What are secret Santa and white elephant gift swaps? Rules, how to partake this holiday
It is officially holiday party season, and folks will be gathering over food, drinks and gifts.
Whether you're hosting or attending, gift exchanges are a great way to give among a group without having to spend money on every single person.
One of the most popular gift exchange methods, white elephant, could be an outlet for regifting, second-hand gifts or small inexpensive gifts, for example. Many consumers are heading into the holiday season with debt leftover from previous years.
In addition to white elephant, contained groups could also do a "secret Santa" gift exchange. Here is what to know about the gifting games and how to get involved:
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What is a 'White Elephant' gift exchange? Is it the same as a 'Yankee swap' or 'dirty Santa'?
The white elephant gift exchange is also known as a "Yankee swap" or "dirty Santa," depending on where the host lives.
In these games, everyone brings a wrapped gift to contribute to a shared pool, and attendees vie to get the best gift. But the game can have a variety of different rules.
The party organizer typically determines what kind of gifts are acceptable and how much they should cost. Once the party is underway, attendees are assigned a number either by drawing from a hat or by the organizer's assignment.
The "No. 1" guest opens a gift in front of the group. Next, it's the "No. 2" guest's turn. They have the choice to either open a new gift or steal the No. 1 player's opened gift and leave that person to open another gift. The guests continue in numerical order, with those at the end of the lineup having more and more options to choose from. Organizers may limit the number of times a gift can be stolen or a particular guest can be stolen from to keep the game moving, according to White Elephant Rules.
Some people play so that player No. 1 gets to pick from everyone's gift at the end. But for some groups, No. 1 is the most unlucky pick, as they're stuck without options to swap from.
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How to do a 'Secret Santa' swap
In Secret Santa gift exchanges, you're buying a gift for one person you know in advance. Each participant anonymously selects another participating person like a coworker or family member to get a gift for.
Gift-givers are supposed to stay anonymous from one another, so people can sneakily draw names from a hat until everyone selects someone. There are also online generators like Elfster, drawnames.com and Secret Santa Hat that will assign people remotely.
Like white elephant, organizers should set gift parameters for types of gifts and price limits.
Kinsey Crowley is a trending news reporter at USA TODAY. Reach her at kcrowley@gannett.com, and follow her on X and TikTok @kinseycrowley.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What is a white elephant gift swap? Secret Santa? Rules, how to play
