I once gave a box with a can of baked beans, a bottle of beano and a can of air freshener.
the guy that got it was pissed. i thought it was epic because he was a raging hot head anyway.
Some people don't have the background knowledge to understand what a White Elephant gift is all about. My wife and I went to one many years ago with people that thought the intent was to exchange gifts with actual value. Ooh boy, did we get some looks and the recipient was pissed. We found this hideous homemade lamp with plastic figurines and all kinds of weird hokey shit glued onto the base at a flea market. The perfect white elephant gift. As I said, it did not go over well.
Last year for the family Christmas party my wife's family (this is well over 40 people) holds after Christmas I brought a baby alligator head, a pair of handcuffs and an add water 'date' (the kind that expands when wet) boxed together for the white elephant gift exchange. It was a huge hit. My wife's one nephew's new wife got it and she got a huge kick out of it as did the family. Their dog ended up eating the skin off the alligator head when they weren't home. They came home to just a skull. She said there was a really long pause when she called the vet asking them if they should bring the dog in after eating an alligator head. She was really disappointed that she wouldn't be able to re-gift the alligator head this year.