After my big Halloween Parties, my next favorite party to throw is a White Elephant gift exchange party. I do one every year in mid december for our close friends, and if you’ve never done one, they are a lot of fun. A great icebreaker type party if people don’t know each other well, and even more fun with a group of friends who have inside jokes! We do ours prior to the holidays, but this is even better to do in January so everyone can regift the crap they got from Aunt Hortense! … So here’s the deal:

A White Elephant gift exchange, sometimes called Dirty Santa, is where everyone brings a gift of a set dollar amount (extra credit for re-gifts!) and you pick and steal the gifts from one another. Detailed rules & hosting hints are below, as well as an invitation you can feel free to use, numbers ready for printout, and a “Steal Tally” sheet..

The Rules:
-Basically, everyone brings a WRAPPED GIFT, of whatever dollar value you set. $15-20 is a good amount, but you can go higher or lower.
-Gifts can be anything, newly bought or regifts that the person received previously (going over the $ limit is allowed with re-gifts). Fun and silly gifts encouraged, but remind your people that crappy ones aren’t. If in doubt, alcoholic gifts tend to be popular!
-All the wrapped gifts are put out on display so everyone can see them.
-At the beginning of the gift exchange, everyone draws numbers from a bag. This is the order they will choose their gifts in. #1 goes first.
-Whoever gets #1 will also get a chance to steal at the end.
-#1 picks a gift from the table. They are stuck with that gift, unless someone steals it from them, (or they have their chance at the end)
-#2 can either pick a gift from the table, or can steal #1’s gift. If they pick from the table, it moves to #3. If #2 steals from someone, that person then gets the option to either pick from the table or steal.
-Play continues in this manner. Each guest can either pick from the table or steal. And if someone is stolen from, they get the same option.
-Each steal should be recorded in the Steal Tally. Once an item has been stolen 3 times it is LOCKED (ie the 4th person to touch it gets to keep it). Once it is locked it should be noted on the STEAL TALLY.
-You cannot steal from the person who just stole from you! So if Person A steals item from B, then B cannot immediately steal it back. But if C steals it from A, then B can grab it back.
-When the last # comes up, that person can steal or choose the last gift. If they choose the last gift, move to next step. If they steal, then continue the steal process till someone has chosen the last gift.
-The person who had #1 then gets to steal a gift if they wish. If they don’t game is over. If they do, then stealing continues until either all gifts locked or the person who is currently up is happy with their gift.

Host Hints:
-Have an extra gift or two on hand for that couple who only thought they needed one gift, or the slacker who forgot. It makes it more fun if everyone plays. Have extra gift bags for anyone who shows up without their gift wrapped (unlikely, but possible).
-Either print out numbers before hand and cut onto slips of paper, or handwrite on slips of paper – 1 number for each gift.
-You’ll need seating in the gift exchange area for all guests.
-Make sure you set a ‘gift exchange start time’ after the party start time. We know how people are fashionably late– let them know that if their too late, they’ll miss the fun.
– When everyone arrives there should be a place for them to put their gifts. No one should know who brought what.
– Appoint one guest to keep the Steal Tally (provide tally sheet and pen)
– Remind people that stealing is fun and encouraged!

Invitations, Tally Sheets, and Numbers – these are all CC licensed, so feel free to use. Though credit is appreciated!

Invitations (3 options)

Steal Tally Sheet and Numbers (up to 36)
Steal Tally: Numbers:

Alternate rules for big groups: I’ve organized these several times for office holiday parties, and with big groups I recommend (for time reasons) reducing the steals to 2 (ie the third person gets the item) and labeling each gift with a number (1-n number of people). Each person must receive the gift with their number (if they chose to not steal), rather than picking a gift. This saves time on the initial gift choosing. Everything else continues as normal.

Hope you have fun with this!

PS: Welcome those from various places, including Tip Junkie :) And if you’re doing a White Elephant, I’d love to see your own tips, comments, and pics – post ’em in the comment section!

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Originally published Nov 2008

So, hope everyone enjoyed the guest post projects from the last few days.. Some great tutorials! If you missed them, check ’em out:

Adorable Needle Felted Gnome – as a commenter pointed out, these would be a lovely nativity scene. Or what a cute Santa!
Cute, inexpensive, and easy project! Fabulous Felt Cookies!
Great kids project – keep ’em busy and on a sugar high while on holiday! Chocolate Covered Marshmallows!

