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Hello everyone! Today, I’m going to be talking about White Elephant. It might sound like a familiar term, but just in case it isn’t, White Elephant is a Christmas gift-giving game. Since ’tis the season, I thought I’d talk about my experience with it.

I’ve only ever participated in one White Elephant game, so I may not be the most qualified person to talk about it. That being said, from what I’ve observed and heard, White Elephant is pure chaos.

If you’re wondering why it’s called White Elephant, it’s because a king in Thailand used to give people a white elephant they couldn’t sell or use for work and had to spend exorbitant amounts of money to take care of. The term was consequently determined to mean an unwanted gift, and then adopted in America for a gift exchange game where you could end up with a gift that could be a burden. However, for my family it’s because we Indians (elephant) get extremely festive in the winter (white snow) .

This Christmas, my extended family had a party in Dubai at one of our relatives’ houses. Everyone brought a gift, and when the time came, we placed them all on a table in the center of the room. Each person drew a number, and we went in that order.

Person number one got to pick a gift from the center, open it, and show everyone what they got. After that, person number two would normally just pick another gift from the pile… but this is White Elephant, so there’s a twist.

You’re allowed to steal other people’s gifts.

If you steal someone’s gift, that person then has two choices: they can either pick a new gift from the center pile or steal someone else’s gift. There are rules though—only three steals are allowed per round, and the same gift can’t be stolen back immediately.

Now, this is where things got interesting.

Person number one, Aunty Savita picked a very nice Hermes silk tie from the pile. She showed it to us for exactly one second before hiding it behind her back, which made it very clear she wanted to keep it.

Person number two, Uncle Firoz went next and pulled out a pair of sunglasses. So far, the game was calm—no stealing yet. Same with his wife, Aunty Shakkeela who drew number 3 and also got sunglasses, albeit brown Ferragamo ones instead of a black Versace pair. She then proceeded to act like the Hollywood elites who wear Ferragamo for a bit, and sat down.

Then came Uncle Louis.

You could see it in his eyes. The desire. The hunger. His gaze locked onto Shakkeela’s sunglasses, the reflection in the lenses perfectly capturing the avarice shining in his eyes. Without hesitation, he snatched the sunglasses, proudly claimed them, and cackled like a cartoon villain.

The crowd went wild! It was at this moment that the reality of the situation struck people, and plans began to arise in the shadows. Our MC Neehana then explained gleefully the rules of stealing:

1. After the first person steals a gift, a round is started.
2. A stolen gift cannot be taken back by the last owner
3. Any person from which a gift has been taken then must either steal a gift from someone else or select a new gift from the table
4. A maximum of three different gifts (excluding the original) may be stolen in a round.
5. A round ends after someone chooses to select a gift from the table or when 4 total gifts have been stolen.

Aunty Shakkeela then got another turn after being stolen from, and tried to be the bigger person after recovering from her shock. She chose not to steal and instead picked another gift from the pile—which turned out to be a fragrance she really liked, so she was satisfied!

“Perfume heralds a woman’s arrival and prolongs her departure” – Coco Chanel.

Person number five, Uncle Vijayan then took an unreasonably long time deciding. He put on a full performance—fake lunges, dramatic pauses—only to finally grab another gift from the center, which turned out to be perfume.`

For a while after that, the game oddly calmed down. No one was stealing. Everyone was being respectful. Civilized, even. The MC kept encouraging people to cause chaos, but nothing happened.

That is… until person number eight.

Person number eight was not here for peace. They saw a gift they wanted and took it without mercy. That triggered retaliation, which triggered more stealing, and suddenly the room was in full chaos mode. Steals hit the limit, and the round finally ended with everyone stuck with whatever they were holding.

Thankfully, nobody ended up with a bad gift—mostly because my family loves to brag about how much they spend. The budget was $250 per gift, so you can imagine how overboard people went. I myself wasn’t able to participate in the game, as it was only for adults. The kids just watched, and later did Secret Santa.

I received Super Smash Bros Ultimate, which was over budget for the kids, some thing I was unaware of when asking for it. Even though it was a simple mistake, my mom gave me considerable grief over it, especially when my secret santa had to go to 5 different stores to find it! In my defense, I feel as if I am worth at least 32% of an adult! Then again, I was the only one to recieve a video game: High quality perfumes from brands like Dolce and Gabbana, products from Sephora and designer clothes and accessories were all the rage this year.

Even though the gifts were great, the real entertainment was watching grown adults fight—politely but intensely—over who deserved what. The pattern kept repeating all night: a moment of peace, one steal, and then total chaos. Finally, everyone got their gifts and the gift exchange purge of White Elephant as well as the civilized Secret Santa ended. We all then proceded to take countless family photos, to commemorate the reunion, and parted after wishing each other happy holidays.

Let this episode be a lesson for you: since the holidays is a time of forgiveness and togetherness, its also the perfect time to make some enemies! Anyway, bye everyone and see you later!