Holiday Yankee Swap How-To
This Holiday party goes by many names. Some include, Christmas Grinch, Yankee Swap, White Elephant and Dirty Santa. No matter what name you use, there’s no denying that this is the most popular of Christmas party games because it’s fun and great for secret santa gift swapping, so long as all of the gifts are appropriate for any recipient. Here are some game rules for playing this game since much discrepancy exists for the rules as does for the name.
- Everyone playing the game brings a gift that is already wrapped and included no indication of what’s inside. Put all the gifts together, under the tree or on a table.
- The host writes numbers on pieces of paper. There should be one number for every gift and the host places them in a basket, hat or bowl.
- Each person picks a number.
- The person who chooses #1 picks a gift to open from the pile.
- The person who chooses #2 can choose to open another gift from the bunch or steal the gift #1.
- If a gift is stolen, the person who originally had it can steal from someone else or pick a new gift to open.
- The game continues until everyone takes a turn opening or stealing a gift.
- The last person to go can steal from anyone in the game or open the remaining gift.
- Once a gift is stolen three times, it is retired from the game and cannot be stolen again.
