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GIFT
EXCHANGES
GIFT EXCHANGES
GIFT EXCHANGES...
| Handling
Gift Exchanging for Large Groups
Now that we’ve broached the subject of group
gift-exchanging... here’s a little more.
There are several ways that you can make it
easier, simpler, cheaper for people to give gifts
where giving to everyone would be a bit
much.
...By holding to a "party gift exchange", I mean,
where the people don’t know beforehand who they’re
selecting gifts for (it could be a family,
of course!) - and where there’s a fairly low
spending limit for each gift.
...Or a "family gift exchange", meaning that your
family (or other group) got too large to
buy gifts for everyone, so each just provides
presents for one (or two; or whatever!), and you
know who it is. (Some families exchange names at
their Thanksgiving get-togethers.)
See if any of these ideas suit...
- Party gift exchange,
drawing names out of a hat
- Direct, easy... but not necessarily a good
idea unless everyone has the same taste! If the
party is for people who love jigsaw puzzles,
then it’s highly likely that everyone will be
delighted with their new gifts! If it’s a gag
gift party, fine - chances are that all are
roughly equal in value (or lack thereof?). If
it’s a party with both kids and adults, the
chances of each being pleased (adults with the
toys, kids with the aftershave) is probably
minimal.
- ...Of course, you could just get creative
with the kids/adults problem! - Possibly
each wrapped gift could contain an adult and
a kid gift? (and everybody could haggle and swap
afterward!). Or challenge everyone to come up
with things that either would like (or
just make it food). Or the two "factions" could
simply have their gift exchanges separately.
- Party gift exchange, by the numbers -
This gift "game" (wherein each
successively-numbered participant can choose a
new gift or appropriate one from amongst any of
the already opened ones) has the virtue of
making it more likely that people will actually
end up with a gift they might personally
enjoy... And it’s usually considered
more fun.
- Family gift exchange, drawing names out of
a hat - If everyone is going to give to
only one person, the simplest way of determining
who is for one person to have the job of
randomly assigning names. (Some families pass
this job around too.) Or even... not
randomly - if there are factions that would be
well to handle delicately, parcel the job out to
the most tactful group members.
That person
then informs everyone (well in advance - maybe it
could even be done at the holiday
gathering, for the next year?) who their (secret?)
giftee is to be. It’s up to each gift-giver to
find an appropriate gift for that person (or some
families go so far as to arrange for each person
to come up with a want list, too).
- Family gift exchange,
using the wheel - A problem with the
names-out-of-a-hat scenario might be that the
group would really wish to rotate
giftees from year to year... Instead of using
the random technique (which could land you with
the same person), the color-wheel concept
assures that everyone will eventually get the
chance to give to everyone else. (You know, the
two-circle thing...
If you don’t remember color wheels from
kindergarten, maybe you’ve seen a
mortgage-finder or some such thing more
recently.)
Cut two circles of
different sizes - on the outside of one, list
the names of everyone in your family circle
(!) listed in random order; on the outside of
the other, do the same... with the names
in the same order as on the outer
one (the segments on the inner one will just
be a little more squished!). Put the smaller
one on top of the bigger one and clip them
together in the center with one of those
envelope closers you can get at a stationery
store. Start anywhere you want - as long as you
aren’t giving to you! Each year,
advance the inner wheel to the next spot...
- Frugal family or friends challenge gift
exchange - Draw names (somehow!)... and
make it a rule that everybody has to buy the
gift/s for under $5-10 at a thrift store or yard
sale - or make them - or find them - or have
been given them and pass them along to a more
appropriate giftee. Those ought to be enough
choices for everyone!
Do I suggest this business of family
narrow-the-target gift exchanges? ...I’m an only
child - with nary a niece or nephew - so I can’t
tell you from experience how I like it! Since I
really like to give gifts, the
straight-across family gift exchange sounds a
little sterile to me. ...Spiced up a bit, maybe?
Can you figure out a way to assign two or
three giftees to each person? Or perhaps the
adults would give to only one other adult but to
two or three of the kids?
Or maybe you’d like to combine some
elements of the party and family gift exchange
techniques? The by-the-numbers gift exchange game
could be an added element of fun in a family
setting, for instance... Whether your group uses a
"family gift exchange" method or not, also
having a party gift game would just add to the
festivities (on Christmas day? - on a different
day?).
Remember, if you began a family gift exchange
because everybody giving to everybody else got too
unwieldy, you didn’t necessarily wish to severely
limit the pleasure that exchanging gifts can
give... Keep your group goals to the fore.
Here's an unusual gift exchange idea I've run
across - probably for friends more than
family: Play an exchange game on New Year's
Eve with Christmas gifts that weren't fully
appreciated by the receivers (making sure not to
hurt the feelings of anyone present, of course!).
Then, there's the "anti-gift exchange": Don't
exchange family gifts... save that money and take
a memory-creating family trip instead. Have a day
of fun at an amusement park, go snow camping, go
horseback riding, spend the money on a train trip
to visit an elder - whatever will be a
gift to all in itself and generate memories to
last a lifetime.
Or, decide as a group that this year
you will each give to others in need, in your
community or not (perhaps one in and one
outside?)... and then get together and tell the
group about your choices. Likely everyone will be
interested in all the wonderful ways there are to
give!
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