What is the origin of the White Elephant Party?

In New England, this is often called "Yankee Exchange". In the south, it is "dirty Santa Claus". But in most parts of North America, the party game in which participants exchange (and steal) gifts is called white elephant gift exchange.

At least since the 1800 s, the word white elephant has been used to refer to less popular gifts. Evan Mendelsohn, co-founder of holiday clothing company Tipsy Elves, told Mental Floss: "According to legend, the tradition of white elephant gift began a long time ago, when the king of Siam (now Thailand) would give a real white elephant to anyone he didn't like." "Taking care of these rare elephants is very expensive. The white elephant is also a respected symbol in Thai and Buddhist culture, so you can't give it up or let it work. "

According to an article in1873 * *, the white elephant-which can't be rid of, but the maintenance cost is too high-will become a huge economic burden and the recipients will fall into poverty.

But this legend is actually unfounded, wrote Ross Braun, a liberal arts professor at OCAD University in Toronto. He quoted Rita Ringys, a Thai historian, as saying: "The King of Siam never thought white elephants were' burdensome' and never gave them away." In Buddhist tradition, the white elephant is a symbol of status and good luck.

The concept of "exchange party" became popular around 190 1. At that time, the Hartford Herald in Kentucky published an article describing the gift exchange with "four or five small bags packed so that others could not doubt the contents". The early description of the Exchange Party suggested that players bring as many ridiculous gifts as possible and end the game by distributing the "cheapest" and "worst" prizes (the recipients of the worst gifts will be asked to tell a story, sing a song or entertain the group in other ways).

According to blogger Peter Zhan Sen Brown, the word "White Elephant Party" first appeared in a joke published in Columbus Daily 1907 in Nebraska. "A shocking thing happened in a town near us," the joke began. "A popular social woman announced a White Elephant Party. Every guest should bring something that she can't find any use but is too good to throw away ... Nine of the invited 1 1 women brought their husbands. "

This white elephant joke was later published in newspapers all over the United States-equivalent to the viral spread of 1907. 1908, the social page of the newspaper began to publish the notice of the real white elephant party, encouraging participants to give gifts they wanted to get rid of.

Since then, the exchange of white elephant gifts has remained relatively unchanged, although the rules vary from place to place. Want to have your own white elephant party? Look up the rules on White Elephant's official website and check out our list of interesting gift ideas.