Luxury jewelry store owner brings back ultra-luxe white elephant gift exchange despite last year’s backlash

The owner of a luxury jewelry business brought back her jaw-dropping ‘bougie white elephant’ gift exchange after last year’s event sparked fury over the unequal nature of the swap.

Alexis Russo, the founder and CEO of Local Eclectic, treated her employees to a lavish gift swap for the second year in a row. 

The generous boss, who frequently flaunts her lavish lifestyle online, purchased and wrapped all the presents for the rest of the women to choose from.

This year’s high-end gifts ranged from a Dyson Airwrap to Hermes scarves – one of the priciest items was a 14K gold ring worth $2,200. 

Even though all the products were definitely ‘bougie,’ people who watched the gift exchange on TikTok were flabbergasted by what some of the women walked away with. 

She posted three videos about the long-awaited white elephant, one showing off all the gifts she bought and two of the actual gift giving – and stealing. 

During the energetic exchange, the women excitedly chose a present to unwrap as Russo recorded and giggled in the background. 

The exchange started off strong, with the very first present being the coveted Dyson Airwrap – an item that was snatched several times throughout the swap.

Other gifts included a woven Dragon Diffusion beach bag, a Chanel wallet, a Louis Vuitton pouch and expensive jewelry from Russo’s brand.

When the goods were unveiled, the women cheered and gasped at the costly items. But some clearly evoked more of a thrill than others. 

And while some viewers gushed over Russo’s expensive buys, other were quick to call out the unfavorable gifts that they believed were not useful or simply ugly. 

‘Wait what is that ugly poop shaped ceramic thing. I’d feel ripped off,’ one commenter said, referring to the third gift unwrapped during the festive game. 

In fact, most of the flack Russo was hit with was targeted at this very gift – a $500 Helle Mardahl jar that many deemed odd and hideous.

In the video of Russo going through the gifts, she described the controversial candy jar as ‘one of a kind’ and ‘so beautiful.’ 

‘That brown jar is horrible don’t care how much it’s worth,’ someone wrote.

A commenter agreed: ‘I’d be so bummed to get the brown jar.’

When one of the Local Eclectic employees peeled back the baby blue wrapping paper to reveal the unique jar, the room was filled with far less enthusiasm than it was for the first two gifts.

One TikTok commenter said the jar resembled a ‘ceramic t*t’ and another user asserted that if they received it, that would be their ‘final straw.’ 

Another gift that sparked outrage was a ceramic jar by Laetitia Rouget. The pink and white striped cookie container retails for about $156.

‘You are all great sports because lord help me if I got the jars,’ some asserted. 

‘The stone looking vase and the cookie jar I’d be so upset to get if this was supposed to be bougie,’ another said, echoing the ceramic-hating sentiment.

Without targeting specific unfavorable products, some viewers could not get on board with such an extravagant gifting game. 

‘Expensive gifts make this such high stakes if you end up with something you don’t like,’ one woman wrote.  

Shocked by what she had watched, someone posted: ‘So.. this was insane.’

One person said they have ‘not recovered’ from last year’s white elephant, when some employees received designer bags and others were given skin care. 

In addition to this year’s white elephant, Russo shared that every single one of her employees received an expensive ‘bandana wrapped gift with a few goodies inside.’

Each one of these packages included a Hermes Twilly scarf, a Loewe candle, a Slip sleep mask, a Susanne Kaufmann body oil, Bon Bon sour candies and a Local Eclectic jewelry Advent Calendar filled with 12 designer pieces. 

These bundles were worth about $700 each.