A white elephant gift exchange, also known as Yankee Swap or Dirty Santa, is a party game where amusing and impractical gifts are exchanged during festivities. The goal of the game is to entertain party-goers rather than to gain a genuinely valuable or highly sought-after item. The term "white elephant" refers to an extravagant, impractical gift that cannot be easily disposed of. The phrase is said to come from a perspective about the historic practice of the King of Siam (now Thailand) giving rare albino elephants to courtiers who had displeased him, so that they might be ruined by the animals upkeep costs. However, there is no actual record of the King gifting a white elephant specifically to burden the recipients, and white elephants are considered to be highly valuable and sacred in Thai culture, so much that any white elephant that is found must immediately be brought to the King according to his legal ownership.

The game requires each participant to bring a gift to the exchange, and the host can create rules over the types of gifts that can be brought, including price. Once everyone has gathered, the participants will randomly pick a number to create the order under which the exchange will take place. It is also easier if the participants sit or stand in the order they will select a gift, so that the order is not disrupted throughout the game. Once situated, the first person will open one gift, whichever they choose. Next, the second person can either pick another gift to unwrap or steal the gift the first person selected. The third person, and the rest, will follow the same procedure (unwrap or steal) until all the gifts have been opened.