Gift Exchange Party – Fun With Many Names

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

The Yankee Swap

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.

Grinch Swap – Nasty Christmas- Chinese Exchange + More

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! We have compiled a listing of several popular names for these parties -  CLICK → Gift exchange names

Secret Santa

The most popular gift giving activity used by groups during the holidays is called Secret Santa. This gift exchange does not require that the group gather in one place to exchange gifts as it is more of a sharing game than a social party activity. This is a very tame event compared to the white elephant gift exchange and its cousins, because there is none of  the “gift-stealing” found in the other party games.

Online gift exchange

The gift exchange party has now found its way onto the internet. Whatever the name, the online party game called AlbinoPhant remains basically the same as traditional swaps. 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. AlbinoPhant is a true online party game where real gifts are delivered to your door. It has been developed and tested by experts in white elephant gift exchange parties. You should give this online version a test drive and see if it isn’t the funnest way yet to share gifts with family and friends.

More ideas for unique gift exchange parties

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