| 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!
|
|
| |
