Customs: Christmas Gift-Giving at the Office

With the Christmas holidays fast approaching, I thought I would take the opportunity to explain a Christmas custom that might be a little confusing for English learners: the Christmas Gift Exchange.

There are two main ways in which a Christmas gift exchange might be set up:

1. Secret Santa
2. White Elephant

Secret Santa

In a Secret Santa gift exchange, the names of participants are pooled and then drawn out, so each individual has only one person for whom he must buy a gift. The gift giver acts as “Santa” for the recipient, and tries to keep his identity unknown. After the gift has been received and opened, the recipient may try to guess who his “Santa” was. The challenge for the “Santa” lies not only in keeping one’s identity secret, but also in finding out what sort of present the recipient might like without the recipient finding out who “Santa” is.



A Secret Santa might give only one gift, or he might give several small gifts (for example, a small gift every day, or every other day) leading up to the day of the main gift exchange. Often, a monetary limit is set for the gifts, so people don’t feel like they have to spend a lot of money on the gift. If smaller gifts are given, they are usually things like small chocolate bars or other candy, or maybe a fun little toy. The final gift is generally something a little nicer, like a coffee mug or picture frame or something of that type.

Secret Santa gift exchanges tend to be something that women participate in, more so than men.



White Elephant

In a White Elephant gift exchange, the names are pooled as in a Secret Santa exchange. But the main idea of a White Elephant exchange is that the person gives a gift that is usually some sort of a “gag” or joke gift. Thus the emphasis is on a humorous present, and not meant to be serious. (Because of this, I think men are more likely to participate in a White Elephant than in a Secret Santa.)

If you give a White Elephant, you can purchase a funny gift from the store if you want. But usually, a White Elephant is an unwanted or unwelcome gift that you received on a previous occasion – perhaps an ugly vase, or an oversized sweater, or something of that type. In a White Elephant exchange, people expect a gift that is ugly or very unusual, so it is not considered insulting at all to give or receive this type of gift. (And what most people probably do with a White Elephant is store it in a closet and use it for the next year’s White Elephant!). People will laugh and have fun with the silly gifts, and maybe have a little informal contest to see who has the ugliest White Elephant.



Where does the term “White Elephant” come from? It used to be that in Thailand, a white elephant was considered sacred, and thus it was a sign of favor for the ruler to give someone a white elephant as a gift. However, an elephant is not a very practical gift (they eat so much, and are difficult to take care of, unless you have a zoo), so it was also a gift that turned out to be a burden. Thus the term “White Elephant” came to represent an undesirable or unwelcome gift.

Have you ever gotten a "white elephant"? What was it?