“White Elephant” gift exchanges or “Yankee swaps” are more popular than ever. 58% of people in a new survey said they’ve done one before. And 27% of us did one last year, up from 14% five years ago.
Just don’t count on getting a good gift. 62% of people said they did NOT receive a gift they wanted the last time they played.
That might be because the most popular type of present to BRING is a gag gift . . . while the gift we most want to end up with is a useful household item. Here are five steps for a good White Elephant gift exchange, according to the survey . . .
- The ideal number of people is 11. More than that, and it takes too long.
- The most popular week to do it is the third week of December. So, next week.
- There should be a spending limit. The amount that got the most votes was $25.
- There should be a max of three steals per gift. So if you’re the third person to steal something, it’s yours. Not everyone agrees though. 19% said it’s the one rule they’d like to ELIMINATE from the game.
- Don’t use the “timeout” rule. That’s where you open all the gifts first, then do a separate round of stealing at the end. It was voted as the worst rule to use. (Wish)