[Steppes] "White Elephant" gift exchange

[Susan McMahill]

I would also recommend that your child be old enough to understand that the package that they open may not be theirs to keep. While many would not try to steal a gift from a child under normal conditions, in this game, if the gift is something that would really be something that someone else would want, and it hasn't been stolen twice already, it is fair game for stealing by the person who might really want it.

 

Recently we were at a party with similar rules for their gift exchange. One of the children opened a gift that was an autographed copy of a book that others of us valued highly. My dear husband, after we watched the child drop the book repeatedly and treat it with less than the respect it was due, managed to 'steal' the book right at the end of the exchange. It was the last steal, as the child had gotten it back after it was stolen from him originally. My dear husband then swapped with me for the alcoholic beverage I had received. The child came up to me later, quite upset that I had 'taken' his gift. I tried to explain why that book was so important to me. He seemed to understand, but.... 

 

Parents may want to bring a gift specifically for that child to open for him/herself in lieu of participating in the exchange.

 

Lyneya

Well-behaved women Seldom make history - Laurel Thatcher Ulrich


 
> Date: Thu, 17 Dec 2009 11:38:31 -0600
> From: simscath at gmail.com
> To: steppes at ansteorra.org
> Subject: Re: [Steppes] "White Elephant" gift exchange
> 
> Please also consider the feelings of the child that might open your gift. I
> saw a child go from happy and excited to be participating to ready to cry
> because of the gift he unwrapped. I swapped my gift for his after the game
> so he wouldn't be quite so unhappy, but I would be sorry to see such a thing
> happen again.
> 
> You may think your offering is funny. Every adult you know may agree with
> you, but please consider that there might be children present who would not
> understand and be disappointed.
> 
> Arianne Balfour
> 
> On Thu, Dec 17, 2009 at 10:23 AM, Jay Rudin <rudin at peoplepc.com> wrote:
> 
> > It might be a good idea if people understand that the gift exchange is a
> > rather silly game, and here are the rules.
> >
> > Everyone who brings a gift will draw a number out of a hat. In order, we
> > will each choose a gift.
> >
> > The joker in the deck is that you can either choose a present still under
> > the tree and unwrap it, or you can choose somebody else's gift, and then
> > they get to choose again.
> >
> > A given gift can only be stolen twice. Once it's taken by a second person,
> > it's out of the game.
> >
> > Some of the gifts will be useful or fun; some will be awful, and some will
> > be in between. The reasonable limits are that you need to be prepared to
> > justify the gift you bring to the morally uptight parents of the
> > eleven-year-old who might get it.
> >
> > It's a good time to pass on that useful SCA item that doesn't match your
> > current persona, or that fit you twenty pounds ago, or that's used in an
> > activity you no longer do. But it's also a good time to pass on that
> > outrageous item you aren't willing to admit you own.
> >
> > Nobody has to play. If it doesn't sound fun, don't bring a gift to it.
> > (And it's still fun to watch. People start *caring* about who's going to
> > wind up with the Three Stooges clock.)
> >
> > Robin of Gilwell / Jay Rudin
> >
> > P.S. A note to newer members. In our period, Yuletide gifts were
> > exchanged, if at all, at Twelfth Night, so the real gifts that we bring to
> > our friends will happen at our event on January 2, not at the Christmas
> > party.
> >
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