We understand that different groups or organizations will want to handle gift distribution differently. In particular, we want to support organizations that are concerned about employee privacy and sharing home addresses.
By setting the appropriate option on your game, you ensure that participants will receive the appropriate messaging and links at the end of the game (both if they login, and in the 'End of Game Email Summary' we send to all participants).
Note that Personal games will only have the ability to chose Option #1 below. If you wish to take advantage of the other gift distribution options, you will need to purchase and setup a Standard game.
You will set the Gift Distribution option in the main Game Settings screen under the Gift Distribution dropdown.
Overview of Options
#1 Players will purchase & ship gift themselves (requires participants to share addresses)
Who this option is good for: groups who are comfortable sharing their address with each other (e.g. friends & family).
If players submit addresses within White Elephant Online, with this option, participants will see:
If players choose not to submit addresses within White Elephant Online, participants will see:
#2 Players will send an e-gift card equal in value to their gift
Who this option is good for: Groups who do not want anyone to share their address
With this option, participants will see:
#3 Participants will ship the gift or send an e-gift card based on the recipient’s preference
Who this option is good for: Groups who want to let participants decide. Maybe your organization is more casual (and many won't mind sharing their address), but you don't want it to be required.
If players submit addresses within White Elephant Online, with this option participants will see:
If players choose not to submit addresses within White Elephant Online, participants will see:
#4 Participants will purchase the gift they won for themselves
Who this option is good for: If you don't want to share addresses, but also don't want to have participants send gift-cards to each other, you can have the participants just spend their money on the gift they won instead.
With this option, participants will see:
#5 Game organizer will handle gift (or gift card) distribution AND cover the cost
Who this option is good for: Groups who have a central admin or HR rep with everyone's address, who can send gifts out - and want to pay for the gifts. Also works for organizations who want to pre-setup the whole event and distribute the gifts themselves afterwards. Admins will have access to a full list of who won which gift, with a link to the gift, so you can easily open/purchase them.
With this option, participants will see:
#6 Game organizer will handle gift (or gift card) distribution, but PLAYERS pay
Who this option is good for: Groups who have a central admin or HR rep with everyone's address, who can send gifts out - but still expect players to cover the cost of gifts. Admins will have access to a full list of who won which gift, with a link to the gift, so you can easily open/purchase them. The Admin will need to collect money from participants outside of our system, e.g. with Venmo or other tools.
With this option, participants will see: