Hosting a White Elephant Bingo Party

White Elephant Bingo is a fun, post holiday party to throw. Post may contain affiliate links.

I love annual traditions/events. It’s something to look forward to and something I can add to every year. One of our annual parties we are always excited about is our White Elephant Bingo party. This was our 3rd year throwing it (see our first one here!).

It all started back when we challenged ourselves to throw 9 parties in 9 weeks. We thought it would help spice up the post holiday blues which come in the months of January and February.

And apparently we aren’t the only ones who look forward to it! A few of our friends were asking us back in December when we were going to host our White Elephant Bingo party. Another admitted that she had saved onto items she had purchased for this party a year before!

Guess those are all good signs it’s a fun event for everyone! 🙂

The Decor

Ever since my golden birthday, I have loved adding a touch of gold to parties whenever I can. So along with being elephant themed, I added a bit of gold.

And of course, if you know me, that means getting the guests involved as well. 🙂

So in the invites, guests were asked to wear gold apparel to the party. And if anyone walked in lacking bling, I had an ample supply of gold necklaces to share.

And what would a White Elephant Bingo party be without a white elephant?! Am I right?! 

The Menu

We asked our guests in the invitations to bring a finger food to share. I don’t do this for all the parties I throw because often I want everything to color coordinate. But for this one, I was not as particular about that and was much more interested in the party preparation time it saved me!

But with that being said, I still didn’t want it to look like a potluck. So to help with the aesthetics, I had several versatile white dishes and cake stands on hand. When a guest arrived with their finger food in a bright pink tupperwear or when another handed me a bag of chips, I was able to quickly transport the food into a less distracting item and place it on the table. 

Well…

I did my best, but we just had a lot of food! And everything was delicious!

We served my family’s tasty raspberry punch which is always a favorite. Just ask me if you want the recipe, it is super simple to throw together.

Playing White Elephant Bingo

So you may be wondering what in the world is “White Elephant Bingo”? Well just pretend that Bingo and the White Elephant Exchange had a baby…

No, really, that is the best way to describe it!

Just like in White Elephant, each guest brings a gift and will be most likely leaving with someone else’s. The twist in White Elephant Bingo is that playing Bingo helps determine who gets to pick or steal a present.

After everyone has been able to call out “BINGO!” at least once, we have a final round in which we play black out for one last steal.

In years past, we have just used a bingo calling app to call out the numbers. But this past Christmas, I surprised my husband with a bingo set so now we are pretty official in our Bingo ways. 🙂

But I still prefer my vintage inspired bingo cards that I designed for our 1st White Elephant Bingo Party. And we didn’t dare replace our traditional hershey kisses markers! They are definitely a favorite in more ways than one!

The coveted items of the night were a complete movie package, ‘cold hard cash’ (literally. There was frozen dollars in ice!) and, oddly enough, a disturbing furry cat that dances to music. Who would have thought?!?!?

This party is always a blast! What fun activities do you fill your month of January with? Have you ever thought of throwing a White Elephant Bingo party?

Well…

perhaps you should. 😉