Do you have a good project to share? Email me, and maybe you’ll be featured on Dabbled too!

Also, Some Art Fabric (a past Dabbled contest winner!) has a lovely contest to win some cool fabric scraps… of course, I could keep it to myself, but go enter!!

We have several talented guest posters contributing this week, so don’t miss the guest posts! Chica and Jo’s yummy marshmallow pops would be a fun project to do with the kids home this week… and stay tuned… Hint: the next two are felt related tutorials, but very different!

If you missed any holiday posts, you can check out the Dabbled holiday roundup here.
And see all holiday 08 posts here.

And don’t throw away that turkey carcass! Remember to Make your own stock and freeze it!!!

We documented the process, so here it is. You’ll see both of the prototype ornaments we made in the steps. Tutorial below pictures.

(PS: We have some great guest blogger how-to’s coming over the next few days!!)

1. Felt and old wool sweater (shrink it!)., 2. Cut our your ornament shapes, 3. Cut a ‘window’ in one of your two halves, 4. Materials: sweater material, old plastic packaging, embroidery thread, ribbon or thread for hanging, 5. Cut a square out of your packagin slightly larger than the window., 6. sew the window on to your sweater, 7. Window sewn in, 8. Stitch the two pieces together,, 9. Leave a space large enough to stuff/insert picture., 10. Stich around the window to cover your thread, 11. Ready to stuff: insert picture, and stuff, and then stitch closed, 12. Hang on tree!

Materials:
Old wool sweaters, felted. I washed these in the washing machine with hot water and they shrunk nicely. Just google for felting sweaters if you need more info.
Flexible clear plastic – repurpose packaging from kids toys or similar. Mine was a bag from a diaper bag set.
Pictures
Embroidery thread
Ribbon (for hanging or embellishing)
Stuffing (polyfil or whatever you have on hand, even extra sweater scraps)

Cut out 2 matching ornament shapes from the body of the sweater.
Cut a ‘window’ in one of your two halves slightly smaller than your picture.
Cut a square out of your plastic slightly larger than the window.
Sew the window on to your sweater – I machine stitched this, but you can save a step and just sew on by hand with embroidery thread. (If your fabric has an obvious front and back, be sure to sew the ‘window’ plastic to the back of the fabric)
Stitch the two pieces together using a blanket stitch. Sew in a loop of ribbon when you get to the top, and leave an opening at the bottom for stuffing and to insert the picture (note, you can insert the picture, tacking it in with tape or glue, prior to this step if you like)
For extra interest, I stitched around the window to cover my thread. (I didn’t do the neatest job sewing it on the machine!)
Insert your picture in through the bottom hole. (I didn’t do anything to secure it, just stuffed behind it and it seemed secure enough)
Stuff and then stitch closed. I had a little extra ribbon, so I added a tassel on the bottom when I was closing up the bottom.
If you’re really good, embroider the year on the back.
All ready to wrap for a gift or hang on the tree!

The votes are in, and although I loved all our entrants, here are our top two vote getters in the Dabbled Upcycled Holiday Challenge.
1 – From She’s Crafty (shop here)
This cozy sweater bag… it even has pockets! What a great gift!
2 – From Chica & Jo: Make your Own Snowglobes! Such a fun little project with tons of possibilities! And a tutorial to make them yourself!
Since you can only win with one entry, third goes to Laurienrick‘s adorable Corduroy Trees.

Congrats to the winners… !

Check out all the entries – some really great stuff!
1. Mini Snow Globes (more, and tutorial, here),
2. Christmas Trees for a Mantle,
3. Purse from Sweaters,
4. Snowmen: Tink and Estelle (and The Colonel),
5. Retro Plaid Crossover Bag,
6. Wine Bucket Cozy, Coasters, and Table Topper,
7. Tree Skirt from Bridesmaid Dress (tutorial here),
8. Recycled Tree Stump Snowmen Ornaments (tutorial here),
9. Santa wooden centerpiece,
10. Forest Wool Hip Bag

The top 2 winners receive the following little nifty prize, a set of 4 art postcards. Please email me at Dot[at] dabbled (dot)org with your snail mail. All winners get an award button, below.

