Christmas is often a time when you hear “White Elephant” being used, mainly at Christmas party gift exchanges. Gifts that are exchanged at these parties are often used gifts that can be stolen or “swapped” according to the rules of the gift exchange. It’s a lot fun to see people vying to take home someone else’s junk, but most probably never ask why it is called that or where the terms actually come from.
According to Wikipedia, a white elephant is a possession which its owner cannot dispose of and whose cost, particularly that of maintenance, is out of proportion to its usefulness. The term derives from the story that the kings of Siam were accustomed to make a present of one of these animals to courtiers who had rendered themselves obnoxious, in order to ruin the recipient by the cost of its maintenance. In modern usage, it is an object, scheme, business venture, facility, etc., considered without use or value.
My brother and I started using the name White Elephant when we were younger as a production company for our various creative outlets. We had first heard the term White Elephant while attending our church’s annual Christmas bazaar. Since the White Elephant idea often refers to turning trash into treasure, we thought it was a natural fit for our White Elephant Creations blog and store and our tag line “giving outworn objects a second life. So what unique gifts have you received at a White Elephant gift exchange?
