As the holidays approach, time and budgets are stretched tightly as gift baskets are given and received, cards handed out and secret Santa’s leave presents on desks, cars or even delivered to homes across the country. Many work communities draw names or get together and exchange gifts. Nowadays it is more common for people to purchase and exchange “white elephant gifts”.
White elephant gifts are gag gifts that people buy for fun to exchange with one another. Some people stick with the traditional gift baskets of crackers, cheese, wine, bath products, candles, etc. while the more daring and adventuresome choose gifts that are memorable and can cause a good laugh. So, how can you be creative and not give the same thing that others are giving? Here is the best gag gifts that you can give as they are both fun and inexpensive. Most can be purchased at your local dollar store..
1) Grow your own mother-in-laws, elves, snowmen, lumps of coal, credit cards, etc. These are little people that you can put in water and it will grow 700% its original size. As their are many types to choose from, you can find the perfect one for your co-workers.
2) Fake lottery tickets. Hand these out, sit back and wait. These are very realistic and will lead the person on, making them believe that they have won some amount of money. Your friends will go crazy over them but watch out, they might want to slap you after they scratch them off and find out that they are not winners.
3) Snakes in a can. Remember the can of peanuts your grandmother always gave you? Every time you opened it, POOF, out jumped the springy snake. These are a sure winner but you may want to learn CPR first as the recipient may have a heart attack on you.
4) The fart machine. These are remote controlled, battery-operated, fart noise making machines. This is always a hit but better watch out, one day you may be sitting at your chair when they decide to use it on you.
5) Magic towels. These come all tightly wound up into a ball. The user opens the plastic package and places them in water. After a short time, they magically grow into a full-sized washcloth and can be used over and over again. They come in thousands of styles from cartoon characters to sports figures to flowers and much much more.
6) Gum ball machines. Almost everyone chews gum. You can pick-up a small, plastic gum ball machine that can be used over and over and over again.
7) Jelly beans. You can pick-up almost any flavor from vomit to coffee to petunias. Gourmet jelly beans come in hundreds of different flavors and are fun for that person that is so different than the rest of you. You can put them inside stockings or mugs or add them to a gift bag or basket.
8) Echoing microphone. This is the gift for that one person that loves to hear themselves talk and talk and talk. They just talk into the children’s toy microphone and their voice echoes back to them. Don’t forget the earplugs if they decide to sing!
9) Toilet paper and a plunger.. We all know that one person that overuses toilet paper. They can knock out a single roll in one day all by themselves. You can get toilet paper with different designs on it from Christmas to Halloween to Valentines Day. I have a sister that is the over-user in our family and almost every year, we get her a case of toilet paper as a gag gift. It never gets old, plus it gets used within a couple of weeks.
10) Hershey kisses with personalized messages. This is for the chocolate lover. You can go on-line and order kisses with specially designed messages from you to cheer your co-worker up every day, or choose from their selection if you don’t want to be so personal.
As you can see, there are many options when creating white elephant gifts. Just remember that you want to select a gift that you would like as it may come back to you later. Happy shopping!
