Whoopee cushions and White Elephant parties are back
When we were kids, joke shops selling things like Whoopee cushions and stink bombs were all the go. So much so that schools had to ban the whiffy little sulphur capsules which, once broken, unleashed a powerful pong that could, and often did, empty a classroom. We also got puerile joy from sliding whoopee cushions under aunts at Christmas as they politely prepared to sit down at the lunch table. Incredibly childish, looking back. But hilarious at the time.
Now all that silly stuff is back. In Bookazine yesterday I spotted a corner of old-fashioned jokes and magician tricks, including the dreaded whoopee cushion - HK$40 - and equally silly boxes of joke stuff like fake dog poo and glass eyeballs. It's ironic to think that as toys get more hi-tech and usually involve screens, the old fashioned simple ones still appeal. They are made in China, of course.
White Elephant Parties
When Christmas parties come around, hosts often struggle for an original theme. How many cheesy dress-up fests have you been to when you'd happily settle for a Santa hat and a glass of mulled wine instead?
As with the toys and jokes, it seems people are going retro for party ideas this year. Enter the white elephant party, which I dimly remember my mother talking about. Perhaps the white elephants were more benign back then, because the 2013 version sounds downright mean. When in the past you would bring along something slightly outrageous or decorative, but useless, things have taken a different turn. Now, it was explained to me by someone who had just been to one, the idea is to cause maximum inconvenience with your gift. So, the friend said, you bring something really awful or high maintenance. Like. What? Like a giant ceramic dog when your friend lives in a tiny flat. She will then be forced to find somewhere to put it, or risk offending you. So what did my friend plan on taking to the next white elephant bash? An animal is really good, that's maximum inconvenience. He could tell from my face that I did not approve. "OK then," he said, scaling down, "how about a goldfish, then they have to look after it."
The moral here is don't throw a white elephant party unless you are very dumb indeed.
Be kind to your host
Another, nicer, twist on an old party theme is when everyone brings a gift priced at say $HK150 maximum, and guests are free to swap gifts. That could be fun, but nothing too weird - don't just reach into the junk chest. Or do what another friend did, which is to go to a Secret Santa party, present in hand, having got it for the correct specific person (the idea is to guess who bought you the gift) - only then to tag it "To Brian, from Sally. " That's not really how it's supposed to work.
