There’s a good chance you’ve heard of a white elephant gift exchange before, even if you have yet to participate or even know where the tradition originated. According to legend, the King of Siam would give a white elephant to courtiers who had upset them rather than having them executed. But this was a far more devious punishment. The recipient had no choice but to accept the opulent gift with gratitude, even though they knew they could not afford the upkeep for such an animal. Inevitably, this would lead them to financial ruin.
This story is almost certainly untrue, but it has led to a modern holiday staple: the white elephant gift exchange. Picking the right white elephant gift means toeing a fine line: the goal isn’t simply to buy something terrible and make someone take it home. Rather, it should be just useful or amusing enough that it won’t immediately get tossed into the trash. So here are a few suggestions that will not only get you a few chuckles, but will also make the recipient feel (slightly) burdened.
The best white elephant gifts are the ones that create a bit of intrigue as soon as they enter the gift pile. And a full-size, 4.3-pound firelog wrapped in holiday paper is impossible not to notice. It will almost certainly dwarf every other gift that’s up for grabs, and will prompt endless questions and speculation about what could be in the weird, surprisingly heavy box.
The fact that the comically-large box holds a KFC fried chicken-scented firelog makes the whole gag even more amusing. I have a gas fireplace at home, so I, sadly, have no idea what the KFC 11 Herbs and Spices firelog actually smells like. Many online reviews claim it smells “exactly” like the inside of a KFC. Whether that’s appealing to you or not probably depends on your affinity for the Colonel. But I cannot think of a more delightful gift to bestow on someone who just really wanted to see what was inside the big, heavy box. — Karissa Bell, Senior Reporter
Engadget
The Banana Phone is exactly what you’d expect it to be — a banana that’s also a phone. It might not have a SIM card or a service plan attached to it, but your giftee can pair it with their smartphone via Bluetooth so they can ditch that tired, $1,000+ handset and start taking calls the right way — with a piece of fruit. In addition to taking and making calls, they can also use the Banana Phone with the Google Assistant and Siri, to ask about the weather or tell it…