Small Holiday Budget? Time to White Elephant!

With the economy going really bad, we all can agree that we've had to tighten our belts and put a padlock on our wallet. One way to make the holidays more affordable and share it with friends is to do a "White Elephant" event at your annual family and/or work party.

What is a "White Elephant?" Well, it's basically a gift exchange, but instead of buying something new, you give away something that you own and don't need anymore. This is especially good for folks who have a lot of old (but useful) junk.

Here's the rules I play:

• Each person brings one wrapped gift to the party.
• Depending on the number of participants, a person will write digits on slips of paper.
• Every person draws a number out of the jar.
• The lowest number (number one) goes first to pick a gift and opens it.
• The second lowest number can "steal" number one's gift or open a new one. If person one's gift is stolen, the person can open a new gift.
• Continue following the pattern until everyone goes around once. The limit for steals PER GIFT is two. Once the gift is stolen the second time, that's theirs to keep.

One tip to give: Bring a backup gift, sometimes people forget to bring one.

It's a fun laugh riot full of mysterious surprises. Bring your camera to take photos of shocked reactions. Some people can also put a mysterious theme on their gift box, such as the "Mayor Gavin Newsom mystery box."

Happy holidays everyone!
My big holiday gift is coming soon... my Master's degree! I submitted my thesis on Monday.