Unlike the traditional and benign Secret Santa concept practiced in groups of friends, at office parties and so forth, White Elephant brings excitement and the spirit of competition to the Christmas experience. It is a fun alternative to Secret Santa or a grab-bag. It’s played as follows:
It begins with each participant bringing a gift wrapped in white paper (preferably disguised in size and weight). There needn’t be any thought to who might receive the gift, it’s general and the stranger the gift, the better the response (typically). The gifts are piled on a table, and numbers are drawn to determine who goes when. Number one goes first, choosing a gift and unwrapping it for all to see. Then number two goes and things start to get interesting.
Number two can steal number one’s gift if they desire it. If this happens, then number one chooses another wrapped gift, and opens it. If number two does not covet number one’s gift, they choose their own gift from the table of presents. This continues with each person having the option of choosing a wrapped gift and opening that, or stealing a previous participant’s gift. If a gift is stolen, the person stolen from chooses a new gift. It continues until each person has received a gift, or until the fighting is too much for everyone, and it’s time to break for cocktails.
The benefits of White Elephant are that you needn’t gear your gift toward any one person. You can even get yourself something you like, in hopes no one else will choose it. You don’t have to worry about ending up stuck buying a gift for someone you don’t know or like. Plus, there is that excitement of the hunt, the strategy and the fight to keep everyone amused at holiday gatherings.