White Elephant Gifts

A White Elephant Gift is something that is amusing, impractical, or silly. The goal is to entertain rather than to be genuinely valuable or desired. Regifts or unwanted possessions that the owner wants to get rid of (which aligns with the original meaning of 'white elephant') are fair game, as are new novelty items (think premium fake poop).

The term 'white elephant' comes from a legend about the King of Siam (modern-day Thailand) who would supposedly give rare albino elephants to courtiers he disliked. Since the elephants were considered sacred, they couldn't be used for work, but their upkeep was incredibly expensive, making the 'gift' an extravagant, burdensome curse.

In a White Elephant Gift Exchange (aka Yankee Swap or Dirty Santa):

• Each attendee should bring one wrapped, anonymous gift.
• Draw numbers (or figure out another order: birthday month/day) to determine the order of play.
• The first player selects and opens a gift.
• Subsequent players choose to either open a new wrapped gift or “steal” an already opened gift from a previous player.
• If a player's gift is stolen, they get to choose a new gift or steal from someone else. Generally, stealing is capped at 2–3 steals.

Other options include a 🎅 Secret Santa exchange, where each participant buys a gift for one person and is revealed upon gifting, and a 🎵 Hot Potato exchange, where the gifts are passed around and you keep whichever gift you’re holding when the music stops.