In the United States this game goes by White Elephant, Yankee Swap or Dirty Santa; in Honduras and El Salvador some people call it cuchumbo robado.
Unlike Secret Santa, everything happens in the open: gifts are opened in front of everyone and any opened gift can be stolen.
White Elephant rules
One gift each, wrapped and unlabeled
Everyone brings one wrapped gift within the agreed limit, unlabeled. They all go on the same table. Since nobody knows who brought what, nobody gets singled out for bringing the least popular gift.
The turn order is drawn
Draw numbers before you start. Number 1 takes a gift from the table and opens it. Number 2 can steal number 1's gift or take one from the table, and so on. You only play on your own turn: no off-turn swaps and no deals between friends.
Three steals and a gift is locked
A gift can be stolen at most three times; after that it's locked. Without this limit, the game goes round and round over the most wanted gift. Some versions use two steals: pick one and say it before you start.
Number 1 closes the game
Whoever goes first has nobody to steal from. To make up for it, they get one extra turn at the end to swap their gift for any that isn't locked.
Two things to decide first
Before you play, decide whether gag gifts are allowed: they change the tone a lot. And consider banning cash and gift cards: if every parcel is an identical envelope, stealing loses its fun.
Prefer a Secret Santa?
In this game everything is public. If your group would rather each person know privately who they're buying for, Cuchumbo runs a Secret Santa draw instead: no stealing, and each result visible only to its participant.
