How it works
This white elephant number generator draws the picking order for a gift swap. Type your guests' names and press Draw the next number. Each press gives the next number to someone who does not have one yet, until everyone is placed. Copy the numbered order into the group chat or print it for the gift table. The names you type stay in your browser.
Read the full guide
Draw the numbers in under a minute
The page opens with a sample party of 16 made-up guests and one sample draw. Type your own names in Your guests, one per line, and the sample goes. Up to 80 names fit, and a second Alex becomes Alex (2). Now press Draw the next number. The card shows who holds the next number, and the small label counts Number 2 of 12, Number 3 of 12 and so on. On a laptop the space bar draws too. Keep pressing until the page says everyone has a number, or press Draw the rest at once to place everyone left in one go. The numbered list under the card is your order. Wheel, under More options, gives the room a spin for every number.
The white elephant game rules
Everyone brings one wrapped gift. Number 1 opens a gift from the pile. Each later player either opens a wrapped gift or steals one that is already open, and a player who is robbed chooses again. Most groups freeze a gift after a set number of steals, commonly two, and the game ends when everyone holds a gift. None of this is official, and rules vary from party to party. The rule to settle before you draw is the last move: many groups let number 1, who had nobody to steal from, swap with anyone at the end.
Copy it, print it, fix it
Copy the order puts the numbered list on your clipboard for the group chat, and Print the order makes a sheet for the gift table. The button that names the last guest, such as Put Dana back, returns them to the draw. If a guest cancels, delete that name from the list: everyone behind moves up one number. Start over clears the round and shows an Undo in case it was a slip.
- No guest list yet? Type 20 under Or just how many guests and the list fills with 1 to 20. Each guest presses Draw the next number at the door and keeps the number that comes up.
- A late arrival goes last: add the name and press Draw the next number once. Numbers already drawn do not change.
- When everyone brings two gifts, press Start over and draw a second order for the second pile, so nobody is first twice.
Questions and answers
How do you pick numbers for a white elephant gift exchange?
Numbered slips in a hat are the old way. This page does it without paper: type the names, press Draw the next number once for each guest, and the list under the card is the order from 1 to the last number. Every name left in the draw has the same chance, and nobody can be drawn twice in one round.
Is number 1 the best or the worst spot?
It depends on one house rule. In the basic game number 1 opens a gift with nothing to steal, so it is the weakest draw, and the last number, who sees every open gift, is the strongest. Many groups even it out by giving number 1 a final swap after the last turn, which makes it the best seat in the room.
Is a white elephant the same as a Yankee swap or Dirty Santa?
All three are names for the same game. Where it is called a Yankee swap, the gifts are more likely to be practical things people want. A white elephant is a possession that costs more trouble than it is worth. The phrase comes from a story, which historians doubt, about kings of Siam ruining courtiers with the gift of a rare elephant.
Can it match givers to receivers, like a Secret Santa draw?
No. In Secret Santa each person is secretly given one other person to buy for, so that draw pairs people up. A white elephant has no pairs: the gifts go into one pile for anyone, and the only thing to draw is the order of turns.
Are the names I type stored anywhere?
Only in your own browser. The list and the order are kept on this phone or computer so they survive a closed tab, and nothing is sent to us or to anyone else. To wipe a list, press Use the sample again, then Delete my list.