Unfortunately to most Americans the term "white elephant" requires no explanation. Each of us has tucked away in some corner an article he or she would gladly throw away were it not for the feeling of wastefulness involved. In fact, your dolls may also wish to deep clean their own dollhouse or closet to rid these of useless articles like: a left shoe without a matching right, chipped doll pottery, a blanket with holes, or even a toy that some jealous pet has chewed upon. So why not give these unwanted things away in a playful, fun-filled "white elephant" party for your dolls?
Send invitations from one doll to another (preferably one belonging to another child's doll) and suggest a Winter Christmas party among your classmates, neighbors etc... who also have an interest in doll play. The White Elephant Card below has been provided to hand out among your friends.
A Jingle to Print Inside the Invitation:
Twenty white elephants, going for a song;
Have you an elephant? Pass it along.
Wrap it and mark it -- no name, if you please;
You'll get rid of your burden with laughter and ease.
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| Postcard invitation for your doll's "White Elephant" party. |
Refreshment Suggestions: Make elephant shaped sugar cookies iced with white frosting and serve these treats with chocolate milk.
The Primary Game: White Elephant
Request that each doll participant bring a doll's possession, wrapped with Christmas paper and trims, that is no longer wanted. Every guest should be seated after arriving around a table or in a comfortable circle on the floor with pillows. Don't have the passing begin until all guests are on the scene. After which vintage Christmas music is played as a signal to begin for each exchange. The 'gifts' will be passed off to some other party participant who will in turn open the gift and try to pass it off to a third person and so on until it is finally excepted by one person or rejected by all.
Forty-five minutes should be allowed for 25 some odd gifts to be opened and rejected. Until this time has elapsed no white elephant is final property. Whatever 'gift' is in the player's hands when the final Christmas carol plays, she must keep and take at least one from the party with her.
However, if any participant is happy with the white elephant she has opened before the final tune, and she thinks she can find no other that pleases her more, she may withdraw from the game prior to the forty-five minute deadline. This guest may watch the party proceed but cannot change her mind to reenter the game.
Forty-five minutes should be allowed for 25 some odd gifts to be opened and rejected. Until this time has elapsed no white elephant is final property. Whatever 'gift' is in the player's hands when the final Christmas carol plays, she must keep and take at least one from the party with her.
However, if any participant is happy with the white elephant she has opened before the final tune, and she thinks she can find no other that pleases her more, she may withdraw from the game prior to the forty-five minute deadline. This guest may watch the party proceed but cannot change her mind to reenter the game.
Polite ways to handle a young emotional crowd if necessary...
A clever hostess will monitor the game as it progresses and watch for especially 'unwanted' items unwrapped in the crowd. The hostess will trade with whoever (one or more persons) has the misfortune to be left with such a gift. She will politely suggest that she has been looking for this possession for quite sometime to recycle into something else. . .while handing this guest a new gift from her own stash of secret presents that she knows will please any person in attendance. This gift will not be a ''true white elephant'', but a nicely crafted, doll accessory or dollhouse decoration. By these means, no guest leaves the party disappointed because they were 'stolen from' or 'traded with' too often.
The hostess may also extend the timing of the gift exchange by entering secret gifts into the collection under the tree. These should be wrapped in plain brown paper and the gifts should be things that she knows her guests 'actually want.' The secret gifts should be placed beneath the tree after the other white elephants have been exchanged. In this way, the "white elephants" may be taken less serious if the children are not treating the game in a light-hearted fashion. Many first-time players do not totally understand the point of a "white elephant" and this helps to ease tension after the preferable gifts have been stolen too frequently. I have conducted "white elephants" and "ornament exchanges" for many years and find these methods calm frustrated guests successfully.
"One man's trash, is another man's treasure." More suggestions for recycling discarded items...
- Have a garage sale for charity.
- Take things apart to recycle/reuse materials in a whole new way.
- Give unwanted items to charity resale.
- Regift to your dolls, they usually have easy opinions about almost anything!
- Look at old things in a whole new way. Our doll's favorite cups are recycled thimbles, kerchief's that are now tablecloths, juice can lids made into new doll sized platters and plates etc... Use your imagination!
More ways to play White Elephant:
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