As per true Christmas fashion, the season is full of the idea of gift giving and spreading joy. However, how that joy is spread is a controversial topic. Two of the most popular gift giving traditions, White Elephant and Secret Santa, fight for the tradition that is deemed “better” than the other.
White Elephant is a tradition where people bring items of their own to be traded during the gift swapping process. The rules state that anyone can trade with each other and they have to accept the trade. Michelle Michel, a senior, and supporter of White Elephant explains, “even though I [have] never participated in one, it’s (White Elephant) way better than Secret Santa because by the end of [it] everybody already knows who they got, and obviously who they’re giving to,” which could make the exchange less exciting. Another crucial point many agreed with was the competitive nature of White Elephant made the whole tradition even more enjoyable.
Going with the idea of a trade, oftentimes the trades could be unfair or have ulterior motives. Many people mentioned that they liked to “steal” others’ gifts if they thought it was better than what they had. There would be no opposition to this because the rules state that the trade has to be accepted.
Secret Santa is the other tradition where a group of people will draw a person’s name at random and become their “Secret Santa”. They would be given a list of what to get their person and at the end everyone would do a trade of giving their gifts to each other. Kylie Schaffer, senior, explains, “I like Secret Santa way better because it's more personalized and I get to know the person better through getting them a gift, and gift giving is one of my loves languages.”
The big appeal to Secret Santa is the personalized aspect of each gift. Secret Santa provides its participants with the option of curating the perfect gift for their person. However, the concern with this tradition is the limitation on budget. Some people may get a more expensive gift or be given less things depending on their financial situation.
Though both traditions are popular and widely done all over the nation, each has their own flaws. White Elephant gifts are often ones that aren’t personalized and things that people already have with the premise of the tradition being to give second hand things a new life. Secret Santa gifts, while being more personalized, could foster judgement with the price of gifts or the quantity.
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