White Elephants: Come & Get 'Em

Teresa (a dear friend who came as sort of a "gift with purchase" when I made friends with her partner Sporks) recently came up with the fabulous idea of having an online White Elephant exchange: post your unwanted holiday gifts, send 'em out to whoever wants them, and make the world a better place. How could I resist?

Here are my first offerings (there may be more -- stay tuned):


Coral Reef Rotating Nightlight
I won this in a game of "Evil Santa" last year. I'd hoped that perhaps the seascape would fill the room, projecting outward on all the walls, but all it does is glow a bit as it spins.


Wacky Wheels Magnets
I actually like these -- they feature art cars from my favorite folklore film, Wild Wheels by Harrod Blank. So why am I giving them away? They weren't actually a gift to me -- I'd stumbled on them at Big Lots years and years ago (so long ago that Big Lots was called Pic N Save) and stocked up. I gave a bunch away, and all these years later, still have four packages in stock. At this point I think I've gifted them to anyone I know who might like the film too, and still have four packages left, so one's been earmarked just for you.

How do you claim these and other fabulous prizes? Teresa explains it better than I could, so I'll just quote her no doubt flawlessly copy-edited prose here:

• To claim it, just be the first to say “I’ll take it!” in comments (and, of course, privately e-mail your address to me [note from treecup: if you don't know my email address, be sure to include your email in the comment form so I can email you -- don't worry, it won't show up in the comment itself] ). I’ll cheerfully send my offering to you, even picking up the shipping cost! All that is requested in return is that you offer a white elephant gift of your own on your blog. (Don’t feel left out if you don’t have a blog—I’d be happy to host your offering.) • To offer an item of your own, just post a pic and description and maybe even a funny story about receiving said item. Don’t limit yourself to this holiday season, either; go crazy and post the weirdest, whitest elephant you’ve ever been gifted in your whole life. Heck, list more than one if you’d like. You’re only limited by the number of “interesting” gifts you’ve received—and whatever you’re willing to pay to ship them out of your life. If you want to post an item before claiming one for yourself, go for it! And feel free to announce your participation in comments here to begin driving shoppers to your site. • Catch all the white elephant sightings! Rumor has it they may be popping up here, here, here, here, here, here, and other fine blog locations to be announced. And, of course, you’ll want to start haunting the site of whichever lucky soul claims my soon to be posted gift—just click the link from their winning comment and follow that blog!

Teresa herself, by the way, though a gift with purchase, is not the sort I'd ever fob off as a white elephant. Indeed, she is the sort of gift with purchase that you might even buy something you didn't want just so you could get (not that I didn't want Sporks -- aieeee, this metaphor is getting way too convoluted).