What are the rules of white elephant?
- There are some rules that guide the game: Every player must bring a wrapped gift to contribute to the pool of gifts. To make it more interesting, encourage the participants to bring something of value they already have in their home. This is an item that is no longer in use,but is too valuable to just throw away or donate. If the participant does not have something at home, they can purchase something for $20-$25.
- Each player draws a number to determine what order they will play in from a hat or the organizer can manually arrange the names before the event.
- Players must sit in the order which they will be playing.
- The first to play must choose one gift from the pool in the full view of the other players.
- There are limits to gift swapping: A present can be stolen once per turn. Thus, players must wit to retrieve their gifts. Each players turn automatically comes to an end after three swaps.
- When someone declines to steal a gift, the game is over.