Looking for some new Christmas gift exchange ideas to liven up your next holiday gathering? Pulling names and numbers out of a hat gets pretty boring pretty quickly, so we love to find ways to turn this holiday tradition into its own game.
Use these ideas for your next party and customize them to fit your group!
Make sure to scroll all the way to the bottom if you’re in the need for an extra chocolatey treat for these cold winter evenings!
Do you have a favorite gift exchange game? Share with us in the comments!
LCR Swap
This adds a bit of randomization to your gift exchange while also playing a fun game of chance!
If you have a copy of Left Center Right, grab it, if not you can play with regular dice following these rules and using quarters.
Have everyone grab a random gift that was brought to the party and sit in a circle around the table with their gifts. Give everyone three chips (or coins) and determine the starting player.
Play LCR. Each time a player loses all of their chips, they will either open their gift, or, if their gift is already open, they can swap it for another gift at the table. Go around the table playing LCR and continuing to open and swap gifts. Because players aren’t eliminated and can get back in the game, if they lose their chips multiple times, they will be able to swap multiple times.
The winner of the game will then have their pick of the gifts around the table. (and if you’re playing with money, the pot in the center if you’re feeling extra generous!)
Auction Exchange
Want to add a little bit of strategy to your gift exchange? Grab the nearest Monopoly game and take out the paper money. (any game with paper money will do.)
Before the auction begins, have each gift wrapped and displayed somewhere where your guests can view, hold, and determine what gifts they want to bid on.
Collect all the gifts then distribute the money, giving each player the same amount. If someone decided to not bring a gift, they have luckily just volunteered themselves to be the auctioneer! If however you have no scrooges amongst you, the host is the auctioneer and will receive the last gift remaining.
The auctioneer will hold each gift up, one at a time for the group to bid on. The highest bid gets to keep the gift. (in the case of a tie, whomever bid the highest first gets the gift)
Each time a gift is won, the winner opens it and presents their prize to the group as they look on in jealousy. Once you win a gift you can no longer bid on unopened gifts, but you’ll want to hold onto you money because…
When the auction is over, the auctioneer announces that a second auction will now commence…for the opened gifts. Any money you did not spend during the first auction you may now use to bid on the opened gifts!
Christmas Gift Scavenger Hunt:
This is a great one for the kids!
Head to the Target dollar section or the dollar store and purchase a collection of various small gifts, chocolates, etc. (My favorites are those small activity pads often sold in sets of 3.) Wrap or put them in small boxes and hide them around the house.
If you’re extra fun, write some rhyming clues to help the scavengers in their quest if they struggle to find them all. (this is also a good thing to do just so you don’t forget where all the gifts were hidden and find one during an Easter egg hunt next April.)
Saran Wrap Frenzie.
Need: 2 six sided Dice, saran wrap, gift cards, candy, or other small gift items.
Probably my favorite game to play. This always gets a little bet crazy and is a holiday must!
Ask your family or guests to bring a small gift card to an easily accessible location. Think $5 bucks to Starbucks, Amazon, Chick Fil A, or, if most everyone is local, favorite shops in town. You can set whatever amount you feel is best. Don’t want to get a gift card? We have some other ideas below!
You’ll want to purchase a couple large rolls of saran wrap before everyone arrives. Then, as they do, take their gift card and begin wrapping everything up into the saran wrap to form a tight ball. Really wrap it well, cutting off strands every so often so you can wrap in multiple directions.
Once you have everything wrapped up, grab the dice and gather everyone into a circle together.
Hand the saran wrap ball to someone and the dice to the player on their left. When you say “Go” the person with the ball will begin trying to unwrap the ball while the player with the dice will quickly roll them trying to roll doubles. As soon as they do, they’ll shout “Ho! Ho! Ho!” pass the dice to the player on their left, grab the saran ball and take their turn at unwrapping the ball.
The person with the ball will not stop unwrapping until the person to their left rolls doubles! Whatever goodies fall out on your turn you’ll get to keep! (This is why you’ll want a lot of saran wrap!)
Go around and around the circle until the ball is completely unwrapped. Make sure when you make the ball to put the best prizes towards the center!
Examples of prizes we’ve used: fun size and full size candy, popcorn, lip balm, gift cards, movie tickets, dollar bills, instant hot packs, travel sanitizer, “get out of dishes” coupon (the most prized for family gatherings!) Get creative! You’ll want to make it about the size of a soccer ball.
Trivia
Make a trivia game custom tailored to fit your group or grab your favorite trivia game to help you out.
Each time someone answers correctly they get a gift! If they already have one, they can swap or nominate someone to open another gift.
Wits and Wagers can work well for this! You can even play the whole game, and then have everyone pick a gift in order of how they finished. First to last or last to first. Customize to fit your group!
Pictionary!
Grab a large dry erase board. Rather than teams, everyone sits in one big group with the presents off to one side in easy reach.
If you’re the host, you go first! Draw from either the Pictionary cards, or a collection of holiday themed prompts. (Looking for a different take on this style with hilarious card prompts? Check out the games from Gamely!)
The first person to guess correctly gets to either:
- Open a new gift if they do not have a gift already
- Steal someone else’s gift
- Save their gift from being stolen that round and nominate someone without a gift to open a gift.
They will then draw next.
Play until all the gifts have been selected.
Bingo Card Swap
Get two decks of cards. Use one deck to deal out everyone two or more cards depending on what you’d like.
Using the second deck, shuffle and flip over one card at a time and call it out. If it matches one of your cards, flip it over. Once all of your cards are flipped over, you can pick out a gift. Don’t unwrap until everyone has a gift. (this helps keep things moving)
Once everyone has a gift, open together, go around the room and share what you opened.
Then reset your cards, it’s time to swap!
Now when your cards are all flipped over, you have the chance to swap your gift with another.
Swapping continues until all players’ cards have been called.
Cup of Cheer
Perfect for office parties or game nights with all your friends!
Get 1 silly/ugly Christmas mug per person attending. (Or ask everyone to bring the most festive Christmas mug they can find.)
The cheaper the better!
Collect all of the mugs and set them together so that they are collected into a tight group either on the floor or on a table.
Have everyone gather around and take turns tossing a ping pong ball into the group of mugs, attempting to sink it into one of them.
Whatever mug it lands in is their prize.
No swapping needed!
If you happen to own the game Coconuts, use one of the monkeys to have players fling a coconut into the mugs!
Then, after the game you can invite everyone to fill up their new favorite mug with a fresh cup of hot chocolate!
Have it warmed and ready in your crockpot.
Here’s a recipe if you need one!
Crockpot Hot Chocolate
Prep: less than 5 minutes! Cook Time: 2 hours
Serves 6
- 1 bag of milk chocolate chips
- 2 cups half and half
- 6 cups milk
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
- whipped cream, marshmallows or other favorite toppings!
INSTRUCTIONS
- Put all 5 ingredients into the crockpot, mix and cook on low for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
- When finished, turn heat to “keep warm” setting. Serve with ladle and top with your favorite toppings!
Photo credit: my Christmas mug obsessed friend, Drew. 🙂
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