A long standing tradition in many families, the yearly gift exchange can sometimes be the most looked forward to…or the most dreaded event! If it’s the latter, it probably needs a little…spice. Here’s a few things that can bring back the fun….
Introduce a Gag Gift
Wrap up something genuinely not useful or desirable (lawn gnome, anyone?) for a lucky recipient, and it becomes that person’s responsibility to pass it along the next year.
Steal The Gifts Instead of Exchanging Them
Sometimes it’s called a Yankee Swap / Dirty Santa Game / Chinese Gift Exchange….they’re all basically the same. Everyone picks a number and the first player gets to choose a gift and open the gift. They walk around the room and show it around, model it, read it or demo the gift they opened.
Each player (after the first player) has two choices. When it is your turn, you take a new unopened gift from the table or you take someone else’s opened gift that you already know what it is. A few more rules apply: Dirty Santa Game
Right and Left Game
A crazy gift passing gift exchange game has everyone scrambling as they listen for you to say right or left while you read this story. Everyone in a circle starts passing gifts right as you read the story. When you say left, the gifts start going left, and keep going left until you say right, then switch directions. Let the mayhem ensue until you finish the story!
- Right & Left Frosty theSnowman
- Right & Left Rudolph
- Right & Left – Little Joe Wright
- Right & Left – 3 Little Lambs
Play Holiday Trivia, Winner Grabs a Gift
Read the questions aloud, and the first one to answer the trivia question gets to pick a wrapped gift from the table. Grab your totally fun PrintableGamesAtoZ.com trivia game here: Christmas This & That Trivia
Cobweb Party
This game is vintage – it was all the rage during the Victorian Era, and was first presented to Victorian mothers in SAINT NICHOLAS MAGAZINE in 1876!.
- Designate one room for the party, and use a different yarn color for each person.
- Tie one end of a spool of yarn to each gift.
- Unwind the yarn as you zigzag across the room, trailing it under furniture, looping it around banisters and under pillows, anywhere you can. You want to make it as difficult as possible for the gift recipient to follow his or her yarn through the “cobweb” of different colors to find the present.
- Hand each person his or her spool of yarn.
Greeting Card Exchange
Instead of exchanging gifts, exchange greeting cards – with a limit of $4. The idea is that each person goes home with a useable greeting card.
Goodwill Purchase
Items for this gift exchange must be purchased at Goodwill for $5 or less.
Other Themes
- Cookie Exchange
- Dinner in a Dish Exchange
- Gift Card Exchange
- Handmade Exchange (make it or bake it yourself!)
Do you have any other suggestions for a gift exchange that we’ve missed? Leave us a comment below to let us know!
For more holiday party ideas, click here.