The White Elephant Season in Numbers: Our 2021 ‘Tis the Season Gift Exchange Trend Report is here!

In the 2020 Holiday Season, we had an enormous response from families & companies alike excited to continue their White Elephant traditions through the pandemic with our virtual White Elephant platform. Between November 2020 and January 2021, we hosted over 11,000 gift exchanges where over 146,000 gifts were given by over 141,000 friends, family and colleagues.

As a result, we are in the unique position of having something that has not existed before: real data on what White Elephant gift exchanges look like across the nation. What gifts are given? How much do people spend? How many players do people like to play with?

We thought it would be fun and interesting to take all of that data and create a report that sheds light on how people are celebrating the holidays. Introducing: our first annual ‘Tis the Season Gift Exchange Trend Report. Check out our infographic and some additional highlights below!

Note: there is no personal data being shared within this report or to any third parties. All of these stats are anonymized and summarized.

2021 Gift Exchange Trends Report

TOP RETAILERS

It’s no surprise that Amazon is king, having by far the most gifts on our platform of any retailer. But after that, we weren’t sure who would reign supreme. Etsy came in at a strong #2, reflecting their diverse catalog of fun gifts available at a reasonable cost. Uncommon Goods, coming in at #4, is punching well above its weight in the retail space. Perhaps no retailer pairs quite as well as Uncommon Goods with the White Elephant ethos of quirky, inventive and, well, uncommon gifts. Target and Walmart, two other retail behemoths, round out the top 5.

Who else made the top ten retailers?

#6 Bed Bath & Beyond

#7 Yeti

#8 Best Buy

#9 Urban Outfitters

#10 Barnes & Noble

TOP GIFTS

The 3 most popular themes for gifts were Mugs, Smart Speakers and Books. The Yeti Rambler certainly helped skyrocket Mugs into the top category by being the most popular gift given this year. This was also true of #2, the Echo Dot, which while being the most popular speaker was far from the only one. The other top 5 gifts are all perfect representations of a fun and silly White Elephant gift: a Tortilla-style blanket, the one-purpose gadget breakfast sandwich maker, and the fun and irreverent Exploding Kittens game.

Who else made the Top Ten Gifts?

#6 Karaoke Microphone

#7 Wine Opener

#8 Oil Diffuser

#9 Mini Waffle Maker

#10 Squatty Potty

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

  • The longest game played was 2 hours and 22 minutes long!

  • The largest game had 96 players!

  • The State that played the most games was California!

Go here to check out the full report: 2021 ‘Tis the Season Gift Exchange Trend Report

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5 Classic Theme Ideas for your White Elephant Zoom Party