The typical person is likely to have heard of Christmas. Families and friends get together, exchange gifts, share a big Christmas dinner, and generally have a great time as the year comes to a close. For both youngsters and adults, the exchange of gifts during the holiday season embodies the spirit of festivity. Most social circles strive to exchange gifts that are meaningful, stress-free, and, most importantly, inclusive of everyone. Most social circles utilize two of the most commonly used methods of exchange, Secret Santa and White Elephant. Both methods have their advantages, but which one embodies the whole spirit of Christmas the best? 

To begin, one of the most popular methods of gift exchange is Secret Santa. According to Sam Watanuki from The Elfster, “The Secret Santa is given a Wishlist of gift ideas to choose from to give to their chosen giftee. After opening their present, the giftee has to guess which member of the group was their Secret Santa.” This perfectly embodies the three principles established previously. Since a wishlist is provided, participants will not have to worry about the gift being meaningless, which also directly lowers the stress on participants, as they have a list to follow. Inclusion is also well supported, as participants will be required to buy only one gift, allowing friends of all price ranges to participate. However, there are drawbacks to this method. According to Sophia Ludwig, Staff Writer of the Knighterrant, “Having a large group of people with many different styles can create challenges, and making sure to buy the right gift for someone you don’t know very well can be difficult.” Secret Santa requires plenty of communication and organization to plan, and any mishap, such as the secrecy of who’s buying whose gift being exposed, could ruin the holiday atmosphere that the season of giving aims to create.

White Elephant is another method to exchange gifts. According to Haadiza Ogwude, writer for The Enquirer, “White Elephant is a holiday party game in which players bring wrapped gifts at a set price, such as $20. From there, they draw numbers and pick gifts one by one from the pile. Players also have the option to steal.” This method embodies most of the established principles. Inclusivity is guaranteed, as everyone will be able to participate. However, the stress towards finding a meaningful gift for the event fails to meet the stress-free principle, and without a list of what others want, meaningfulness can fall off as well. However, compared to Secret Santa, White Elephant requires significantly less planning. No worrying about organizing Santas or name exchange, just bring one gift to the location and start giving! 

In the end, the “best” method depends on what the group values. Secret Santa is better at creating a more personalized experience, at the cost of high-demand planning, whereas White Elephant is much more simplistic, but as a consequence, it sacrifices the sentimental value of the gift-giving experience. In either case, both methods are great ways to remind participants that the true purpose of these get-togethers is to give thanks to those who stuck with you through another long year.