Monday, December 12, 2011

White elephant, explain that to a FASD kiddo

On Friday evening, Akila is going to a retrogressive dinner with the church youth group. They are suppose to wear ugly Christmas sweaters and bring a white elephant gift. I didn't realize they were doing the white elephant gift thing until tonight. I might not have signed her up and told her about it if I knew they were doing that.

She will not understand this "game". Especially if she ends up with a gift, and someone "steals" it from her. Hahaha. I am actually laughing hysterically at the thought. The irony of "stealing" a gift from someone else, considering her issues with stealing. People all have different ideas of how to do a white elephant gift thing. Lots of people do it where you find something you already have and wrap it up, the goofier and more humorous, the better. Some people don't get that, and buy nice new things. Value is suppose to be $5 max, but I have seen people give nicer things than that.

Akila will not get that. If she gets stuck with somebodies used coffee mug, or something corny like that, she is going to be mad. And sees another kid get new lip gloss, or some other cute thing. I'm going to send an email to the youth group leader in charge of the event, to just give him a heads up. If you're not familiar with the gift exchange, here is how it usually goes: some kind of order is decided on in who chooses a wrapped gift first. The first person chooses a gift and opens it. The second person can "steal" the gift from the first person, or choose a different gift to open, and it goes like that. The last person to choose, can "steal" any gift they want or take the last wrapped gift.

And if Akila gets a gift that she really likes, and someone steals it, I pity that person. Akila will be mad, she will not hit them or anything- but she will remember it for the rest of her life and will loathe that person. She will put up a stink though, and carry an attitude the rest of the evening. I am quite relieved that I will not be there- if I were there, she would put up more of a fuss if it does not go her way.

Hopefully, I am worrying about nothing.

4 comments:

tracy said...

Uh oh. Keep us posted.

Miz Kizzle said...

An actual white elephant used to be given as a subtle sign of royal disfavor by some kind or other, possibly Thailand.
White elephants were sacred and were never ever to be killed or, once bestowed, passed on to someone else. They required plenty of expensive food and a keeper to ensure they were being given the very best care.
Quite a few people were driven to financial ruin by their white elephants.
Can you get a tempting little gift and offer to trade Akila for her white elephant if she comes home in a snit? You can pretend it's part of the game.

Blessed said...

oh, good idea, Miz Kizzle!

And let's hope no one is driven to ruin by this "white elephant."

Bessy said...

I so didnt even think of the implications of this....hopefully we're still a few years away from any white elephant! That could definitely turn into a catastrophe for us :) Hope it works out well for Akila.