‘received’ a lovely necklace with 5 beads the size of baseballs. I am putting it in a special place so I don’t forget it for next year’s party.</p>
<p>thumper1, was that gift given to you by a frequent passenger in your car? *Some people can’t even take a not so subtle hint!! *</p>
<p>What, no wine? Remind him of the Wedding Feast at Cana- parties deserve wine…</p>
<p>It isn’t exactly a white elephant gift, but my husband saw a display of particularly warm bedroom slippers in a store and bought them for everyone in the family as a Christmas gift. He also bought a pair for himself. The slippers he gave as gifts all fit. The ones he bought for himself don’t. Huh?</p>
<p>A year ago, an aunt gifted an expensive fancy 5th ave store brand(i.e. Tiffanys, Gucci, etc) wallet that was designed for women due to its large size(won’t fit in any pants pocket and seems designed for a purse). </p>
<p>Was quite puzzled as that would have been far more appropriate for mom or one of my female relations…especially considering I’m male and the aunt knows I’m not a big fan of fancy fashion brands. Ended up just giving it to my mother and said her sister probably really meant to gift it to her. </p>
<p>Well…at least it wasn’t a true White elephant gift like that Vanilla Ice CD a high school classmate gifted me as a deliberate gag in Christmas of '93. </p>
<p>While THAT did irk me at the time, that CD did come in handy later when a HS classmate needed a way to retaliate against an adjacent college dormmate for blasting cheesy hair metal ballads into the wee hours of the morning. A couple of days worth of blasting “Ice Ice Baby” right before going off to his 8 am classes fixed that cheesymetalhead real good. :D</p>
<p>The elevator music CDs that my mother gives my husband every Christmas is a white elephant gift that gets passed on from recipient to recipient. This year it was something to do with a pan flute and a harp…</p>
<p>NJ…nope…the air freshener sender has NEVER ridden in my car. BUT it was an “equal opportunity” white elephant sender. ALL of the siblings got the same treasured gift.</p>
<p>We had a White Elephant Yankee Swap at work. Somehow this year we inadvertently ended up with a theme - there were multiple sets of salt & pepper shakers. </p>
<p>The worst re-gift we ever received was when my sister-in-law sent my 14 year old son a children’s cookbook and a calculator for Christmas. For his birthday she sent him an MLB video game that was 2 years out of date. What makes it egregious is that this SIL & BIL have the most money of anyone in the family - probably more than all of us put together. They own a $1 million beach house (in addition to their main home) and drive Land Rovers. They’ve re-gifted to other family members as well.</p>
<p>Afte years of getting cheesy Chanukah gifts that our family would never use, we decided to stop giving & receiving presents @4 or 5 years ago.</p>
<p>We now take the money that we used to buy presents and buy food for local food pantry’s or shelters. Money much better spent and we love the fact that our gift feeds so many people. This way we don’t have to pretend to ‘love’ the gift we’ve just opened. There is nothing we ‘need’ to have that we can’t just buy for ourselves. I’d much rather give food and time in volunteering at churches to feed homeless than to open another useless present. :D</p>