White Elephant Game 2008

VamPyroX

VamPyroX

bloody phreak from hell
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Well, I did it again this year!

Every year, my parents host a Christmas party and a bunch of friends from their church come over. Halfway through the party, we play our annual White Elephant Game.

For those of you who are wondering what it is, it's a game where people exchange gifts in two ways... by choice and by stealing. ;)

Here's a quick description of how the game works:

White elephant gift exchange - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

All participants draw a number (from a hat, perhaps) to determine their order.

The participant with #1 unwraps any gift from the pile and then shows it to everyone. Each successive participant, in the order determined from the drawing, can either 1) "steal" an already opened gift (if there's one they really like) or 2) be adventurous and go for a wrapped gift from the pile. If the participant chooses to steal, the person whose gift is stolen now repeats their turn and either 1) steals another person's gift (they cannot immediately steal back the gift that was just stolen from them) or 2) unwraps a new gift.

This cycle of stealing can sometimes continue for a long time, until a new gift is chosen, at which point the turn is passed to the participant with the next number from the drawing. (An alternative to the drawing is to sit in a circle and take turns in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction.)

Since items can be stolen, the item in your possession is not yours until the game is over. However, this is often amended with a rule declaring a gift "dead" or "safe" after it has been stolen a certain number of times (usually two or three). This helps the process go more smoothly (avoiding, for example, the hypothetical scenario of the same gift being stolen by every successive participant) and limits the disadvantage of being among the first to choose gifts. The game is over once all names have been withdrawn from the hat.
Click to expand...

Last night, we had 20 people at the party with 40 gifts in the middle. Last year, we had 30 people at the party with 90 gifts in the middle.

Anyways, the reason I created this thread was for anyone else who also played the game with their friends and/or families. If you did play, what did you get? What happened during the game?
 
Oh, what happened with me?

The first gift I got was... a Barbie doll! *groans* (When I opened the bottom of the wrapping, I saw the pink bottom and recognized it. I thought, "Uh oh... I shouldn't have picked this present!" Luckily, someone stole it from me. Whew!

The second gift was... a DVD called [ame=http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0013XZ788?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER]Veggie Tales: Lessons from the Sock Drawer[/ame]. Someone else stole that from me.

The third gift was... a Mountain Santa and Christmas Tree SALT/PEPPER shakers set. Someone else stole that from me.

The fourth gift was... a USB mini-vacuum. Someone else stole that from me.

The fifth gift was... an E-Z Funnel. No one stole that from me.

The sixth gift was... a Harley Davidson playing cards set. (A collector's tin with 2 decks of high-quality playing cards.) No one stole that. :)
 
I've played that game so many times with my family during Christmas time. It is definitely a fun game. Usually, My father's side of the family would play this game. They call it "Dirty Santa" Game instead of 'White Elephant' Game. All the rules still applies though.

Last year, There was 15 of us playing and there was 35 gifts on the table.

The first gift was a massage handler. I wanted that one so badly but my sister stole that from me. :lol:

The second gift was a backgammon travel pack game. My aunt stole that from me.

The third gift was a scratch off lottery ticket worth $250 and my cousin stole that from me, grr.

The fourth and the last gift was a 26 oz Maple Toddy Candle Jar and I finally got my dibs on that one. I was happy with it. :)

I'm looking forward to play this game again this year with my family and I'm hoping to get better gifts this year!
 
I have played that, but with dice. You get only one chance to shake the dice when it's your turn, then you pass on the dice. If you do happen to get doubles, you get to grab an unopened gift. It goes on for a certain time period, and after the dice-shaking period is over, it starts over again and you get to "exchange" your gift (if you want) if you get doubles. I've gotten some good and some bad gifts out of it all :)
 
Will play that game on Xmas Eve at a Holiday party. :)

It has been a long time since I played that game.
 
I do remembered the game very well. I think it was last year when there was a Baby Shower for my niece and it was my first time playing the game. It is very interesting and there was some gifts that I want to keep but the gifts keep being stolen and end up some good gifts that I really like very much, so it all work out. I have never play this game in all my life until last year. This game might be once in a lifetime for me, even if you members have played many times. lol. :D
 
I don't think I remember playing that game before..but I could have at least once long time ago.
 
That sounds like a fun game. Never play this kind of game before in the family, perhaps someday would try this out.
 
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