Dana Kowalski

About Dana

Dana volunteered for an office party committee in Chicago and never got back off it — enough Decembers in a row to develop opinions about folding tables, name draws and the exact moment a gift exchange stops being fun.

The recurring argument was never about the gifts. It was about the rules: how many steals, whether a frozen gift stays frozen, and what the person who opened first is owed. Dana started writing the answers down, which is roughly how White Elephant Gift Ideas began.

Off-season preoccupations include Secret Santa logistics, the etiquette of the group-chat wish list, and a long-running defense of the gift that is genuinely useful and only slightly ridiculous.

How Dana works

• Rules before gifts

  Half of what goes wrong at an exchange is a rules problem, not a shopping problem. Every guide states the format it assumes before it recommends anything.

• The cap is the brief

  A $20 office cap and a $50 friend-group cap are different assignments. Ideas are sorted by the number on the invitation, not by what looks good in a photo.

• No invented evidence

  No steal counts, no party statistics, no prices or ratings we cannot source. We explain how to choose; Amazon shows you what it costs today.

Articles by Dana

• White Elephant Gifts: Rules, Caps and What Gets Stolen August 19, 2026

Contact

Spotted an error, or have a question or suggestion about a guide? Write to hello@white-elephant-gift-ideas.com or use the contact page.