It's especially fun to try to find gifts that are both terrible and awesome, like the box of 1-foot extension cords.
(One the one hand, it's a box of one foot extension cords; on the other, you quickly realize you need one per stupid power brick or unnecessarily weird shaped plug.)
I've done "white elephants" at a former job (though i think they called it a "yankee swap"), and that was so much fun! It literally was the highlight of the office holiday party...not so much for coolness of any of the gifts but the fun of all the good-natured scheming! Fun times!