Gift exchanges can be a fun thing to participate in during the holiday season. Below I have included 5 games to play at your next gift exchange. Also check out our gift guide to help you select the best gift.
Double Play
You need a large open area to play this game and it is very fast paced. Everyone sits in a circle and starts with a random gift in front of them. It should not be the gift that you brought. You will need 2 dice and a vessel to roll the dice in that can easily be passed around the circle (I suggest a pie tin or a shoe box). This game is timed and it is based on the number of participants. (I suggest around 3-5 minutes) You want everyone to have the opportunity to roll the dice several times.
One at a time everyone rolls the dice. Once the dice have been rolled they immediately get passed to the next player on the right. If a player rolls doubles they can swap gifts with anyone. If double are not rolled the player turn ends. The dice will continue to go around the circle clockwise allowing all the participants to roll the dice a few times and hopefully swap gifts with other players a few times as well. All the gifts will remain wrapped until the end of the game. Gifts can be swapped multiple times until the time runs out. Since you are swapping gifts no player should ever not have a gift in front of them. Once the timer goes off the game is complete and everyone can open the gift in front of them.
Stand Up
Everyone sits with the gift that they brought on their lap. The host has a list of Yes/No questions that they prepare prior to the exchange. After a question is read, the participants who answer Yes stand up. Everyone standing exchanges gifts with each other until everyone has a different gift. Gifts can be exchanged more than once a round, but once everyone has a different gift the round is done. Everyone will sit down and the next question will be read. The gifts will remain wrapped throughout the game. The game is over once all of the questions have been read. Everyone can unwrap the gift that they have in their possession last.
Sample Questions:
- Do you own a ugly Christmas sweater?
- Have you watched more than 2 Christmas movies on Hallmark this year?
- Do you want to kiss someone under the mistletoe tonight?
- Did you go shopping on Black Friday?
- Is the gift you brought tonight is a regift?
Pass The Present
This is another dice game and can get a little crazy. Everyone will start out with someone else’s gift in front of them. You can either have someone else randomly pass them out or you can put them in the middle of the room and have everyone grab one gift. Everyone will have the opportunity to roll the dice 2-5 times depending on the amount of people playing. If you have a large group of 15-20 people you may want to have each player roll twice if you have a 5-6 people you will want it to be more rolls. Each number on the die will indicate what what action the player will do. At the end of the rounds whatever gift is in front of the player will be their gift.
Left Right Game
This game everyone starts out by holding the gift that they brought. As holiday story is read that has the words left and right placed throughout. Every time the word right is read everyone passes the presents right and every time the word left is read the presents are passed left. This is a great game to play if you have young children involved in the exchange or want to keep the exchange calm and civil. I have included a sample story but you can find many online or have fun and create your own.
Sample Story
Frosty the LEFT handed snowman was a RIGHT jolly soul with a corncob pipe and a button to the LEFT of his nose and two eyes LEFT and RIGHT made of coal. Frosty the LEFT-handed snowman is a fairytale they say. He was made of B-RIGHT white snow, but the children know that he came RIGHT to life one day. There must have been some magic LEFT in that old silk hat they found, for RIGHT when they placed it RIGHT on his head he began to dance RIGHT around. Thumpety Thump LEFT, Thumpety Thump LEFT, look at Frosty go. Thumpety Thump LEFT, Thumpety Thump LEFT, RIGHT over the hills of B-RIGHT white snow. . .
Dirty Santa
Everyone puts the gift they brought in the center of the room. The host writes numbers on scratch paper and puts them in a bowl. A number for each participant will be drawn from the bowl. The person who draws the number 1 will go first. They will select from any of the gifts in the center of the room. Once they select their gift they will unwrap the gift and allow everyone to see what they have selected. Next the person who draws the number 2 will go. They have the option to select a new wrapped gift from the center or steal the gift that was already selected and unwrapped by the first participant. If they decide to steal the participant will have to select another gift from the center and unwrap or steal from another player. This will go on in numerical order until everyone has a gift. A gift can only be stolen 3 times and then it is locked in and the participate who has the gift is guaranteed to take it home. Before the game ends the player who drew 1 will have the opportunity to swap gifts with any gift that is not locked in.
