The Ultimate Guide to Hosting a Virtual White Elephant Gift Exchange - 2025 Edition
Want to host a virtual White Elephant gift exchange but not sure where to start?
This step-by-step guide covers everything you need — from setting the rules and picking gifts to hosting the game online. Perfect for remote teams, families, or friends celebrating the holidays together.
✨ Used by thousands of companies including Google, Salesforce, Microsoft, and Amazon, White Elephant Online makes hosting your virtual gift swap easy and fun.
🦄 What Is a Virtual White Elephant Gift Exchange?
A White Elephant gift exchange (also known as Yankee Swap or Dirty Santa) is a holiday party game where guests exchange funny, inexpensive, or quirky gifts.
The twist? Unlike Secret Santa, gifts can be stolen — which leads to lots of laughter and surprise.
🎲 How It Works
Each person brings a wrapped gift (or submits a gift link, for virtual games).
Players take turns picking gifts.
Each player can either choose a new gift or steal one that’s already been opened.
The game continues until everyone has a gift.
👉 This simple structure makes it easy to adapt the game for virtual play.
🌐 Why Host Your White Elephant Exchange Online?
Virtual gift swaps have become a holiday staple for remote teams, hybrid offices, and families who can’t gather in person.
Benefits of going virtual include:
🌍 Include everyone — even remote workers or relatives across time zones. In the corporate setting, remote workers can often feel disconnected from their core team, especially if they’re excluded from ‘fun’ events.
💸 Save money on travel, venues, and catering. Or add it as an ‘extra’ event to include hybrid or remote teams.
🧭 Simplify logistics with digital gift submission and online shipping - no need to wrap gifts or ship them yourself.
🎉 Keep traditions alive no matter where your group is located.
✅ Over 25,000 games have already been played on White Elephant Online, with the same teams coming back year after year — proof that virtual holiday parties can be just as fun as in-person ones.
“I’m a huge real-life White Elephant fan, and I was super impressed with the digital version. Well done! ”
📝 How to Host a Virtual White Elephant Gift Exchange (Step-by-Step)
Here’s a proven 6-step process to make your event smooth, memorable, and fun 👇
🗓 Step 1: Set a Date and Invite Participants
Pick a date early — especially if you're hosting for a workplace or a large group. Send invitations 2–3 weeks in advance, and be mindful of time zones. Keep the total event under 60-90 minutes to maintain energy. Depending on the amount of time you’ve allotted, this typically means groups of 25-50 people.
💸 Step 2: Choose a Gift Theme and Budget
A clear gift theme makes the game more fun. Some popular virtual White Elephant themes include:
Funny or gag gifts
Useful items under $25
Nostalgic childhood throwbacks
“As seen on TV” finds
For more ideas, check out these 6 fun white elephant theme ideas.
Set a spending limit (usually $15–25) so everyone’s on the same page.
👉 Need some gift ideas? Check out our Ultimate White Elephant Gift Guide!
🌐 Step 3: Set Up Your Virtual Game Platform
You could try managing everything manually on Zoom… 😅 But trust us, that gets chaotic fast.
The easiest way is to use White Elephant Online, which handles:
✅ Invitations and game links
📝 Digital gift submission
🔄 Turn order and gift stealing rules
🧑💻 Real-time play for distributed teams
Just create a game, send the link, and let everyone add their gifts ahead of time. For businesses, we also offer admin options that allow you to fully run the exchange without participants having to create an account or submit a gift - they can just show up and play!
📜 Step 4: Explain the Rules Clearly
Before starting, explain the rules so everyone knows what to expect.
Here’s a quick sample script:
“Everyone gets a number, representing the order in which you’ll take turns. On your turn, you can pick a new gift or steal one that’s already been opened. Each gift can be stolen up to 3 times. Each turn ends once someone chooses to open a new gift. Everyone ends up with a gift at the end!”
Make sure to be clear on any ‘house rules’ you’ve set:
Steal limits (e.g., 3 max per gift)
Turn order (randomized works best)
Final round rules (e.g. whether player #1 gets to go again).
👉 White Elephant Online shows a summary of your rules when starting your game and then automatically enforces these rules as you play, so you can relax and enjoy the game.
🤪 Step 5: Make It Festive and Fun
Virtual doesn’t have to mean boring. Encourage your group to:
Turn on cameras and share live reactions
Wear ugly holiday sweaters
Use festive Zoom backgrounds
Guess who submitted each gift
Bring their sense of humor!
🎉 A little atmosphere goes a long way toward making your online event feel special.
🎁 Step 6: Ship those gifts!
Once the game is done, everyone knows which gift they won, and who won their gift. That means it’s time to actually purchase the gifts and send them to the players. Waiting until the game is over to purchase the gift means everyone receives their gift directly from the retailer, saving time and money on gift-wrapping and shipping for the players.
White Elephant Online makes this step easy, letting everyone know the name (and address, if submitted) of their recipient, so they can make sure to get that oversized burrito blanket shipped out pronto. We also offer tools for admins to take care of this on players’ behalf.
💡 Extra Tips for Hosting a Memorable Virtual Gift Swap
Here are a few pro tips from seasoned hosts:
📸 Take screenshots during the funniest moments.
🕹 Add mini-games or trivia rounds for large groups.
📝 Record the session for company recaps or holiday videos.
🚀 Start Hosting Your Virtual White Elephant Today
Hosting a virtual White Elephant gift exchange is one of the easiest ways to bring joy and connection to your remote holiday celebrations.
👉 Start for free now and get ready to create memories your team or family will talk about all year.