The White Elephant Gift Club

How to play white elephant

Everyone brings one wrapped gift, and anyone can steal.

Our rules tonight: Budget $ Gifts freeze after steals Final swap: yes / no

The rules

  1. Put every wrapped gift in one pile.
  2. Everyone draws a number. That's the order you play in.
  3. Player 1 picks a gift from the pile and opens it where everyone can see.
  4. Every player after that chooses: open a new gift from the pile, or steal a gift someone already opened.
  5. If your gift gets stolen, it's your move right away. Open a new gift or steal a different one.
  6. Keep going until every gift in the pile has been opened.

How it ends

Player 1 opened first without knowing what else was in the pile, so they get one last move: swap with anyone whose gift isn't frozen, or keep what they have. After that, everyone goes home with the gift in their hands.

On your turn

Your number is called
Open a giftTake one from the pile and unwrap it.
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Your turn is over. Next number.
Steal a giftTake any opened gift that isn't frozen.
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The person you stole from goes next, then play moves on once someone opens a gift.

Stealing rules

  • You can't steal back a gift that was just taken from you. Wait for a later turn.
  • A gift freezes after its third steal (or whatever number you wrote above). Whoever holds it then keeps it.
  • Opened gifts stay out where everyone can see them, so nobody hides the good stuff in a bag.