Whether you’re having a family, work or friends holiday party; a gift exchange is a great way to give gifts and can provide tons of entertainment.
There are several types of gift exchanges, and various ways to spice them up. When choosing a gift exchange for your event, consider:
- Number of participants– how many people will be participating? If you have a large number of participants, you may want to avoid a White Elephant exchange as it may take too much time. A Secret Santa/Gifter or simple gift exchange would be more ideal for a larger group.
- Spend limit– usually a minimum gift spend limit is established for a gift exchange. It is important to make sure it is a reasonable amount for the participants. Obviously, some gifters will spend over the limit, but the goal is to at least meet the minimum amount.
- Theme– ornament, gag gifts, movie night, gift cards, as seen on TV- basically whatever you can think of. Remember to keep the theme appropriate to the people participating.
- Establish rules– there is no right or wrong way to have a gift exchange. But make sure the rules are established prior to the exchange, and make sure all the participants are aware of them. For example, if you are having a Secret Santa exchange, you want to make sure the participants know to keep their giftee a secret. If you are doing a White Elephant, you want to everyone know the rules BEFORE the exchange starts.
Types of Gift Exchanges
Simple Gift Exchange
Collect names of everyone who wants to participate in the exchange. Pool all the names together and randomly match each participant with a giftee. Be sure to set a minimum gift spend limit. Usually, participants bring their gifts to exchange at an event where everyone can see all the gifts.
Check out Giftires Gift Exchanges
White Elephant
Also known as Yankee Swap and Dirty Santa. This is a gift exchange with a stealing twist. To participate, you must bring a gift to contribute to the pool of gifts. Determine the pick order- participants draw numbers from a hat, participants’ names are drawn from a hat, etc. The first person selects a gift from the pool of gifts and unwraps it for everyone to see. The next person can choose a gift from the pool of gifts or they can opt to steal an unwrapped gift. If a person has their gift stolen, then they get to select a new gift- either from the pool of gifts or another unwrapped gift. This continues until all gifts are unwrapped; everyone should have a gift at this point. The person who selected first then has the option to steal an unwrapped gift; basically swapping gifts. This concludes the exchange.
Spice it up:
- set a limit on how many times a gift can be stolen
- set a limit on how many times a person can have a gift stolen
- set a time limit on how long a person has to select a gift
Secret Santa or Secret Gifter
This is similar to a Simple Gift exchange. Participants are matched with a giftee, BUT the participants are supposed to keep their giftee a secret. One popular option with this type of exchange is the Gifter gives a small gift/hint leading up to the big exchange.
There are a couple ways to give gifts:
- Participants simply give the giftee their gift,
- Put all the gifts out (make sure to put names on them). Giftee open their gifts and then try to guess their Secret Santa/Gifter.
Musical Exchange
Remember musical chairs? That is basically what a musical exchange is. Have participants sit in a circle and then select a gift in a predetermine order- names, numbers, etc. Participants can either open gifts or leave them wrapped. Ensure all gifts have been selected and every participant has a gift. Then start the music! Participants pass gifts around the circle (in one direction) until the music stops. The gift you have when the music stops is the gift you keep.
Story Exchange
This one is similar to Musical Exchange, but participants pass gifts according to directions in a story read aloud. Get creative with the story, have fun with it. Make sure the story has enough directional statements that gifts are moved around the circle.