With Christmas right around the corner, people are wondering what kind of gifts to get their friends as the season for white elephant and Secret Santa is coming around. This time of year is great for friends and organizations because it is an easy way to show your appreciation for one another this holiday season while also staying within a budget. Many of these Christmas parties have a cap on how much you can spend and/or what you can buy. For example, the Psychology club is doing an ornament exchange.

Secret Santa is when you and your friends or organizations fill out a form of things you like, then you fold those papers up and put them in a bucket. Take turns taking papers from the bucket until all papers are gone, then open the papers and make sure you do not have yourself before leaving (that is important).Then, you go out and buy a gift or gifts (depending on the money cap set by your group), and everyone puts the gifts on a table with the names of who it is too, but not who it is from, you then open your gift and try to figure out who was your own “Santa.”

 White Elephant is a completely different concept. It is where everyone brings a gift from within the set money cap that is wrapped, they are all set in the middle of the room. Everyone then sits around the gifts and they each pull a number out of the total number of people attending, next they start in the order from one onward, and when someone opens a gift that gift is now available to be stolen up to two times before its “dead.” It cannot leave the final owners’ hands. This continues the game where each player can either grab a new gift and open it or steal from another player, this goes on until all the gifts are either dead or opened. At the end, player one gets a chance to steal if they like and that ends the game.

Some people love playing this game and are great at picking out gifts, but others have no idea where to start. A good start could be Amazon or Costco. At these places, you can buy in bulk and when you have multiple friends, professors, or organizations you would like to give a gift for, this is one of the cheapest options. Some specific gift ideas include: fluffy socks for those who hate having cold feet or get cold easily. Candles, perfume, and bath sets from Bath and Body Works for someone who loves scents and self-care in the form of baths. Coffee or tea mug sets that you can get at Target or Walmart because who does not like another mug to use for their morning cup of joe, and last but not least, blankets. Nearly everyone loves blankets and you can get them anywhere for pretty cheap.  

Additional gift ideas include: movies, for those who enjoy a good movie night. If you want to make it a consistent hobby throughout the year go for CDs and a CD player, that way the opportunity to get more movies can continue for years to come. For those caffeine extremist or anti-coffee drinkers, energy drinks like Red Bull, Monster, and Bolt24 may be a nice alternative. Last but not least, something for the gamers, gift cards for a video game site as many people enjoy playing games in their free time.

All of these are great ideas of some gift options for those of you who are stuck this holiday season as well as some idea as to what your organization might be doing in terms of a Christmas party, whether it be Secret Santa or White Elephant, you are now prepped.