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!

Like this blog? Add it to your feed reader! or get via email!

Originally published Nov 2008

Now, it wasn’t a small party (not only his friends from preschool, but our friends with kids were there), so I initially made 20 of these. Hence they are NOT high quality heirloom construction. You could easily modify these instructions (adding hems and what not) to make these more of a “finished” product. But for my purposes, I figured the quick and dirty version would do just fine. I also kept the design pretty cheap – I figure each one was about $1 in materials cost.

These would be great not only for favors, but for the “dress up box”, or if done a little nicer, for a gift too!

I promised a tutorial for both this and the Dragon Cake (done!), so here it is… Instructions are after the mosaic picture, but if you need more info, just email me or post here.

Note, ignore the different colors, i made a variety and used the best shots for the tutorial. I figured a mix of orange, pink, blue, and green would work for a mix of kids, and any kids who didn’t want “wings” could call it a prince or princess cape. Each square of fabric makes 4 capes.

1. Start with a piece of fabric at least 1 yd square. (larger for bigger kids) I did some at 36 in square (about the minimum for 4 year olds) and some a tad larger, which worked better. Measure against the wingspan of your sample child to figure out how much fabric to buy. I found that with 44 in broadcloth, 44 in square (about 1.25 yds) worked really well.
2. Trim fabric to a square. Save the excess. If you want to make the wrist straps more unubtrusive (for a cape look) use strips of the extra fabric for that.
3. Cut on the diagonal, to make 4 equal triangles., Start at each corner, and cut in a big X. that will make 4 capes.
4. 4 triangles, Yep, this will be 4 capes. The longest side of the triangle is the width of your step 2 square.
5. You end up with 4 triangles.,
6. Cut 4 lengths of ribbon about 15 inches each (measure around a child’s neck to be sure of length),
7. Center the ribbon on the long side of the triangle, fold the ribbon over in two, sandwiching the cloth, and pin. Guessimating is fine, i didn’t measure. Then pin about 2 inches from the center pin on either side to help you when you stitch.
8. Cut out Wrist Straps, either out of the same ribbon or from a strip of the excess cloth (i did both)
9. Pin the wrist straps in place, location depends on child size. Use your sample child to get an approximation. I found for the 36 in capes (for a 4 yr old) the straps should be almost at the end, where as the 44 in capes were about 6 inches in from the points.
10. Sew on the ribbon neckpiece, start sewing at the far pin, and sew to the near one. Again, quick and dirty, i wasn’t going for looks here, just attaching.
11. Look at that incredibly straight seam! uh, yeah, moving on…,
12. Sew on Wrist straps, Not rocket science, just a straight or zig zag stitch back and forth so they stay on.
13. Sew velcro on each end of the Ribbon. You could of course skip this and do longer ribbon and just tie it (which I would have done with older kids), but I figured better safe than sorry. This was the biggest pain, but since i wasn’t too worried about looks, not too bad.
14. dragonwings, Here they are in full view! This is one of the larger versions.
15. Back View

That’s all there is to it! Hope you enjoy, and if anyone makes a “nicer” version of these, please share it here!

Related “Dragon Party” Posts:

• Dragon Cake Tutorial!
• Download dragon thank you note and party invitation
  
• Finished Dragon Cake…
• Cake Baking Day!
• Dragon Wings…
• Dragon Invitation Graphic

So, I think the tutorial on how to make the Dragon-Wings will have to wait until next week. I made 20(!!) of them, so needless to say, this is a REALLY quick and dirty design. :)

Today I bake cakes. The plan is a Dragon Cake for the party, plus extra chocolate ‘dragon’s egg’ cupcakes (because The Boy wants chocolate).

I’ll be experimenting with marshmallow fondant for covering the dragon, so I’ll let you know how that goes!
I’ll keep you guys updated with pics of the progress… And if you follow me on Twitter, you can see them there!

Enjoy!

PS: All done… I’ll post better pics, but you can see the twitpics I uploaded from the twitter link!

This is a cute party idea, that kids like, and is fun to do. You can seriously go retro with this, and decorate with Tin Robot toys. Or play up the spaceman side of it with stars and outer space decor. Think space, rockets, robots, stars… there are tons of possiblities!

First off, the invitations:
These cute little robots, hanging the stars, made a great invitation. I made this one available CC licensed for personal use, so if you’d like to snag it for your own party, just click through and download. (Or if you’d like the graphic personalized with your child’s name and party details, email me for pricing) There is also the matching thank you note graphic here. You can print these on card stock for your party use, or have them printed at your local copy shop for you!

