what are the rules for white elephant gift game?

Question

Some people want to open the gift as the games proceeds and then can see if want to steal another gift and others say wait until end of selections to open?

Answer 1

Everyone who brings a gift pulls a number out of a hat or something. You can put the numbers 1 through 50 depending on how many participants you're expecting. Whatever numbers are left in the hat at the start of the game, just skip when you're calling out numbers.

Whoever has #1 goes first, picks a random present, unwraps it and shows it off to the rest of the group.

Whoever has #2 can either "steal" the gift from #1 or pick a new gift, unwrap it and show it off.

Whoever has #3 can either "steal" the gift from #1 or #2, or pick a new gift. And so on. Whoever has #25 can steal from the 24 before him or pick a new gift.

The big rule is that a gift can only be stolen 3 times. I use this rule for a small group of 15 or less. You can change it to only allowing 2 steals for larger groups. As people start to drink more the game can get slightly confusing, and so I would make the rules very clear in the beginning so that the drunks don't get mad. Have Fun!

Answer 2

White Elephant Game Rules

Answer 3

White Elephant Rules

Answer 4

We played this last weekend..

You give everyone participating a number...and go in order, 1-whatever.
Number 1 opens a gift, number 2 opens a gift, or can take what number 1 has.

Number 3 opens a gift, can take either thing from number one or 2, so on and so forth.

This can result in a lot of back and forth among people, it's great fun!

Ours was called a 'Dirty Santa White Elephant' party. We brought things from home and wrapped them up instead of purchasing gifts.

I think that waiting until the end wouldn't work the same way, nor would it be quite as fun.

Answer 5

We play by opening as soon as you pick a gift.

Our rules aren't very involved. First we make the stipulation that it must be a usable gift (not necessarily to you but to someone). Until we did that some people were wrapping old used oil filters or blown out bike tires! We also suggest that the gift not exceed $10-$12 although you can give what you want. There is a lot of "re-gifting" (things sitting in closets serving no useful purpose).

Then play proceeds as follows: Draw numbers for picking order - pick a present, open and place it in front of you, the next person has the option of opening a new present or taking an open one from another person.

If someone takes your present, you may open a new one or take someone else's open present (you may not , however, take back the present someone has just taken from you - you must wait until someone takes a present from you again).

If in the process of opening and taking presents from one another you can get the same present 3 times, then you may take that present out of play and keep it if you wish (you and the present are no longer in the game).

Part of the fun is in seeing what alliances form amongst the players who are trying to get and keep certain presents (especially among married couples).

The game goes by many names but the most common seems to be White Elephant Christmas and Chinese Christmas.

Have fun and if you wind up with something you don't like then just keep it until next Christmas and make it your "white elephant" gift next year !!!

Answer 6

White elephant gift exchange, or Yankee Swap, is a popular party game played during the Christmas season in the United States. The objective of the game is for guests of a party to each contribute one gift to the game, and ultimately each guest walks away with one gift from the game. Along the way is a random drawing to determine the order in which players get to unwrap gifts or "steal" previously opened gifts.

Contents [hide]
1 Rules
2 How to Play: Dirty Santa
3 How to Play: Yankee Swap
4 Origin
5 Trivia
6 References



[edit] Rules
All gifts should be valued between a set amount. This can vary based on the crowd, but should be standard for all attendees. Use your imagination to make it fun.
Participants bring their gifts wrapped or sealed in a gift bag, and often take care to hide the contents of the gift and the identity of the giver.
Gifts are placed in a designated area.
Participants draw numbers to see who goes first, second, etc.

[edit] How to Play: Dirty Santa
1. The guest who has drawn #1 goes first. He/she chooses a gift from the gift pile, opens the gift for all to see, and keeps it for the time being.
2. The guest who has drawn #2 goes next. He/she can either choose to take an unopened gift from the gift pile or to "steal" a gift from any previous gift-opener.
3. Allow each subsequent person to either unwrap a new gift, or steal any of the gifts previously opened. If someone's gift is stolen, that person can immediately unwrap a new one or steal another gift. No one can steal the gift that was just stolen from them.
4. Continue until someone unwraps a new gift, then proceed onto the next number. The third "owner" of a gift gets to keep it. The gift is "dead" after it has been stolen twice. Owners of "live" gifts must keep them visible and hold them up when requested.
5. After all turns have been taken, the person who has drawn #1 has the option of taking one more turn (stealing any gift) since they had the disadvantage of not knowing what any of the now-opened presents were in the beginning.


[edit] How to Play: Yankee Swap
The guest who has drawn #1 goes first. He/she chooses a gift from the gift pile, opens the gift for all to see, and keeps it for the time being.
The guest who has drawn #2 goes next. He/she chooses a gift from the gift pile, opens the gift for all to see, and can choose to keep the gift or swap it with any previous gift-opener. If guest #2 chooses to swap, he takes the chosen gift from the previous owner, and gives the gift which he/she just opened and gives it to them.
Allow each subsequent person to unwrap a new gift and then keep it or swap it with the previously opened gifts.
After all turns have been taken, the person who has drawn #1 has the option of taking one more turn (swapping any gift) since they had the disadvantage of not knowing what any of the now-opened presents were in the beginning.

[edit] Origin
The name "White Elephant" originates from an old Burmese cultural reference to the value of an albino elephant, which is considered sacred and must be well taken care of, despite the financial burden that it may bring to its owner.


[edit] Trivia
This game was featured in the Season 2 episode of The Office titled Christmas Party. It was referred to as "Yankee Swap." Character Dwight Schrute revealingly described the game as "Machiavelli meets Christmas."


[edit] References
Official Yankee Swap rules website: "Yankee-Swap.net"
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_elephant_gift_exchange"
Category: Party games