White Elephant vs. Secret Santa: Which is the Premier 2024 Holiday Gift Swap Game?
With the holidays less than 2 months away it’s time to revisit the age old question: which gift-exchange will you be keeping, and which will you be swapping?
It’s the battle of the gift-swaps. Both Secret Santa and White Elephant (also known as Yankee Swap or Dirty Santa) are played by millions of people across the USA and the globe each holiday season. Whether a friendly gathering, a family tradition, or a great team bonding experience at work, these games provide a ton of fun for everyone involved. But what’s the difference between the two games? And which, if it’s possible to decide, is the better gift-swap game to play? We’re here to answer all of your questions.
White Elephant vs. Secret Santa: What’s the difference?
First, let’s talk about the difference between these two games. If you’re not familiar with them, you may think they’re the same, especially when people start using terms like “Thieving Santa” or “Dirty Santa” to describe White Elephant. In fact, they are quite different games.
The Similarities between White Elephant & Secret Santa
Both are what are called “gift swapping” games or “gift exchanges”, which as you might imagine means simply that gifts will be exchanged! Each person participating brings one gift to the swap, and will leave the event with another gift. (Technically in White Elephant you could leave with your own gift if you really wanted to, but that’s another story)
Another similarity is that generally a budget is agreed upon for both events, so that the range of gifts is appropriate. This helps ensure no one spends more than they should, and that no one is left with a cheap gift while others have very expensive ones. For a hilarious take on what could happen when people don’t respect the budget, look no further than the infamous “Christmas Party” episode of The Office, where everyone scrambles to get the iPod Michael Scott purchased when he switches the game from Secret Santa to White Elephant.
That’s about where the overlap ends.
The Differences between White Elephant & Secret Santa
The main difference between the two gift-swaps is in the “Game Play”. In fact, Secret Santa is less of a game.
Here’s how to play Secret Santa:
Ahead of time, everyone who is participating gets assigned someone to purchase a gift for. You can go old-school and pull names out of a hat, but there are also plenty of online solutions these days to help organize your Secret Santa. This can be especially helpful if you’re a group of people who isn’t physically together, such as if you’re organizing an office holiday gift-swap. Services you can use include DrawNames, Elfster and our very own free Secret Santa Generator to digitally and remotely organize your game.
Each player will then purchase their gift with their specific recipient in mind.
Gifts are then given or delivered secretly. A key point here is that no one knows who has who. That’s where the name comes from! The “Santa” who is delivering your gift is a secret.
Note that this can all happen without actually organizing any specific time where everyone gets together and ‘plays.’ You could just set a date when everyone should get their gift by. If you’re a remote company, or even an “async” company that has people around the globe that don’t overlap or talk much in real-time, having an “async” Secret Santa is a great way to celebrate the holidays. But If you wanted to make it more of an event (as most people do), you could have everyone open their gift together, and for an extra twist, have the ‘secret’ gift-giver reveal themselves afterwards.
White Elephant is a bit different. Here’s how to play:
You set a specific time & place when you’ll be playing the game.
Everyone who is participating brings a gift to the gift-swap.
Players will draw numbers before game-play starts.
The game begins with player #1 opening a gift from the gift table.
Player #2 goes next, and they’ll have a choice: either open a new gift from the table or steal the gift from player #1. If they steal their gift, then player #1 will open another gift.
This cycle continues as each player goes. When you get to the end, player #1 gets to go one final time, either keeping their gift or stealing one final time.
The key difference from Secret Santa is that each gift is purchased for the group in general, and then each person tries to get the gift they want most, whereas secret santa gifts are purchased for a specific person. For a deeper overview of how to play White Elephant and its game variations, view our How to Play White Elephant Page.
Wait - what about Yankee Swap? Isn’t that different too?
White Elephant and Yankee Swap are essentially the same game. The only key difference is that instead of deciding whether to open a new gift or steal a gift, in Yankee Swap players always open a new gift, and then if they don’t like it they’ll swap gifts with another player. You can check out our blog post for a deep dive into the differences between White Elephant, Yankee Swap and Dirty Santa.
Planning an Office Holiday Party: Which one is right for me?
OK, so you’d like to plan a holiday party for your remote or hybrid team and are wondering if Secret Santa or White Elephant could be right for you. While we think both games are great, here are some things to think about:
Playing Secret Santa for an office holiday party
Pros:
You don’t need to set a specific time & place to play. If you want to do something but can’t get everyone on at the same time (e.g. if you have a global asynchronous team), then this could be a good thing! Secret Santa could be the perfect way to spread some holiday cheer without being in the same place.
The gifts are more personal. Since everyone knows who they’re purchasing a gift for, the gifts can be more thoughtful & specific to the recipient.
Cons:
Secret Santa isn’t as interactive of an activity, and doesn’t offer as much of an opportunity for team building or team bonding.
The fact that gifts are personalized can actually be a negative, especially in an office/work setting. While this can be perfect for a family or a group of friends, having to purchase a gift for a co-worker may put a lot of pressure on people to find ‘good’ gifts for colleagues they may not know too well.
Playing White Elephant for an office holiday party
Pros:
White Elephant is a very interactive and engaging activity. For 30-60 minutes, your group will all be playing and laughing together. The fact that your gift can be stolen at any time means players stay engaged throughout the event.
There is a lot of flexibility in choosing gifts, allowing people to have fun in expressing themselves or buying fun/silly gifts. Often organizers will set a “theme” for their event, but it’s up to you. For ideas on themes, check out our articles about Classic Themes, Practical Gift Themes and Wacky White Elephant Theme Ideas you can use. If your company wants to be extra generous, you can have the company supply all of the gifts so employees can just show up and play!
Cons:
The game does require that everyone be available at the same time to play. If you can’t get your group together, consider splitting into groups based on time zones.
One con that doesn’t exist anymore: it used to be that unless you were physically in the same place, it would be very difficult to play White Elephant or Yankee Swap. Why? Well, since you don’t know who is going to receive your gift until the end, you can’t send gifts ahead of time. And how would you track all of the opening & stealing of gifts and who has what? Fortunately, White Elephant Online has solved that problem, offering the first fully self-service platform that allows you to play White Elephant 100% virtually with your family, friends or work colleagues.
The Verdict: Which is Better?
As we said at the top, we’re a fan of both games. If you’re looking to exchange gifts with friends or family and want an emphasis on personal gifts, then Secret Santa is the way to go. However, if you’re looking for a fun and memorable experience that you can laugh about the rest of the year, White Elephant is absolutely the way to go.
Whichever you’re interested in playing this year, we’ve got you covered! Check out our Secret Santa Generator, or play White Elephant online.