From BayTeam

You ain't never had such a good time as stealing gifts from other club members! If you've never attended a White Elephant Gift Exchange before, here's how it works at The Bay Team:

• Bring a gift.
  • Something like-new (or otherwise very usable) that you no longer need or never needed (that's what a a white elephant is).
  • If you really don't have any such thing and buy instead, spend no more than $10 (OK, $15 if you really feel the need, but the point is to have fun, not spend money).
  • Even white elephants must be something that someone in the Bay Team might conceivably want. Usually dog-related but not always. Must be in usable condition (no "needs repair" things).
  • Each person who wants to play brings one gift. Not two. Not three.
• Wrap the gift. If we can't see what it is, it's wrapped (hence, newspaper, boxes, paper bags="wrapped" but it's more likely to be chosen if it's pretty).
• Gifts go under the virtual tree.
• Each person draws a number.
• Number 1 picks a gift and unwraps it. Oohs and ahs or ha-ha-has as appropriate.
• After that, each person in sequence can either take ("steal") an earlier gift or pick and unwrap a new one. Each person stolen from then (usually) has the same choice. Examples:
  • Person #2 either takes ("steals") #1's gift or unwraps a new one. (At the beginning, if #2 takes #1's gift, #1 must take a new one, as there's no one to steal from. See next rule.)
  • #3 either takes #1's or #2's gift or picks a new one from the pile.
  • At #8's turn, #8 takes #3's gift. #3 takes #5's gift. #5 takes #7's gift. #7 takes a new one from the pile. The round ends and we go on to #9.
  • And so on.
• You cannot steal back a gift that has just been taken from you; you must wait at least one exchange and hope for another chance.

  For example, #8 takes #3's gift. #3 can't take it back, but can take #5's gift. #5 takes #7's gift. #7 takes #3's gift. Then #3 can take #8's gift back.

  Negotiating with others to arrange clever stealing chains is allowed.

• After a gift has been stolen 2 times, it's permanent. (This keeps the game from running forever and ever.)
• #1 gets a chance: At the end, if #1 still has the same gift that s/he originally opened AND would rather try for something else AND there is a spare unopened gift, s/he may take a turn as usual; their original gift is then up for grabs.
• You must take home whatever you end up with (or exchange it with or give it to someone else).