rules for play xmas games

Each person must bring one wrapped present to the Christmas party. Once everyone is assembled, have each person draw a number. The person with number one chooses a present to unwrap. The person with number two has a choice: They may choose a new, wrapped present, or they may take the unwrapped present from the first person. If they take the present from the first person, that person chooses another present to unwrap. The person with the number three may choose any previously unwrapped present or a new, wrapped one. The game continues until all presents have been unwrapped and everyone has a gift.

At least four people should play, but White Elephant works best with a minimum of six people. The more people that play, the longer the game will take so if youre hosting a party of 20 or more people, this game might not be the best to play.

White elephant can go on and on, so its best to institute some sort of limits a present can only be stolen three times, for example, or a person can only have something stolen from them a maximum of three times. You also can limit how many times people can steal from one another during one turn. Some variations also allow the person who drew number one to be the final person to choose a present after everyone else is finished. The rules and limits are up to you and party attendees just make sure to define them all before the game begins.

White elephant is a game where everyone wins because each person ends up with a present and the party itself is a gift of fun.

Put a specific dollar limit on gifts and make it tricky. For example, each guest has to spend $10.51 exactly.
Have each person find something from their house or closet to give no spending any money at all.
Give every party attendee the same off beat place that they need to buy gifts, such as a convenience or thrift store.
Have each person bring a gift card in the same amount but the store can be of their choosing.
Set a theme for gifts, such as a book or beauty product.
Swap gifts without opening them, which eliminates the trading aspect but can cut down on time it takes to complete the game.

There are lots of different approaches to buying a White Elephant Gift. As long as youre following the price suggestion (typically around $20) and any special instructions by the organizer, you cant really go wrong. That said, here are some characteristics to look for when looking for a gift to bring to your White Elephant Gift Exchange party:

In its most basic form, the game is as follows each participant supplies one wrapped gift. The gifts are placed in a central location, and participants determine in what order they will take turns selecting them. The first person opens a wrapped gift and the turn ends. On subsequent turns, each person can open a new present or gets the choice to steal another persons unwrapped gift. When a persons gift is stolen, that person chooses another wrapped gift to open. The game is over when the last person has taken their turn (but see variations below).

Gifts are typically inexpensive, humorous items or used items from home. The term white elephant refers to a gift whose maintenance costs exceed its usefulness. While the first use of this term remains a matter of contention among historians,[6] one theory suggests that Ezra Cornell brought the term into the popular lexicon through his frequent social gatherings as early as.

Every year our group of friends and their children get together for a holiday party. Obviously it would be expensive for everyone to buy everyone else at these parties a present, but there are other options. One would be to do the Secret Santa exchanges where people draw names out of a hat, but what if you draw someones name and have no idea what types of things they like for gifts? Dirty Santa (also known by many other names) has helped us to solve that problem.

We have been playing the Dirty Santa game at our annual Christmas parties for over 5 years. As alcohol is a common favorite at our parties, we restrict the Dirty Santa exchange to adults only and buy individual presents for the kiddies. However, this is easily mitigated so that children and teens can enjoy the festivities of the game by simply asking your guests not to bring alcohol.

Our Dirty Santa Christmas parties are the highlight of our year and I have found more and more people asking to be invited when they hear about how fun they are. We owe most of that to the excitement of the Dirty Santa Gift Exchange.

Feel free to participate individually, as a couple, or as an observer.The game consists of everyone bringing a gift valued between $20 and $25 (or any other value the host sets). At the end of the night, each participant ends up taking a gift home.ift wrapping should be first class as it helps folks decide which gift to select. If it is a gift best for a man or woman it can be labeled as such, but it is not necessary to label the gifts.What kind of gift works well? Something fun, unique, and in good taste. Last year family games were the big hit.As an added bonus, we always do a Surprise Ending Gift. This is to motivate participants to bring well thought out gifts; the person who brings along the gift that gets retired first gets an additional gift valued up to $25, courtesy of the hosts.

Sooner or later someone else takes your mp3 player away from you again. This time you take someone elses gift, a bottle of rare Scotch. Then yet another person takes your bottle of rare Scotch from you and now you can go back and get your Mp3 player again. By this time, since the mp3 player was taken from you last, it might have been owned by several other players and in some cases more than once. Now this is the third time you have owned the mp3 player and this time it is yours to keep. The mp3 player is retired and you are now out of the game. The BIG confusion for some folks seems to be the third time the mp3 player is exchanged that the third owner gets to keep them. Not so. The gift is retired after the third time a single participant gets the same gift back into their possession. Using the 10 player game in this example, each player could take temporary possession of the mp3 player twice for a total of 20 exchanges. However, if you played by the 3rd owner rule you would only have 3 exchanges. The third time same owner rule allows more players to have a chance at the mp3 player. This also has a hidden purpose in forcing everyone to keep track of who has had possession of what gifts and how many times. This makes for more active involvement rather than passive involvement and is one of the keys to the games popularity.