With the holidays come holiday parties, and a classic activity at these parties is Secret Santa and White Elephant. This year I have multiple holiday parties lined up with my softball team, work, friends, and family, and at all 4 parties, we are doing White Elephant. In my opinion, it isn’t a holiday party without one of these activities included.
Secret Santa takes a lot of planning to draw names and think about a gift they would like. This is a lot of pressure, especially if you do not know the person well. I think the website Elfster is a great way to plan Secret Santa because it will draw names for you and participants can create a wishlist for their Secret Santa to see. As a Secret Santa, I have mixed feelings about this activity. On one hand, I enjoy receiving a personalized gift however, if I am someone’s Secret Santa I do not know very well, it is a lot harder to get them a good personalized gift. I am a big fan of using Elfster for Secret Santa solely because of the ability for participants to make a wishlist. The Senior class even did a Secret Raptor gift exchange using Elfster this year. I am also a big fan of receiving or giving a gag gift during these activities, and Secret Santa is typically not the best for gag- gifts unless it is a set rule. Secret Santa is best for close friends and family, but for any other group, it can be hard to find a gift for the person you were given.
White Elephant on the other hand takes relatively no planning at all. Everyone participating buys a gift in the budget and brings it to the party. Then everyone draws a number to decide the order of picking gifts. If you do not like your gift you can steal from someone else instead, but once a gift has been stolen 2 times it is locked in place. I like the mystery of this activity because you usually do not know who bought what gift. Some people get creative, one time I got an actual white elephant stuffed animal with a Santa hat as a gift, and I use it as a Christmas decoration every year for my room. The gift buying for White Elephant is more flexible because you do not know who you are buying for, which opens the opportunity for funny gifts. The most important part of White Elephant is to keep yourself and your gift anonymous. It is so much more fun when you do not know who bought what gift and what they bought.
I hope all of you Raptors have a wonderful time at all of your holiday activities this year and have a very happy winter break! Hopefully, you have no schoolwork during break and you get to rest and spend lots of time with your close friends and family! Which one do you like better, Secret Santa or White Elephant?
