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White elephant is one of several holiday party games that can be used for gift exchanging parties or variations on secret santa. It is called by other names too such as Christmas Grinch and Yankee Swap. No matter what you call it, it’s great fun for party guests.

• Each participant brings a wrapped gift and stands around the pile of them in a circle.
• Write down numbers on slips of paper, one for each of the gifts. For example, if there are 17 gifts, you will write numbers 1 through 17.
• Each guest chooses a number and holds onto it.
• The person with #1 can pick a present and open it.
• The person with #2 can “steal” the unwrapped gift or choose an unopened gift.
• If #2 steals gift #1, then the person with #1 chooses a new, unwrapped gift.
• On the third turn, the guest with paper slip #3 gets the choice of “stealing” an unopened gift (#1’s or #2’s) or choosing a wrapped one.
• If a gift is “stolen,” the person without a gift can either steal a gift or choose a wrapped one.
• A gift cannot be immediately stolen back from the guest who just stole it.
• The game continues until a wrapped gift is chosen thus the stealing stops.
• The fourth “owner” of a gift gets to keep it.
• The gift is “dead” after it has been stolen three times.
• The gift exchange ends when the last wrapped gift is opened.
• Usually, guests are encouraged to perpetuate the gift stealing as long as there are “live” gifts, but no one is obligated to do this.