10 Best Under $25 White Elephant Gift Ideas

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Finding a gift for your work colleagues… Does anything else strike fear into hearts as much as that sentence? What about it being a White Elephant gift exchange? What the heck is that? And how do I get a gift for it? Never fear readers… I got you.

According to the Official White Elephant Gift Exchange rules, “A White Elephant Gift Exchange is a popular Christmas event where people vie to walk away with the best present.” The catch is that a lot of really awful gifts that are up for grabs.

I’m the person who wants to give the ‘best’ gift – the one that everyone covets. I know some people love being the person who gives the worst gift, but that’s not my style. We did this at work last year and the worst gift was an orange jello mold with an Office Space style red Swingline stapler ensconced in it. Genius idea, but I’m glad I didn’t get it!

Here are some of my own ideas for a gift under $25.

1. I’d probably add a few more items to just the hot chocolate toppers, but I like how cute they are and that they’re unexpected. Who ever thinks about hot chocolate toppers as a gift? Not me. I do wonder if I would actually allow it to melt into my hot cocoa or if I would eat it first. Chances are we’ll never know.

2. Everyone is in love with cats, right? All the memes, the grumpy cat, funny cat posters… now this game. The instructions say:

[pullquote width=”600″ float=”left”]In this highly-strategic, kitty-powered version of Russian Roulette, players draw cards until someone draws an Exploding Kitten, at which point they explode, they are dead, and they are out of the game — unless that player has a Defuse card, which can defuse the Kitten using things like laser pointers, belly rubs, and catnip sandwiches. All of the other cards in the deck are used to move, mitigate, or avoid the Exploding Kittens.[/pullquote]

3. I have no idea what the heck a hatchimal is, but it looks like a bad gift to get to me. I would probably pair this with the hot chocolate toppers. Someone’s kid’s might like this. It feels like one of those that would get traded pretty fast.

4. Okay, I have to admit, sometimes I’m just like a ten-year old boy. Anything fart related cracks me up. This fart machine could be hours of laughter for me. I’m sure I’m not the only one!

5. What can you do with the smallest walkie talkies? This is a perfect white elephant gift! It’s fun and stupid. Perfect combo.

6. Half wine glass – for when you only want a little? The question I have is how does it stay in the glass? Guess you’ll have to buy it to find out. It reminds me of something I would have seen in Spencer’s at the mall back in the day. Come on, you remember it too. Does that store even exist anymore?

7. This screaming goat figure is just plain weird. Does anyone need it? Of course not. I’m sure as soon as it sits on someone’s desk, everyone’s going to want their own. It might even be great for those days you want to scream in frustration – just have the goat do it for you. Boom. Problem solved!

8. Everyone needs a pair of cherry sunglasses. ‘Nuff said.

9. Unicorns are very in, see here and here. With this, you will be the star of the office. I think it would be entertaining to see a unicorn prancing across a keyboard as I walk past someone’s cube.

10. This might be my most favorite idea of all. A Bob Ross color changing mug. He was always so mesmerizing on TV and it made me feel like I could paint like him, if only I had the right set up. I would proudly keep this on my desk. This gift will probably be the most stolen at the gift exchange because it’s awesome.

What do you guys think? Anyone else doing a White Elephant gift exchange? Do you follow the rules or do you do it your own way? I’d love to find out! Let me know in the comments.