White Elephant Gift Ideas And The Truth About Gift-Wrapped Potatoes

Let the person who got stuck with a gift-wrapped potato in a white elephant gift exchange last year creep into your conscience as you decide what to take to white elephant exchanges this year.

White elephant gifts are often impractical and humorous. But a single potato, one of the submissions on a Reddit thread that sought tales of “unhinged white elephant gifts”?

That seems to be from someone who wasn’t trying. But yes or no on this, from the same thread?

“A few years ago, my boss ended up with a potato in a paper bag along with a picture of Channing Tatum’s face. She was told that she could put the pic on the potato and call it Channing Potatum. She brings that up every year since, LOL.”

That depends on the audience and whether there’s a theme or dollar limit and other rules of your group’s iteration of the game, which is sometimes called “dirty Santa” or “Yankee swap.” The rules allow people to steal from each other to create chaotic, uproarious fun. Rules sometimes limit how many times a gift can be stolen before the last recipient gets to keep it, but in others, it’s a free-for-all until the end.

A group of friends who exchange white elephant gifts at their annual Christmas party require they come from a thrift store and cost under $10, someone pointed out in a Reddit thread asking about the best white elephant gifts they’d ever received.

“There is a flamingo lamp that turns up every year and is hotly contested,” the person said.

‘Literally Garbage’: A Hard No

In other iterations of the party game, the gift is something from the guests’ homes. A peculiar family painting, statue or, really, any unusual tchotchke can keep things lively.

Just don’t unload your filthy garbage.

“My circle had a white elephant gift exchange. No rules, but bring something from your house. Meaning, don’t go buy something,” someone posted on Reddit a while back. “I loaded up a bag full. Stuff I didn’t really want anymore, but not trash. Some cool things were in that bag.

“A couple brought stuff instead of throwing it away. Literally garbage,” the person said. “Then they have the nerve to steal the gift I brought from someone else. Just seems sorry to me.”

In other words, don’t be a jerk.

Top White Elephant ‘Pickles’

As a general rule, gifts should be genuinely nice, humorously thoughtful, or at least usable. They may be irreverent, but never meanspirited.

For people who are tired of the usual white elephant suspects — like kitchen towels, coffee mugs with cheesy jokes, or novelty items that would make your grandparents blush (we’re looking at you, fake poop and puke) — Patch has compiled a list of gift ideas that go beyond the expected.

For a gift under $10, these animal paw socks could be a highly-coveted item. A 3D version for about seven bucks features cats, dogs, African cats, elephants and other animals.

For a little more, a fanny-pack dad bag with versions that look like a beer belly or perfectly toned abs won’t go unnoticed at the white elephant exchange, and neither will the eventual winner of this gift if he straps it around his waist and parades around town.

This gift is practical, especially in suburbs across the country, as bears feel quite comfortable sorting through garbage and breaking into people’s homes: “How to Survive a Freaking Bear Attack: And 127 Other Survival Hacks You’ll Hopefully Never Need” by Bill O’Neill. It sells for around $10.

Pickle-themed gifts seem to be a thing. A 24-count box of pickle-shaped adhesive bandages costs less than $10. For a few more dollars, the Dr. Dingus Yodeling Pickle promises “dill-lightful” fun, whether a gift for an adult or child white elephant exchange.

In the same general price range, there’s a throw blanket shaped like a burrito tortilla. The blanket is also available as a pink glazed doughnut with sprinkles or a pepperoni pizza.

And how can these Star Wars-inspired lightsaber LED chopsticks not be a highly coveted white elephant gift? They come in a set of four pairs in blue and red and green and purple and sell for around $23.

Also in the $20 range is the Emergency Affirmations for Exceptionally Stupid Days Card Deck. There are quite a few more sassy card decks and books that will leave guests laughing.

Another example is “HR Approved Way To Say Things I Can’t Say Out Loud At Work,” billed as the “essential guide to translating those raw, unfiltered thoughts into polished, professional language.” it costs less than $15.

