I bet you’re going to be invited to 1 or 98 White Elephant parties during the holidays. Work venue, spouse’s connections, kid’s playgroup parents’ party (they have those don’t they?) and/or the annual neighborhood party. Happily I can avoid all of these scenarios except the obligatory work shindig. And although I tend to approach this annual event with my heels dug in, I always end up having a good time. We have some characters on our staff and it’s fun to see their goofiness come out as things get rolling. It’s not so much the party I resist but the pressure to come up with some wonky gift. The adults in the crowd (technically we’re all adults there, but my inner 11-year-old makes an appearance as the party date draws near) realize this is all just for fun and not a competition. But deep down…way deep down we know it is. The taxidermy-quality-psuedo-stuffed chicken dressed as Santa (true story) will always trump the he/she salt and pepper snowman set.
And then there is the quandary of the Minimalist’s rules: mine is that nothing new comes into my place. Although the furor of my purging has slowed, I still try to find overlooked items to get rid of – things that are blind to my eye just by their longterm presence.
This year I realized that I could use the White Elephant ritual to my minimalist-inclined advantage – if I sifted deeper through the few remaining boxes that contain things I can’t quite let go of yet, I just might find something White Elephant-worthy. I’ve been hanging onto my huge college diploma, only because my mom had this framed for me and it looks fancy schmancy - in my closet. Brilliant! I thought. I’ll give that away! And it might increase in W.E. regifting value if it’s deemed adequate enough to be passed on. Then I got self-conscious thinking about my ancient, fancy, framed diploma getting tossed about, not knowing where it’s going to land and who’s going to get curious enough to start googling me and my info. But then they’d most likely just end up here and that loop would be closed. Naw. I’m hanging on to it for now. (But maybe you should give your framed diploma at your next party.)
Then I remembered a navy blue wool stadium blanket that I still have from high school when I was a member of a drill team. Now approaching retro status, this blanket has my alma mater’s name, officer rank and personal name monogrammed on it. This is another mysterious thing I’ve kept all these years, certain I’d find some use for it. I did! I brought it to the party and it’s now in the hands of an appreciative co-worker, revived into usefulness.
If you’re in the midst of minimizing and have a lot of randomness hanging about (like your 2nd place softball trophies, the 8-track tapes, the macrame planters, the cloth door calendar from 1976, or the once-beloved chia pet), put the word out to your buds who are looking for gifts that you have plenty for them to choose from. This might be a fun way to rid yourself of ancient clutter and provide the perfect thrift-store quality W.E. gift for them.
And if you come across the Santa-clad stuffed chicken – hang on to it forever. You’ll never see one of those again!



