Dirty Santa Rules: How to Play the Gift-Stealing Game

1. Agree on a budget and bring one wrapped gift within it.
2. Put all the gifts in one pile and draw numbers for the turn order. The white elephant generator shuffles the order if you don't want to cut up paper; choose Dirty Santa under Rules to see this version's summary.
3. Player 1 opens a gift and their turn ends.
4. Each later player opens or steals. Open a new gift from the pile, or take any gift that has already been opened.
5. If your gift is stolen, open a new one. You don't get to steal in return, which is what keeps each turn to a single steal.
6. Nothing freezes. A gift can change hands as many times as people want it, on different turns.
7. The game ends when the last gift is opened. Whatever you're holding at that moment is yours to keep.

The table above follows five players, Ana, Ben, Cleo, Dev and Eli, through a whole game. The hot sauce set is the gift everyone wants: Ben takes it on turn 2 and Eli takes it from Ben on turn 5. Under rules with a freeze after two steals, it would have stayed with Eli for good at that point; here it simply stays because the game is over.

The other thing to notice is Ana. She's robbed twice and opens three gifts in all, yet the game still lasts exactly five turns. That's the effect of the one-steal-per-turn rule: whoever loses a gift opens a new one, a new gift ends the turn, and the pile goes down by one gift every turn. With 10 players you'll see at most 9 steals, and with 20 players at most 19.

Player 1 has the worst seat in Dirty Santa. They open the first gift with nothing to compare it to, can't steal on that turn because nothing else is open, and never get another turn: if their gift is stolen later, they open a new one rather than stealing. If that feels unfair, add one house rule: once the last gift is opened, player 1 may swap with anyone. It adds one move to the game and makes number 1 something people don't mind drawing.

Say it before the game starts, not after player 1 complains.

Once everyone has a gift, some groups keep going with a die for a set time, say five minutes. Players take turns rolling, and the number decides what happens. Here is one set of numbers you can use. It's our suggestion, not a standard rule:

• 1: swap gifts with the person on your left.
• 2: swap gifts with the person on your right.
• 3: take any gift you like and give yours to that person.
• 4: everyone passes their gift one seat to the left.
• 5: swap any two other players' gifts.
• 6: keep your gift and pass the die.

When the time is up, everyone keeps what they're holding. It's a house rule, not part of the main game, so agree on what each number means before the first roll.

They're the same family of game. White elephant, Yankee swap and Dirty Santa all mean bringing one gift to a shared pile and opening or stealing in turn. What changes from group to group is the house rules. A classic white elephant usually freezes a gift after two steals. A Yankee swap leans toward practical gifts, and some groups add a final swap for player 1. The Dirty Santa rules here take away the freeze but limit each turn to one steal.

If your group already plays one of the others, the white elephant rules and Yankee swap rules set out those versions step by step.

Nothing in the Dirty Santa rules calls for crude gifts; the game is about stealing. At an office party, keep gifts work-safe. A good Dirty Santa gift is a little ridiculous with something genuinely useful inside: a giant mug, an absurd but working gadget, a hot sauce set, a card game, fuzzy socks, a phone tripod. Stay at the budget, wrap it so the shape gives nothing away, and keep quiet about which one you brought.

Everyone brings one wrapped gift and draws a number. On each turn, a player opens a new gift or steals one that has already been opened. Under these rules, whoever loses a gift opens a new one, and the game ends when the last gift is opened.

As many times as players want it under the rules on this page: gifts never freeze. Each turn allows only one steal, though, because the player who loses a gift must open a new one. Some groups prefer to freeze a gift after a set number of steals instead.

You open a new gift from the pile, and that ends the turn. You don't get to steal in return, so one turn can't become a long chain of steals.

It's the same game under another name, played with slightly different house rules. White elephant groups usually freeze a gift after two steals; this Dirty Santa version never freezes gifts but allows only one steal per turn.

Number 1 opens the first gift, and that's their only turn. Some groups give player 1 a final swap once the last gift is opened to make up for it. Decide whether you will before the game starts.

There is one turn per player and at most one steal per turn, so 10 players means 10 turns and no more than 9 steals. That makes the length easy to predict, even for a big group.