Monday, January 25, 2010

Be My Guest Monday! White Elephant Gifts and AFTER Holiday Holiday Parties



Alright everyone, wecome back to Be My Guest Monday! If you're interested in being a guest blogger, please click on that super cool link.

Today I've got such a great guest blogger. Carissa over at GoodNCrazy taught me everything I know about avoiding the dreaded (No-ReplyComment@Blogger.com) problem. As someone who prefers to respond to comments via email, Carissa's "Dear No-Reply Blogger" post helped me to share the knowledge with my readers too. (if you haven't done this yet, please do!) She's also got tons and tons of amazing blog advice--you really must check her out! After you read this post, of course. And now I give you a chuckle with Carissa and...


The Best White Elephant Gift Ever!
And Why AFTER Holiday-Holiday Parties Rock.

Goldfish ANDY Best White Elephant Gift

goodncrazy blue dots
My husband's holiday work party got postponed. And then cancelled. And honestly no one was sad. There was already too much going on with piano recitals, school plays, cookie exchanges and decorating the dang tree! Don't get me wrong I love Christmas-time and I love the hubbub too... but at some point in order it retain some semblance of sanity... you gotta pick and choose the items on your Holiday To-Do list...
That party re-scheduled itself for this past weekend. And it was so much fun. And pleasant, and I didn't feel rushed or like I was overdrawn on my babysitting account from asking friends to watch my kids too much!

They still held it as a White Elephant Gift Exchange, and the home where it was held still had Christmas decorations up... I have officially decided THIS is the way to do it. Plan each year to hold a few events AFTER New Year's. What's wrong with the piano recital being scheduled for the 2nd week in January? I'm still happy to hear my 9yrold's rendition of Angel's We Have Heard On High! And like I'm not gonna be thrilled to eat cookies in January, same as December? Hello.

What did we bring home?
Seriously. I think the best white elephant gift ever:
A Goldfish! Complete with $2 plastic bowl, food and green vinyl tree. I was the last one to choose a gift; I happily stole that fish. It had already been dubbed "Andy" by the attendees, and passed around a few times. So there you have it. Our children have a new pet goldfish: please meet ANDY.

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GREAT Ideas for the Best White Elephant Gifts:
You have to plan ahead for some of them so don't forget!

  • Toilet Seat
  • Enema
  • A Giant Stalk of brussel sprouts. (who knew they grow that way??)
  • A Moo Moo
  • Date Night Kit: Barry White CD, duct tape, and Nickelodeon Slime
  • Dancing Cowboy Santa
  • A Sacrificial Sock
  • Fruit Cake
  • A Box of SOS Pads: (and if there's a $ limit, tuck the cash inside to surprise!)
  • Rattlesnake meat in a can
  • Pogo Stick
  • Blown Up Photo of Self (autographed of course!)
  • Paparazzi Starter Kit: disposable camera, and copies of teen beat magazine preferably with Robert Pattinson on the cover
  • A Giant Box full of hotel toiletries: soaps, mini shampoos and lotions
  • Ugly Lingerie or Loud Gaudy Pajamas
  • Bottled Peach Pits: plan ahead, and when bottling peaches, fill one with only the pits!
  • Goofy Phones: Antlers Glued On or Pink and Furry
  • Used Appliances: Like an old dish disposal
  • Cassette Tapes of Donnie And Marie
  • Live Animals: Like a Goldfish, or Guinea Pig
  • Old Spice
  • Fedora Hat: from Ross or other discount store
  • Loud Annoying Toddler Toys
  • Hello Kitty ANYthing
  • Bad Home Decor: think plastic light up flowers
  • Toilet Seat Warmer (They really make these??)
Come on.. I know you have great ideas too.
What's the Best/Worst/Funniest White Elephant Gift you've ever seen?
~~~~~~~
Carissa Rogers goodncrazy
Carissa Rogers of GoodNCrazy.com
Find her on twitter as @CarissaRogers

"In my former life I was a molecular biologist. In my current life I am the chief researcher of bloggy html, parenting dos (and some don'ts), new recipes and for spice I pretend to be a photographer...I started blogging in February of 2008. I love the bloggy world where I share and connect with thousands of people about the happy, the sad, the rotten, and the silly! I have 3 crazy kids and one good husband. I hope to connect with you too!"

8 comments:

  1. Carissa, dang I <3 you! Andy the goldfish is so awesome... next year I'm gonna have to find me a White Elephant party to go to so I can bring an enema!

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  2. "That's so fantastic that you are able to be friends with other women on base despite rank. One of my best friends grew up in the Army and it was just amazing all the unwritten rules about who you could play with/date etc. Hooray for just having friends.
    Have an Extraordinary Day!"

    Yeah there are a lot of unwritten rules, it is crazy, and hard to learn them all! :)

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  3. So FUNNY!!! I like the date night kit :)

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  4. I actually received 2 goldfish as a white elephant gift once...unfortunately they were in their little plastic baggies and I have a cat, so they were given to a friend who had an aquarium and no frisky felines!

    :)

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  5. I am totally going to be using some of these gift ideas!The paparazzi starter kit is awesome.

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  6. Glad everyone liked the ideas... We used to have a cat so for a change the fish worked for us!

    And both the paparazzi idea AND the date night idea were my husband's... when we were walking around Fred Myer looking for gifts that weren't so obvious... he's awesome that way!

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