PS – I’m just trying out Artfire (linked above) – I like it thus far, no listing fees like Etsy (though the free monthly option is limited). If you’re thinking about getting your feet wet with a shop, but not wanting commitment, I think it’s a good option. If you sign up, you can go through this link and I’ll get credit for sending you! Register on ArtFire.com (Buy these as real big prints here)

Related:
Holiday Roundup – all the cool Dabbled stuff for the season in one place!

Watch this space… over the next few days we’ll have some great project how-to’s from some terrific guest bloggers!

Related: All Recycled Sweater projects

In other news:
If you missed it, Friday’s Holiday Inspiration Links

.. and
A few quick fun & silly Xmas links for you today:
–Chrismukkah Decoration Set at Superpunch
–Most unusual Christmas Trees at Neatorama
–Light up the Christmas Tree Puzzle
–Santa Don’t Miss or Else Game

For example, let’s say you wanted to do this with the Lemon Pie recipe I posted the other day. Print out a copy of the recipe (here it is as a .pdf that you can download and print easily).

Include some big organic lemons, a Microplanefor zesting them (this is an awesome gift!), maybe a juicer, and either a pretty pie plate, or just some practical ones like these Pyrex pie plates.

Put all the goodies in your pie plate, and wrap up!

You can do this with almost any recipe…
Gingerbread cookies: Recipe, you could even mix up the dry ingredients for a batch and include that, and include some fun cookie cutters.
Eggnog: Recipe, a pretty pitcherwith stirrer, and a jar of whole nutmegs with a Microplanefor grating it!

This is also a great idea for wedding gifts. It’s so impersonal just to pick something off the registry, but if you buy them the serving platter they’re asking for, and include your famous recipe for baked brie and a bag of sugared pecans, you’ve now made the boring serving platter much more fun and personal!

Hope you have fun with this idea …

Found Item Robots via Superpunch

Gorgeous papercraft via Neatorama

Free gift tag download from the fabulous Honor Bowden at GalaHouse and Place Cards too!

Totally awesome nerdcake!

Neat recycled Star of Wonder at Some Art Fabric Talk

Lovely idea, if you live where it’s cold: Lace and Ice from Resurrection Fern

Santa Gourd from Diana at Back to the Drawing Board

Candied Citrus Peels via Craft

Hello Naomi has some really gorgeous Christmas Snowglobe cookies

Glittery pretty ideas from Hostess with the Mostess

A new blog to check out: Daily Artstop from the talented Diana Evans. Great stuff :) Examples: Apple Fritters! Eggnog Cupcakes! and lots more than food..

How to Draw Hands from the talented Tom Richmond

Unusual Chalk Paint treatments

Sad Yeti Pattern

Eco Etsy-ness at Whip up

Improving a sweater at Angry Chicken

DIY Play Crown Tutorial

Via Craft:
Manly Duct tape Bows
Customized Candy Wrappers and more
Yo Gabba Gabba Plex (my son would love)
Melted Snowman Cupcakes!
Sweater Stuffed Animals

Cool Holiday Star Garland

Glass Bottle Shelving

Snowman Treats! Lots!

Detailed Paper Ornament tutorial… pretty! From Frog Riding Bike

My blog, so I get to pick a winner too, and Dot’s Choice Award goes to:
Santa and the Yeti from Bella Sinclair. That is the cutest Yeti ever :)

The first place winner in the People’s Choice Vote and Dot’s Choice Winner receive the following little nifty prize, a set of 4 art postcards. Please email me at Dot[at] dabbled (dot)org. All winners get an award button, below.

PS – I’m just trying out Artfire (linked above) – I like it thus far, no listing fees like Etsy (though the free monthly option is limited). If you’re thinking about getting your feet wet with a shop, but not wanting commitment, I think it’s a good option. If you sign up, you can go through this link and I’ll get credit for sending you! Register on ArtFire.com (Buy these as real big prints here)

Related:
Holiday Roundup – all the cool Dabbled stuff for the season in one place!

*not pictured*
13. Go Green for the Holidays – Tutorial Links
14. I Heart Amazon.. Some Gift suggestions
15. How to Throw A White Elephant Party!

Don’t forget to check out the cool craft from some Dabbled readers!

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