Office White Elephant - something other than booze?

[welly01]

My department is having our Christmas lunch on Friday and we're doing white elephant gifts.  Everyone is joking about how everyone is just going to buy alcohol.  I'm not a big drinker at home and I find it so lame that we're all just going to be exchanging bottles of liquor.  I've purchased something non-alcoholic but now I'm wondering if I should just bow to social convention and buy a bottle of alcohol.

Is this typical in most offices to just buy alcohol for office gifts?  Am I lame if I bring something non-alcoholic?

[phdmomma]

welly01 , What did you buy? I typically buy a nice box of candy (within whatever the price limit is). I figure that people will either eat it or regift it. People can't really argue with something that they can consume or put out for a party.

I would say that alcohol is not the norm at my office, but I work at a university so we do all sorts of things that aren't the norm.

[twinmomma]

Ours was about 60/40 with alcohol last year when I participated for the first time. I wasn't sure what to expect or if alcohol was ok, so I put in a fluffy blanket and good chocolates and that was just as much of a hit as some of the alcohol gifts.

This year I've got some stemless Christmas wine glasses and cute appetizer plates. May or may not add a bottle of wine. Haven't decided.

[welly01]

Dec 14, 2017 10:56:31 GMT -5 phdmomma said:

welly01 , What did you buy? I typically buy a nice box of candy (within whatever the price limit is). I figure that people will either eat it or regift it. People can't really argue with something that they can consume or put out for a party.

I would say that alcohol is not the norm at my office, but I work at a university so we do all sorts of things that aren't the norm.

I got a mug that says "I survived another meeting that could have been an email" and an electric mug warmer for your desk. Our dollar limit was $15 which I thought was kind of low. I'm pretty sure everyone in our group drinks coffee, so I thought it would be a cute idea.

[erinshelley21]

The Christmas party I go to for an agency I work with does a white elephant with a $10 limit and I've never seen booze exchanged. I've gifted scratch off tickets and gift cards. I've seen everything but booze down there though. My favorite so far is someone got a set of picture frame ornaments one year and the next year he put his picture in the 3 ornaments and gifted it. There was a Christmas themed selfie stick that had props. Last year I forgot my gift at home (thanks pregnancy brain) so I ran into CVS really quick and in their holiday section there were glasses that had a chalkboard label on them. I don't know what I'm doing this year.

[k3am]

This sounds lame. If I'm going to spend $XX on a bottle of wine or alcohol and trade it for a bottle of wine or alcohol, I'd much rather just... go to the store, pick out my own bottle at my own price point, and stay home and enjoy it.

I've mentioned it 289374289 times, but I'm a fan of gifts that are consumable in some shape or fashion. So while wine/alcohol fits the bill a lot of the time, I don't think I love it for this type of occasion.

[welly01]

Dec 14, 2017 11:31:58 GMT -5 k3am said:

This sounds lame. If I'm going to spend $XX on a bottle of wine or alcohol and trade it for a bottle of wine or alcohol, I'd much rather just... go to the store, pick out my own bottle at my own price point, and stay home and enjoy it.

I've mentioned it 289374289 times, but I'm a fan of gifts that are consumable in some shape or fashion. So while wine/alcohol fits the bill a lot of the time, I don't think I love it for this type of occasion.

This is exactly how I feel about it also.  Plus, it's really no fun because everything is basically the same thing.

[phdmomma]

welly01, I think that what you got sounds good. Particularly because that is a mug that I would like for work. With a $15 limit, I don't feel like this will be particularly good booze.

[sudokufan]

I'd be pretty happy to get that mug and warmer, sounds cool!
Although, I carry this one around currently so maybe biased towards funny mugs:

[justcheckingin73]

I would love the mug you got. I do drink but would not expect everything to be booze. I think you’re good with what you got. 

[186momx]

I love your gift. Booze isn't my thing. Plus white elephant parties are supposed to be wacky and funny not just a booze exchange.

[mae0111]

I love your gift too. I've seen scratch tickets, gift cards for local lunch places, coffee, Amazon, iTunes, even for the local Dry Bar once. I got a nice wine opener one year (booze related). Candy, small food baskets, ornaments from Crate and Barrel or Pier 1. Different things like that.

My two favorite gifts were a pair of orthopedic shoes (with scratch tickets inside) and a Heineken mini-keg. That same mini-keg made an Yankee Swap appearance for 5 years straight. Like, the very same one would sit in an office for a year and get wrapped up again.

[welly01]

I'm glad y'all think my gift was a good idea. Hopefully I'm not the ONLY one that brings non-alcohol.

[k3am]

sudokufan, I was gifted that mug. Sadly, it remains unused because I don't drink anything hot.

[sudokufan]

k3am, nothing hot? Does not compute...

But I have been known to drink milkshakes in mine...why limit yourself? The mug doesn't care what you put in it ;-)

[k3am]

sudokufan, I drink.. water, soda (that needs to be from a can) and wine. I am apparently not very fun.

[sandandsea]

Board games were the most stolen item at ours. Both ticket to ride and murdering kittens and Sherpa throws.

[erinshelley21]

Ice cream fits nicely in a coffee cup. Along with cereal. Or dirt pudding. Mugs are just bowls with handles.

[erinshelley21]

sandandsea, a board game or game of some kind will be what I'm getting for mine then! Thanks for the idea!

[sandandsea]

Exploding kittens might have been the name. Murdering sounds too harsh.

[HeartofCheese]

Wut. Booze is all there is. If you don't give booze, you will not get invited back.

Just kidding. How about a virtual reality head set? Most random gift I ever got, but they're pretty cool and not terribly expensive.

[welly01]

Dec 20, 2017 9:25:01 GMT -5 HeartofCheese said:

Wut. Booze is all there is. If you don't give booze, you will not get invited back.

Just kidding. How about a virtual reality head set? Most random gift I ever got, but they're pretty cool and not terribly expensive.

Thank you for this suggestion! I didn't even know this was a thing.  Our limit for this game was $15 but I was able to find one for $25 that I'm going to take to another white elephant game. I think it will be a big hit with that group!