A white elephant gift exchange is a popular holiday party game found primarily in North America. Generally, white elephant parties need a minimum of six participants. With a larger group, game play may be more protracted. White elephant parties have been known to result in playful rivalries between players trying to get sought after gifts. The goal of a white elephant party is usually to entertain rather than to gain.
While the term "white elephant" originally referred to a less-than-serious gift, its association with this particular game has become synonymous in some circles, such that the game itself is commonly called a White Elephant Gift Exchange. This game has also been called a Gift Swap, Yankee Swap, Black Santa, Chinese Gift Exchange, Dirty Santa, Greedy Punter, Thieves' Christmas, Machiavellian Christmas, or Naughty Santa.
Read more about White Elephant Gift Exchange: Gameplay, Variants
Famous quotes containing the words white, elephant and/or exchange:
“Light is meaningful only in relation to darkness, and truth presupposes error. It is these mingled opposites which people our life, which make it pungent, intoxicating. We only exist in terms of this conflict, in the zone where black and white clash.”
—Louis Aragon (1897–1982)
“Love will draw an elephant through a key-hole.”
—Samuel Richardson (1689–1761)
“Ants are so much like human beings as to be an embarrassment. They farm fungi, raise aphids as livestock, launch armies into war, use chemical sprays to alarm and confuse enemies, capture slaves, engage in child labor, exchange information ceaselessly. They do everything but watch television.”
—Lewis Thomas (b. 1913)