White Elephant

Set up

In the invitation, tell everyone to bring one wrapped gift, give a spending limit, and say what kind of gift you are after: joke gifts, useful gifts, or one of each. On the day, pile the gifts where everyone can see them. Write numbers from one to the number of players on slips, fold them into a bowl, and have each player draw one.

How to play

1. The player with number one picks a gift from the pile and opens it for everyone to see.
2. The player with number two chooses: open a new gift from the pile, or steal the gift already opened.
3. Anyone whose gift is stolen takes their turn again at once: they open a new gift or steal a different one. They may not steal back the gift just taken from them.
4. A turn ends when someone opens a new gift from the pile.
5. Carry on in number order. Each player can choose from the pile or from every gift opened so far.
6. A gift that has reached its third owner is frozen and cannot be stolen again.
7. After the last gift is opened, player one may swap with any unfrozen gift. The game is over.

Rules to settle before you start

Three things cause every White Elephant argument. Decide them aloud first:

• The steal limit. Frozen after the third owner is the usual rule.
• Steal-backs. No taking back the gift that was just stolen from you in the same turn.
• The final swap. Whether player one gets one at the end.

Keep opened gifts visible on laps or on the table. Hiding a good gift under a chair is against the spirit of the game.

Ways to change it

• Themed gifts: everything must be handmade, edible, from a secondhand store, or something from your own house.
• Left-right story: no stealing. The host reads a story full of the words left and right, and gifts are passed that way each time one is said.
• Dice version: roll a die on your turn. Different numbers mean open, steal, swap with the person on your left, or everybody passes one to the right.

Who it suits, and who it doesn’t

White Elephant suits office parties and adult gatherings where a full gift exchange would be too much. It needs at least six players and gets long past twenty. It is not ideal for young children, who take a stolen gift to heart, or for groups with very different budgets unless the limit is clear and low.