White Elephant vs. Dirty Santa vs. Yankee Swap: what’s the difference?
We at White Elephant Online understand that some of you may show up here and say ‘What the heck - why isn’t this called Yankee Swap Online? Or Dirty Santa Online?’ The good news is that our platform lets you play any variation you want of the gift-swapping game we all love, no matter what you call it. But that doesn’t answer the question: what’s the difference between these games anyway? Are they different? Or are they all names for the same thing?
in today’s post we’ll spend some time on the similarities and differences of these games.
Ultimately the distinction between White Elephant, Dirty Santa and Yankee Swap come down to three factors:
1. Where it’s played (your Region)
2. How it’s played (the Rules)
3. What to bring (the Theme)
Regional Differences
One answer for the question of what’s different about these games is: just the name! Some people use them interchangeably to describe the same game, but the terms vary greatly by region
Check out these charts, generated by analyzing the relative popularity of search terms using Google Trends. While there are even more names for White Elephant (Thieves’ Christmas, Thieving Elves, Cutthroat Christmas and more) we focused on the big 3.
#1 White Elephant
Relative Popularity for search term “White Elephant”
You can see from this chart that, while there are some regional differences in popularity, White Elephant is a pretty common name for this gift-swapping game nationwide.
Compare that to the next two charts.
#2 Dirty Santa
Relative Popularity for search term “Dirty Santa”
#3 Yankee Swap
Relative Popularity for search term “Yankee Swap”
You can clearly see that Yankee Swap and Dirty Santa are heavily region-based. Dirty Santa is a common name for the game in the South, while Yankee Swap is particularly popular in the northeast & New England.
#4 Comparing All Three Names
Relative Popularity for all search terms
This chart comparing all 3 makes the distinction even more apparent. In general, White Elephant is the overwhelmingly most common term for the game (even in states where the other terms were pretty popular, like Maine or Louisiana). Further, there are some states where the alternate names aren’t well-known at all. However there is a deep concentration in the South & in New England of the alternate names.
Conclusion: regardless of the rules or theme, the name for any version of this game is often dependent on where you live.
Rules Variations
What they have in common
There are many variations of how to play the game. Let’s start with what they all have in common:
Everyone playing must bring a wrapped gift, generally under some dollar limit
Everyone draws a number which determines the order of turns
When it’s a person’s turn, they can get a new gift or take one from someone else.
At the end, everyone ends up with a gift!
Where the differences begin
The main difference comes in how ‘taking’ or ‘thieving’ a gift from someone works
White Elephant and Dirty Santa are similar in that the main ‘thieving’ mechanism is stealing. This means that before that person opens a gift from the table, they must choose: either open a new gift, or steal one from someone who already opened one. If they steal, then their turn is done, and it’s now on the person who was just stolen from (who now has no gift) to either open a new gift, or keep the stealing going.
Yankee Swap is a bit unique in that the ‘thieving’ mechanism is swapping. This means that the player gets to open a gift from the table first. Once they see what they get, they can then choose to end their turn (and keep it) or swap with another person’s gift. In this case, both people end up with a gift (though most people play that the swapping can continue until someone decides to keep their gift).
It’s a very similar game, but it definitely changes the mentality. It’s a bit lower risk because you get to open a gift and then make a choice (no fear of leaving something great on the table… literally). However it also changes the game because the person who gets their gift taken, in a swap, actually gets something in return. Sometimes a swap could work out great for both parties! Other times…. not so much.
Theme
Setting a theme for your gift exchange can be a lot of fun. In all variations, it’s common to set a theme. However, only one of the 3 is known for what types of gifts you expect.
In general, White Elephant is known for being a game where the gifts themselves are silly, novelty or generally useless
In White Elephant, it’s more about the novelty of it and getting a laugh than having something very useful and functional. Meanwhile, Dirty Santa and Yankee Swap don’t have that assumption about the ‘Silly’ theme built in. Certainly you could still play with silly gifts, but the connotation isn’t there, and for some people the distinction between the other names & White Elephant is the gift-theme itself.
Conclusions
At the end of the day, there’s no hard and fast rule. Individuals all over can use these names interchangeably. They may call it a White Elephant but set a theme focused on practical gifts. They might call it Yankee Swap but prefer to use steals instead of swaps.
Our perspective: It’s all good! Whatever you want to call it, go for it.
But we hope this guide helped clarify some common distinctions among the 3 popular terms for this great Christmas tradition.
You can feel good knowing that no matter what you call it or how you want to play it, White Elephant Online has you covered. For more fun content check out these articles on our white elephant blog, as well as this guide of ideas for your virtual holiday party. And signup below to check out virtual White Elephant, virtual Dirty Santa and virtual Yankee Swap!