How to Host A White Elephant Gift Exchange Christmas Party

You can play a white elephant gift exchange game at any party. A Christmas party is a really good occasion to include a white elephant gift exchange, because people love to give gifts at this time of the year. Children and adults will have so much fun playing this game.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A party with a group of family or friends
• A gift from each participant
• Gift monetary limit

1. 
    
   Food and fun.

   Choose a place and time to have your Christmas party. You can reserve a room at a buffet restaurant or plan on having the party in someone's home.

2. 
    
   Great white elephant gifts.

   Send out your invitations either by mail or email. Include the rules for the White Elephant gift game so that everyone will be able to participate in the fun. Each person who desires to participate will bring a wrapped gift with no tags on it. Put a monetary value on the gift, such as a $5 or $10 limit. A fun way to play is to choose a re-gift item from your house that is in excellent condition. This adds to the fun and keeps the expense down.

3. 
    
   Put numbers in a basket.

   Before the party, put numbers on pieces of paper to correspond to the number of possible attendees. Fold and tape the papers closed and put them in a basket.

4. 
    
   Pick a number.

   Everyone sits in a circle and gets to pick a number out of the basket. Then higher the number on your piece of paper, the better chance at getting the best white elephant gift.

5. 
    

   Everyone opens up their paper and looks at their number, hoping they chose a high number. Remember, the higher the number, the better it can be.

6. 
    
   Ah, a pot holder-towel set.

   The person with the lowest number goes first. They get to pick the gift of their choosing on the white elephant gift table, take it back to their chair and open it. If it happens to be a popular item, don't get too attached to it!

7. 
    
   Shake it up a little.

   The person with the next ascending number has a choice. They can take the first person's gift away from them or choose another gift to open.

8. 
    
   Open it!

   Open the white elephant gift and see what you chose. Lot's of surprises happen. Lots of fun and anticipation.

9. 
    
   What did I get?

   It is fun to see what everyone chooses. Sometimes the white elephant gifts can be gag gifts. That also adds to the fun.

10. 
     
    Hmm...which one?

    The fun continues as the next person gets to take someone else's opened gift or chooses from the white elephant gift table.

11. 
     
    Getting near the end.

    As the white elephant gift table gets bare, you will have to make a decision on what to do. Should you take a chance or take someone else's gift?

12. 
     
    So funny!

    This fun process continues until the last person holding the highest number gets to either choose the last white elephant gift on the table and take a chance, or take one of the other person's gifts. At this particular Christmas party, the last person with the highest number took this guys gift and he opened up the last gift and ended up with Mary Kay products. That makes this party fun for everyone, because you never know what you will get.

[MargaritaBobita]

on 11/19/2009 Great fun idea. And just in time for the holidays! I love white elephant parties - sometimes you get better gifts than new stuff!

[femwriter]

on 10/31/2009 What a helpful and unique article on how to Host A White Elephant Gift Exchange Christmas Party, thanks for sharing. It truly deserves a 5* rating and recommendation!

[static404]

on 10/29/2009 The White Elephant gift exchange is so much fun.

[txwahm]

on 2/28/2009 This is a wonderful idea! Really helps when you have a tight budget. We tried this last year, wasn't quite this organized LOL Thanks for the tips! 5*

[AllFYB]

on 1/27/2009 I think I played this at the inlaws this year but they called it dirty santa and I could never understand the name... Thanks for the proper way to play