Gift exchange

Printable white elephant game rules

White Elephant, Yankee Swap, Dirty Santa — same family of game. Everyone brings one wrapped gift to an agreed budget, people take turns opening or stealing, and the room gets louder as the better gifts change hands. The arguments start when nobody has written down the house rules. Print a rules page, read it once before the first gift is opened, and most of those arguments never start.

The White Elephant gift exchange printable has a rules page you can read aloud, 30 number cards to draw from a bowl, a tracker for turns and steals, frozen-gift cards, a party sign with lines for the price limit and the date, invitations, and a dice version if you want a shorter game.

The rules, in order

Everyone brings one wrapped gift, no name on it, within the budget, and puts it in a pile. Each person draws a number. Number 1 opens the first gift and holds it up so the room can see it. Every player after that has the same choice: open a new wrapped gift, or steal one that is already open. If your gift is stolen, you go right away — open something new, or steal a different gift. You cannot steal back the gift that was just taken from you.

A gift can be stolen three times. After the third steal it is frozen and stays with the person who has it. The printable includes frozen-gift cards you can drop on those presents so nobody has to remember the count. When the last wrapped gift has been opened, number 1 may take one final swap with any gift that is not frozen. That last swap exists because, without it, player 1 is the only person who never had a choice.

Those three details — no instant steal-backs, a steal limit of three, and the optional final swap — are the ones that cause trouble if you leave them unsaid. Read them out. It takes less than a minute.

How many people, and how long

This works well with about 6 to 20 people. The set has numbers up to 30; if fewer people turn up, leave the high numbers in the box so you do not have a missing number in the middle of the order. A group of eight or ten usually finishes in 20 to 40 minutes, depending on how long people take to decide. For a large office party, freeze gifts after two steals instead of three if you need to keep it moving. The rules page has a place to circle your house variant before you start.

A simpler alternative

If the group is shy about stealing, or you have kids in the mix, a left/right pass-the-gift story is easier. Everyone holds a wrapped gift, someone reads a short story, and the gifts move each time the reader says left or right. When the story ends, you keep what you are holding. The Christmas left/right game has four of those stories, including one written for an office party.

If you would rather keep gifts secret and skip the stealing, use a Secret Santa questionnaire instead. Pick one format and stay with it.

Printing tips

Print the rules page and the tracker on everyday paper. Cardstock makes the number cards and frozen-gift cards easier to draw from a bowl and harder to crumple. Cut the numbers apart, fold them once, and put them in a bowl before people arrive. Print at 100% / “Actual size.” Write the budget on the party sign and put it next to the pile so late arrivals can see it.

More guides

• Secret Santa questionnaire for work
• Christmas party games for adults