White Elephant Exchange… Yankee Swap… Dirty Santa…

Rob Your Neighbor…  Chinese Exchange…

Although the traditional gift exchange game that we all know and love is commonly called a White Elephant Gift Exchange you might actually have played the game without knowing it – because it has a lot of other names, too!

The White Elephant Gift

Perhaps you’re most likely to have heard of Yankee Swap. The origins of this name are less clear than the story behind white elephant giving, but there is a theory that it comes from Civil War days. Back then, the Confederates would often trade or swap some of their prisoners (Yankees!) for Confederate prisoners, which was a useful strategy for them as the war went on and soldiers became increasingly hard to find. However, they weren’t always completely honest about it. They would trade Yankee prisoners who were very sick or even badly wounded, without telling the Northerners that the prisoners were in such a bad way. That meant that they got rid of prisoners who were of no value to them, in exchange for battle-ready soldiers who could help them fight in battles. So you can see the connection… Yankee Swap became the name for a game in which you could swap gifts that you didn’t want or need.

While White Elephant Gift Exchange and Yankee Swap are probably the most common names for this popular and widely-played party game, there are lots of other names as well. There’s Dirty Santa – but don’t worry, the only “dirty” thing about it is that you can steal a gift that someone else has already opened! This hint of underhandedness is also seen in names such as Rob Your Neighbor, Thieving Secret Santa, and Nasty Christmas. Then there are less nasty-sounding names like Gift War and Grinch Exchange. There’s even Chinese Exchange, although why it gets that name, no one knows, as it seems to have no connection whatsoever with Chinese culture or legends!

Whatever the name, the online party game remains basically the same. It takes away the burden of buying lots of gifts, and it lets you have fun and much laughter with friends and family as you open gifts, swap them, steal them and try to make sure that you leave with the best one. It is a true online party game where real gifts are delivered to your door.