This is not a ‘white elephant’ gift exchange; bring something that you would want to receive, with a value of about $30. (Some popular choices are clay-related items and chocolate!)
Each participant brings a gift in an unmarked brown paper bag and adds it to the gift pile on Sunday afternoon. Everyone randomly draws a number. They select gifts in that order — with a twist… The person assigned with #1 picks out a gift and opens it so all can see what it is. Then the person assigned with #2 gets the choice of ‘stealing’ #1’s unwrapped gift or choosing a wrapped one from the pile. If #2 steals #1’s gift, then #1 must choose and open another wrapped gift.
NOTE: Gifts can only be stolen once!
As subsequent players take their turns, they either select a new gift or take an already opened gift from any of the other players that has not been stolen before. Any player who has a gift ‘stolen’ either choose a new gift or take an already-opened gift from another player. Continue until everyone has had a turn for a gift. After the last turn, the person who started (since she/he didn’t get a chance at the beginning) can put back the gift and ‘steal’ a gift according to the rules.