White Elephant Number Generator for Your Gift Swap Order: how it works
This white elephant number generator draws the picking order for a gift swap. Type your guests' names and press Pick a name: 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.
Draw the numbers in under a minute
The page opens with a sample party of 16 made-up guests and number 1 already drawn. Open the list panel above the card, replace the sample with your own names, one per line, and save the list. Up to 80 names fit, and a second Alex becomes Alex (2). Now press Pick a name. The card shows who holds the next number, and the small label counts Pick 2 of 12, Pick 3 of 12 and so on. Keep pressing until the page says everyone has had a turn. The numbered list under the card is your order. Switch to Wheel if the room wants a spin for every number.
The rules the numbers feed into
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 order puts the numbered list on your clipboard for the group chat, and Print makes a sheet for the gift table. The put-back button returns the last name to the draw. If a guest cancels, delete that name from the list and save it again: everyone behind moves up one number. Start over clears the round and shows an Undo in case it was a slip. The list and the order are saved in this browser, so a closed tab loses nothing.
Tips
- Draw the order the day before and paste it into the group chat, so guests arrive knowing their number.
- No guest list yet? Type the numbers 1 to 20, one per line. Each guest presses Pick a name at the door and keeps the number that comes up.
- A late arrival goes last: add the name, save the list and press Pick a name 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.
- Hand out sticky notes with the numbers on, because nobody remembers who has number 9.
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 Pick a name 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, open the list panel and delete it.