white elephant exchange, dollar store style.

I started a new Christmas tradition with my family a few years ago, one that is slowly evolving, but ends up with lots of laughs and memorable moments. Each year we do a white elephant swap, but with a few twists:

• I buy all of the gifts instead of everyone bringing one - I have so much fun doing this that I coordinate everything so that the family just enjoys the hilarity that ensues 
• All of the gifts are purchased at the dollar store and I pick items that will be a.) good for pictures, b.) misleading when trying to figure out what they are while wrapped, and c.) have a funny factor 
• We draw names out of a hat (or this year a Santa mug) for who goes first (which is the worst position to be in) 
• Every person, except the person who goes first, has the ability to 'steal' a gift that has already been opened once they open their gift; however, they have to pose with the original gift for a photo

Over the last few years, this has been a hysterical start to our family time together and we have done this before opening presents.  Since I buy and wrap everything, I wanted to make some tweaks this year to revolutionize this little exchange.  For all of the items and wrapping paper/boxes, I spent less than $20!

So, first I went to one of our local dollar per item stores and bought some very random, funny things.This year's selections included plastic grapes, a ninja mask, participation mini-trophies, and a pretty princess ribbon. In years past we've had other 'unique' items like pink bedroom slippers, hemorrhoid cream, and fake hair.

Next, I put all of the items into the same size white clothing boxes (also available at the local dollar per item store with 3 boxes per pack!) 

After that, all of the boxes got wrapped in the exact same wrapping paper. While I may remember (or not!) what I originally bought, by the time that we got to our exchange, I had no idea which box was which. 

And then we got started and some funniness ensued. Here is this year's line up of reactions and poses:

I hope that everyone had as much fun as I did with this little exchange! It's always fun to pack in a few extra giggles for Christmas!