Printable rules for the gift exchanges people play: Secret Santa, Kris Kringle, white elephant (Yankee swap, dirty Santa) and the Christmas dice game, plus fixes for budgets, odd numbers and remote teams.
In Secret Santa, everyone draws one name in secret and buys a gift for that person only. Agree on these rules before the draw:
Our free Secret Santa generator handles rule 4 and sends each person a private link with the budget and date.
At the office, add these:
Kris Kringle is the usual name for Secret Santa in Australia, and in Ireland you'll often hear Kris Kindle. Both come from the German Christkindl, the Christ child who brings presents. The rules are the same: draw names, set a budget, keep it secret. Office Kris Kringle draws often happen in November, ahead of the end-of-year break-up.
No name draw needed: the fun is in opening and stealing.
Agree on a budget. Gifts go on a table in the middle, with no names.
Pull numbers from a hat, or add every name to the random name picker and set Number of winners to the number of players. The results list is your order.
They unwrap it and show it to the group.
On your turn, unwrap a new gift or steal an opened one. If yours is stolen, open a new one or steal elsewhere, but no instant steal-backs.
A gift stolen three times stays with its third new owner, so the game doesn't run all night.
When every gift is open, player 1 may swap once, because they never got to steal.
Yankee swap is the New England name and dirty Santa is common in the South, but both are white elephant. What really changes from group to group is the steal limit (two or three), whether a gift can be stolen twice in one turn and whether player 1 gets a final swap. There's no official version: pick yours and read it out before the first gift is opened.
The Christmas dice game, or white elephant dice game, replaces the turn order with a die. Everyone brings a wrapped gift and sits in a circle.
The number table is in the printable rules below. No die? Set the random number picker from 1 to 6 and tap Pick numbers for each roll.
Ways to run the exchange itself, not gift ideas.
Budget: one fixed amount beats a range. Keep it low at the office; families often go higher because one gift replaces several. In white elephant an equal budget matters even more, because any gift can end up with anyone.
Odd numbers: Secret Santa has no pairs, so any group of three or more works. With two, both know who drew them.
Drop-outs: if nobody has shopped, redraw. Otherwise, ask the person leaving who they drew; whoever drew them takes over that person. Only if the two drew each other do you need a fresh draw.
Remote teams: send the private links in Slack, Teams or WhatsApp, set a shipping deadline and open gifts together on a video call.
Copy, fill in the brackets, then print or pin in the chat.
🎅 Secret Santa rules 1. Join by [date]. No additions after the draw. 2. Budget: [amount], same for everyone. 3. You'll get a private link with your person. Tell no one. 4. Wish list: post 3 ideas in the group by [date]. 5. Bring your gift wrapped and labeled with the recipient's name. 6. Exchange: [date, time, place]. 7. Can't make it? Leave your gift with [organizer] beforehand.
🐘 White elephant rules 1. Bring one wrapped gift worth about [amount]. 2. Draw numbers for the order. 3. On your turn: open a new gift or steal an opened one. 4. Gift stolen? Open a new one or steal from someone else. No instant steal-backs. 5. A gift is frozen after its 3rd steal. 6. At the end, player 1 may swap once.
🎲 Christmas dice game Round 1: roll a 6 = take a gift from the middle. Already have one? Pass the die. Round 2 (secret timer, 5 to 10 min): 1 = Pass one gift left 2 = Pass one gift right 3 = Swap a gift with anyone 4 = Everyone passes all gifts left 5 = Steal a gift from anyone 6 = Lose your turn Timer rings: keep what you have. Anyone with no gift takes one from the person with the most.
Read slowly. Pass your gift each time you hear LEFT or RIGHT. On Christmas Eve, Santa LEFT the North Pole late. "RIGHT," he said, "no more cocoa stops." He turned LEFT at the first cloud, then RIGHT at the second, and realized he had LEFT his list at home. "All RIGHT," said Santa, "we'll do it from memory." He delivered every present RIGHT on time, and when only one gift was LEFT, he knew it was the RIGHT one for you. Keep the gift you're holding RIGHT now!
Everyone draws one name in secret and buys a gift for that person within one fixed budget, then keeps it secret until the exchange. Nobody draws themselves, and partners usually don't draw each other.
Everyone brings one wrapped gift. In a random order, each player opens a new gift or steals an opened one. A gift is frozen after three steals.
Yes, it's the same game under a regional name, as is dirty Santa. Only house rules such as the steal limit differ, so agree on them first.
The Australian name for Secret Santa (Kris Kindle in Ireland). The draw is the same, so our Secret Santa generator works as a Kris Kringle generator.
A common rule is three steals; some groups use two. Either works, as long as everyone knows before the game starts.
Low enough that every colleague can join without thinking twice, and the same for everyone. Put the amount on the invite.
Gifty is also an iPhone app that picks random winners from the comments on a public Instagram post or reel, with no Instagram login. It's free to download and each draw uses one credit. See how Gifty works.