For about $25, Al Dente Red, a floating pasta timer, sings a tune when the noodles are ready.

Coddies fish-shaped flip-flops cost about the same amount of money. One reviewer on Amazon bought them as a gag gift for her brother, but said her sister-in-law “ended up loving them so much she wore them everywhere all summer long.”

The Coveted Squatty Potty

These suggestions from a Reddit thread would work at some, but not all, parties.

“I’m bringing one of those ear cleaning cameras for my white elephant gift this year,” one person said of a gadget that costs about $25. “One of my favorite random things I’ve ever bought. It connects to an app so you can see what’s going on in your ears, gross but fascinating.”

“That’s funny — I was thinking a mechanized nose cleaner type thing,” another person responded.

“I went with a Squatty Potty last year, and it was a surprisingly coveted gift,” someone else said.

Along that same line is a colorful toilet bowl nightlight motion sensor for less than $10 detects movements within five feet and goes under the toilet bowl for two minutes before automatically shutting off. It has a palette of 15 colors.

‘Most Hilarious, Horrible Thing Ever’

If there are kids at the party, be sure there are age-appropriate gifts. Live ladybugs, which can be used for a variety of uses, including STEM activities for kids interested in insect life cycles.

Be careful with that, though.

“I was the lucky recipient of 1,500 ladybugs last year. In a botched attempt to get them into a large glass terrarium-type thing, they all escaped into my house during our holiday party,” someone said on the Reddit thread about unhinged white elephant gifts. “It was the most hilarious, horrible thing ever. All of our guests still send me pictures of ladybugs.”

That experience aside, quirky gifts with an educational purpose are usually a win with parents. So are games and books. But the kids are there to have fun, too

Kids and adults alike might fight over is a squirrel finger puppet that sells for around $10. And there’ll be no need for a squirrel roundup once the party is over

A Croc-Wearing Prosthetic Leg

Some of the best ideas came from people who have received them.

“I unwrapped and then stole back a 5-pound container of regional honey,” someone said in the Reddit thread on the unhinged white elephant gifts. “Literal gold.”

“The most unhinged gift at this year’s exchange was a prosthetic leg,” someone said. “It wore a Croc.”

Another person gave a “shave me Barbie” DIY gift, explaining, “Got a Barbie and glued hair to the legs. Added a cheap razor and resealed the box, and slapped a new label on the box.”

A taxidermied porcupine was the most-often stolen gift at another user’s party.

When irreverence is a faux pas and tasteful white elephant gift ideas fail, pull a gift from your heart.

“My family did one that was food-themed, and I got the best thing that nobody else wanted — the bag was super light and nobody took it,” one person wrote on the Reddit thread discussing favorite white elephant gifts. “Opened at the end, and it was a note that my auntie had made a big bag of homemade pierogi and sausages that were in her freezer for me.”

Now, About Those Potatoes …

The pranksters who gave potatoes may not have been coming from completely out of left field.

It seems a guy by the name of Riley Couger began tossing them on decorated Topeka, Kansas, lawns in 1983. He was in his 60s at the time, and wrapped the spuds in a plastic bag along with a note of thanks for the holiday cheer, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal.

“I grew up in a town called Topeka, which we were always taught meant ‘a good place to dig potatoes,’ so that tied it back to my roots,” Couger said in an NPR interview. “I’m sure people get mad when they see them, but once they read (the note), it says,

“‘No one is quite sure how the tradition of the Christmas potato began. Many believe it began in the latter half of the 20th century, when a young man tossed seasonal greetings wrapped around uncooked potatoes in the yards of houses decorated with Christmas lights.

“‘It was his way of saying thank you and merry Christmas. Before the advent of the Christmas potato, there was no way to easily thank those who brighten our holiday season with their unselfish efforts. Now each year, children and adults alike look forward to the annual pitching of the holiday spud.’”

The Christmas potato tradition has since spread beyond Topeka to other communities in the United States and beyond.

• What’s the best or strangest white elephant gift you ever got? Join the conversation in the comments below,

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