White Elephant Online offers two ways to handle gift selection and delivery: WEO Gifting, our recommended integrated gifting experience, or submitting gifts from outside retailers.
With either option, gifts are virtually wrapped and exchanged during your White Elephant game. After the game, the gifts are purchased and sent to their winners. The difference is how purchasing, shipping, and address information are handled.
Option 1: WEO Gifting (Recommended)
WEO Gifting makes gift exchanges easier by bringing gift selection, purchasing, and shipping directly into White Elephant Online.
Rather than coordinating purchases and deliveries separately, everything is managed through the platform.
How It Works
- Choose a gift budget. When setting up your game, the organizer selects a per-gift budget. This amount covers the cost of the gift, including shipping, tax and fees.
- Select gifts. Participants choose gifts from the WEO Gift Catalog, or the organizer can select gifts on everyone's behalf.
- Play your game. Everyone unwraps, steals, and competes for gifts just as they would in a traditional White Elephant exchange.
- Purchase gifts after the game. Once the game ends, gifts are purchased by the organizer or individual participants.
- We ship directly to winners. Gifts are sent to the people who won them, using the shipping addresses collected through the platform.
Gifts do not need to be purchased before the game.
Who Pays for the Gifts?
WEO Gifting offers two payment options:
- Organizer pays: The game organizer purchases all the gifts together after the exchange.
- Participants pay: Each participant pays for the gift they submitted. Once payment is complete, the gift is automatically submitted for fulfillment and shipped directly to its winner.
The gift budget includes shipping, taxes, and applicable fees. The cost of gifts is separate from the cost of purchasing your White Elephant Online game.
Are Shipping Addresses Private with WEO Gifting?
Yes! With WEO Gifting, shipping addresses are never shared with other players and game admins would only be able to see the addresses if they’re responsible for purchase at the end.
When participants select their own gifts, they enter their shipping addresses directly through White Elephant Online, so organizers don't need to collect or distribute that information.
When an organizer selects gifts on behalf of participants, the organizer enters and manages their shipping addresses.
This makes WEO Gifting particularly helpful for workplace exchanges and remote teams where address privacy is important.
WEO Gifting is powered by Snappy, an established corporate gifting platform trusted by over half of the Fortune 100.
Option 2: Submit Gifts from Outside Retailers
If your group prefers to select gifts from outside the WEO Gift Catalog, you can submit a gift from an online retailer or upload an image of a gift you already own.
With this option, White Elephant Online manages the virtual exchange, while your group handles purchasing and delivery separately.
How It Works
- Participants submit a gift using a product link or uploaded image.
- Gifts are virtually wrapped and added to the exchange.
- Everyone gathers virtually to play the White Elephant game.
- After the game, participants find out which gifts they won.
- The group coordinates purchasing and shipping outside White Elephant Online.
Gifts do not need to be purchased before the game.
Who Purchases and Ships the Gifts?
Your group can decide how to handle gift fulfillment.
- Participants purchase and ship gifts: Each participant purchases the gift they submitted and sends it to the winner.
- The organizer handles fulfillment: A central organizer purchases and distributes gifts on behalf of the group. Game admins will be able to download an excel report of all the gifts and who won them.
Because purchases and shipping take place outside White Elephant Online, your group is responsible for coordinating payments, delivery, and any necessary address sharing.
What About Shipping Address Privacy?
If addresses are collected in a game with WEO Gifting off, then those addresses will be shared directly with the player whose gift they won, so the gift can be purchased & shipped.
For organizations that need to keep employee home addresses private, we recommend using WEO Gifting instead.
Which Option Should I Choose?
Choose WEO Gifting if:
- You want an easier way to manage gift selection, purchasing, and delivery.
- You want to keep shipping addresses private.
- You want to minimize the coordination required after the game.
- You want to keep costs predictable (every WEO Gifting item includes shipping, taxes and applicable fees).
Choose outside retailer gifts if:
- Your group wants to select gifts from specific retailers or use gifts you already own.
- You're comfortable coordinating purchasing and shipping separately.
- Your group doesn't need to keep shipping addresses private.
For most workplace and remote team exchanges, we recommend WEO Gifting for its convenience and integrated fulfillment.