Therapy Thursday ~ White Elehpant in the Room

Want an idea to break up the winter blues? Throw a White Elephant Party! We have one every year with our friends, and it's a riot. A White Elephant party is kind of like a grab bag, but the gifts are anything but desirable. As Wikipedia describes it, "Gifts are typically inexpensive, humorous items or used items from the home." It's the perfect time to re-gift! We had our annual White Elephant party last weekend, and it was a blast! It works like a grab bag, where everyone picks a number and beautifully wrapped gifts are then chosen in order. But the gifts can be "stolen," and there was a lot of that going around. Once a gift is stolen three times, it's locked, and whoever winds up with it owns it. We are now the proud owners of a creepy singing Christmas tree and an ugly beer stein. The original gift I opened was a male hair grooming kit, so the beer stein was probably a step up. We also learned some interesting factoids about our friends. Turns out our macho construction worker neighbor has a thing for Little House on the Prairie, and he stole the dvd boxed set - twice. Hope he's enjoying that. Some gifts come back to haunt us year after year. And some guests try to make their gifts more desirable by putting candy in them (as with a glass cowboy-boot shaped mug filled with candy hearts that turned up this year) or pairing them with a beer (which came with the beer stein I won - but by the time I got it, it was half drunk).

So go plan your own White Elephant Party! You know you have the perfect hideous planter or gaudy Christmas decoration that would look so much better in your neighbor's house.

What ugly things lurk inside these lovely packages?

Creepy Singing Christmas Tree - you can bet this will make another party appearance

There's my husband holding up a planter we put in the mix a few years ago. It's baaa-aack!

Mmmm, stale candy in a glass cowboy boot mug.

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth ~ you may be taking it home. This horse was actually another gift from the past, and it gets stolen every time. Go figure.

So pretty! They match his eyes.