Does anyone know the rules to having a white elephant.?

Question

I want to hold a white elephant gift exchange, but I don't know how it works. At my job we used to pick names and they would pick a present. I think you could also exchange twice? Anyone know how to do this let me know?

Answer 1

[edit] Gameplay
The white elephant gift exchange (also called Yankee Swap, Scottish Gift Exchange, Thieving Secret Santa, Dirty Santa, Nasty Christmas[1], Chinese Gift Exchange, or Thieving Elves) is a popular party game usually played during the Christmas season in the United States and Canada. The premise of the game is that each guest contributes one gift to the game, and ultimately each guest walks away with one different gift from the game. The type of gift is sometimes decided ahead of time (e.g., "something less than $10," "a used item from home," "a gag gift," etc.).

All participants bring their gift to “the pile.” Gifts are wrapped, but are not labeled to reflect a sender or recipient. Everyone then draws a number that determines the order of gift choosing. The person with the highest number picks last. The person who drew #1 unwraps a gift from the pile and then shows it to everyone. It is now person #2’s turn, and so on. Each successive person can either steal a previously unwrapped gift or open a new gift from the pile. If a person's gift is stolen, that person can immediately unwrap a new gift or steal another person's gift. After a gift has been stolen three times it is "dead". It cannot be stolen again. This is an optional rule.


[edit] Variants
In a variant based in parts of central New Jersey, the gift is wrapped inside-out, so that the printed part of the wrapping paper is not visible to the recipient. The back of the wrapping paper is typically white, and while this could be considered the etymology of the term "white elephant" it is more likely that the name is an acknowledgment that many of these gifts, once unwrapped, are unappealing to the recipient and as such considered white elephants since the gift's cost (the recipient will have contributed a gift themselves) exceeds its utility.

In another variant, called a Yankee Swap, the person who picked first also has the option of picking last or keeping the gift already in hand.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_elephant_gift_exchange

Answer 2

I've have Bad Santa. Everyone brings a gift in a brown bag. You start with the oldest and go down the age line. The oldest picks out a bag open it so everyone can see. Here comes the bad Santa the next person in line to pick a bag can take the person gift before them. Then that person has to pick another bag. At our Christmas Bad Santa at the end we always let our daddy take anyone bag and give them his. After all he's in his 90's.

Answer 3

White elephants are sometimes odd, unusual or useless objects.