"The Great White Elephant Gift Exchange" author shares his year-long gifting experience

A Park Ridge man took a white elephant gift exchange to the next level, and it lasted a year.  

Typically, a white elephant gift exchange is an odd gift-swap during the holiday season. Dan Dean swapped gifts with a different person every day for a year. 

He's sharing his interactions in his new book, "The Great White Elephant Gift Exchange: One Guy, One Year, and 366 Random Gifts."

He said his idea for this gift exchange stemmed from "seeking connection." 

During different life stages, including a stage four lymphoma diagnosis at 23 and then a job search 10 years later, he was looking to meet new people. 

He was inspired by a white elephant exchange and decided to continue with the "spontaneity and the randomness" to find new connections, with a specific focus on in-person interactions. 

His ongoing gift swap became a success. 

"Everyone is really open and receptive to just coming and having a little bit of fun and connecting with the stranger," he said. "So it was super fun to have that moment to see what they brought, to see what they would be getting from the person I met with the prior day."

He wrote the book to remind readers to get off screens and back to in-person interactions.