Every year the same feeling overcomes me when I’m confronted by the thought of a White Elephant/Secret Santa situation: pure, unadulterated panic. That panic leads to more panic, and that leads to the same gift of wine over and over and over again. Which, to be fair, not many people are probably complaining about leaving a party with a new bottle of wine in their hands, but still.
Here’s a secret I’m going to let you in on for this year’s White Elephant gift exchange: I can do better, and so can you. I have faith. Not much is going well in our country at large, so let’s buck the trend with some real life good gifts. Gifts that will get stolen by the ruthless people we all are. Gifts that maybe you’ll want to end up with yourself.
And, as a bonus, most of these can actually be found locally, which means you can support your neighborhood small businesses while you’re at it! All gifts are $35 and under, so they fit most parameters for white elephant rules these days.
