What gift do you take and end up with in a gift exchange?

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It's pretty popular to do a gift exchange at gatherings with your friends. Some call it Secret Santa but I've always called it a White Elephant (I have no clue where that name came from though). At our communitie's ladies group Holiday Party, we do an exchange and it's been quite a bit of fun. Last year was the first year I was at the party and when we had talked about the gifts, people said you can do a "real" gift or a "gag" gift. We set a price of $10. I brought a gift that ended up being a "gag" gift although I didn't intend for it to be. It was a decorative box with compartments - something you could put your make-up or something in. I thought it was kinda cute, but everyone hated it. The girl that opened it was trying so hard to get someone to "steal" it from her! I ended up with a really nice olive oil and seasoning set for dipping bread. This year I was going to make discloths as my gift, but I really didn't have any "pretty" yarn. I actually ended up getting a decent set of coasters from my bank as a thank you gift last week. The coasters are glass and have a slot in the back to put pictures in. They're very pretty and I thought that would make a great gift for the exchange tonight. Well, they went over GREAT! I ended up with a set of candles and a little snowman. I'm actually going to regift it to my friend that LOVES snowmen!!! So, how do you fare at the gift exchanges? Do you bring something really nice or do you go the regift/cheesey gift? Do you end up with the really raunchy gift or the really nice one???