White Elephant Party

Before kids (awwww...those were the carefree days that none of us can hardly remember anymore) we used to host a White Elephant Gift Exchange party for our little group of friends. Then once we had kids it became a year or two off and then doing it again until the next baby was born (trying to host a party with a little one just didn't sound all that fun). This year we finally felt like we could host it again since we didn't really have any tiny babies in our house anymore.

We knew that the kiddos wouldn't want to just watch us play games and open presents, so we tried to find ways to incorporate the kids as much as possible.

We changed up our gift exchange a bit this year, by adding a round of "Minute-to-Win-it" type games to play in order to open a gift. I would say that Cammy and Hailey (who are the oldest of the bunch) were the most interested in playing the games with us, so that was kind of fun. We kept the other two rounds the same with a more traditional White Elephant style of picking a number, opening presents and stealing gifts.

So for anyone who is wondering what our gift exchange looks like here you go:

We bring 3 wrapped gifts... 

(a $25 gift, a $10 gift card and a true "white elephant" gift from your house)

We play 3 different rounds

(the traditional way, traditional with a twist where you pick a gift card and don't unwrap it until everyone picks one and then you can steal, and then we play an elimination round with Minute-to-Win-it games)

Trying to transfer as many M&M's with a straw in one minute

Face off for who wins the round and gets a gift...I won!

Cammy and Hailey trying out the game

Bouncing a ping pong ball into cups for one minute

Picking up mini candy canes using only a large candy cane in your mouth

Hailey and Zach watching us play games

Stacking as many pennies in one minute 

(with the assistance of the kids rocking the table)

Our group is known for announcing pregnancies in the sneakiest way

(this was one of the "home" gifts and don't worry...it isn't us!)

Gotta love when you can break out the ugly sweater!

The festive ones who wore their ugly Christmas sweaters

The top picture is the last time we got together 2 years ago

The bottom picture was from this year

They are in order from oldest to youngest but swapped and missing one kid

Every year we are going to feel challenged as our kids get older and want to be more involved. I guess the planning needs to begin NOW!