For a simple idea for party favor ‘goodie bags’, I put some little treats in small paper bags, with another ‘robot spaceman graphic on the front. Inexpensive and easy. Some ideas for party favors are below — with the popularity of transformers and wall-e and such out there, finding some inexpensive robot themed items isn’t too hard, if you don’t have time to be creative and make goodies! Also, rather than juice boxes, I purchased inexpensive star themed cups (from Oriental Trading Co, I think) for drinks, which the kids could use at the party, and also take home.

Favor Bags (Robot Spaceman Cowboy!) (Click on the picture to download the graphic for your own use.)

Oh, I have a yard or so of the Robot Spaceman Fabric, if anyone would like to purchase it for their robot party… Email me.

The Cake:
The cake was my own creation and was a ton of fun to do. Also, we had a really large party, and this was big enough to feed a crowd. All the instructions are here, to make this yourself. You could also easily ‘cheat’ and add the rounded top to a store-bought round cake, then with either colored buttercream or fondant. Last year, Adrienne of Baby Toolkit took this idea, and did a great job of decorating a storebought cake.
And hey, maybe you should serve your cake with Astronaut Ice Cream !

Some other Robot Cake Ideas to inspire you:

Hopefully, this is a good start on some ideas for doing your own robot themed party. If you do one, be sure to drop back by and share what you did!

Oh, and here are some ideas for party favors…

Party Favor Ideas:

I’ve also got a customized version of the Robot Party invites out there. You can just download the generic version here, for free, but doesn’t it look nicer customized… and you could be funding dot’s art supply habit? :)

And of course, if you want a truly customized one like I’m giving away for the auction, just email me.

Not a Tiramisu Martini, but a cool picture anyway! –>

Dot’s Easy Tiramisu “Martinis”

Makes 10-12 servings

Martini glasses

1 pint (2 cups) heavy cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar

2 pkgs (16 oz) Marscapone Cheese
Dollop of marsala (optional)
Dollop of vanilla
2 Dollops of kahlua

Ladyfingers – 4-6 per glass
3/4 – 1 c strong coffee or espresso
Kahlua (1/2 c?)
Cinnamon
Chocolate chips (opt)
Chopped pecans (opt)

In mixer (with whisk attachment) whip cream and powdered sugar until you get soft peaks. (if you dont have a mixer you can do this by hand with a whisk, but it’s more work). remove about 3/4 c. to use later.

Add the next set of ingredients and beat to combine. (i prepared this a bit ahead and placed it in a ziplock bag, then when it came time to put it in the glasses, i snipped of the end of the bag and “piped” it in)

In each martini glass, place your cookies around the inside. Save a half or whole cookie for the top.

Pour on the coffee, trying to soak each cookie. Pour a little Kahlua over the cookies as well (i just held my fingers over the top of the bottle, and spurted a little out for each glass).

Spoon in a big scoop of your marscapone mixture. top with the reserved cookie. Add a dollop of reserved whipped cream if you like (i ended up with enough in each glass without the whipped cream, so i skipped it.)

Sprinkle ground cinnimon on top, add a sprinkling of chocolate chips and/or chopped pecans.

Let chill during dinner, then serve!

(note: i had a heck of a time the first time I made this finding ladyfingers. ask in the bakery dept of your grocery store if you cant find them. I had to get ones with cream filling and scrape off the cream filling!!if you cant find them you can probably use some thinly sliced spongecake or poundcake. I think I saw some at Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s recently too.)

*photo credit: Grieg Wehr.

So, kudos to adrienne of Baby Toolkit on an excellently decorated cake – she’s got a great writeup on how she used a store bought cake decorated with easy homemade fondant. And happy birthday to the little one…!

If you missed it, all the Robot Party stuff is here, including downloadable invite & thank you note graphics, and my own slightly more complicated cake design.

Oh, and they also had a starring appearance in my first attempt at fabric design!

Related: All things Robot Love

Really nifty writeup on Craftypod, a review of The Pocket Paper Engineer– a book on how to create pop up books! These are so fun and look like some really great projects. (*adds to ever growing list…)

Betz White made this fabulous Etch-A-Sketch Laptop cover! I’m in love… When I get a new laptop, i may have to try this… (via)

Several really cool things from Hostess with the Mostess
– a Wii themed party
– Child’s Candyland themed party
– Denture-like Ice Cubes – too cool and creepy, these might be good for halloween.

No Interview this Week… I’m looking for suggestions of people you guys think would be cool to interview! If you have nominations, let me know!
Previous Dabbled Interviews:

Interview 1: Diane Gilleland, of Craftypod
Interview 2: Diana Evans, Artist
Interview 3: Shannon Riffe, of Make It and Rifferaff
Interview 4: Cory Godbey, Artist and Author of “Ticket”

All Interviews

This was a quick coloring job because i finally got around to doing it the morning of the party. But printed out on your average home printer, it looks fine.

Related:
Robot Cake Tutorial