White Elephant Party Calculator

Plan a White Elephant (Yankee Swap) gift exchange: enter your participant count and price range to get a suggested target price and an estimated game duration.

Number of Participants

Minutes per Turn (avg, incl. steals)

Minimum Gift Price ($)

Maximum Gift Price ($)

The two figures it returns

One is the midpoint of the range you set, the other is a turn count times a per-turn constant:

suggested price = (minimum + maximum) / 2
game length     = participants × minutes per turn

The defaults - 12 people, $15 to $25, 2 minutes a turn - give a $20 target and 24 minutes. The game runs one opening per person, so the participant count drives the clock linearly: 20 people at the same pace is 40 minutes. The tool rejects fewer than three participants, a non-positive turn length, and a minimum above the maximum.

Minutes per turn is where steals hide

There is no field for stealing, because a steal does not add an opening - it adds time inside someone's turn while the table argues. That behaviour belongs in the per-turn figure:

Group	Minutes per turn	12 people	20 people
Polite, few steals	1.0	12 min	20 min
Typical mixed party	2.0	24 min	40 min
Steal-happy, three-steal cap	3.5	42 min	70 min

Announce a cap before you start - a gift frozen after three steals, and no immediate steal-back. Without one a single popular gift can hold the table for ten minutes and the estimate stops meaning anything.

The midpoint is what you announce, but people buy to the ends of the range. On a $15 to $25 range the $25 gifts get stolen and the $15 ones sit; a $5 spread keeps the game closer than a $20 one.

Frequently asked questions

What is a good price limit for a White Elephant exchange?

$20 to $30 for adults, narrower rather than wider. Set the two ends and the tool gives you the midpoint to say out loud - a $20 to $30 range makes $25 the number everyone aims at.

How long does White Elephant take with 20 people?

About 40 minutes at 2 minutes a turn, and closer to 70 with heavy stealing. Twenty is the point where a steal cap stops being optional.

How many people do you need to play?

Three is the minimum the calculator accepts and the practical floor for the game - with two there is nothing to steal. Eight to fifteen keeps every turn interesting without dragging.