gift exchange

[bobbyfk]

me and my friends from another message board are going on a cruise next year and i am in charge of a gift exchange. whats the best way to do it? i was thinking secret Santa style?

 

thanks

 

Bobby

[4FRCruising]

me and my friends from another message board are going on a cruise next year and i am in charge of a gift exchange. whats the best way to do it? i was thinking secret Santa style?

 

thanks

 

Bobby

White Elephant is fun. Everyone brings their gift (puts on table) and then puts their name in a basket (or whatever). 1st name drawn picks a gift - but does NOT open it. That person pulls the next name. Next person can pick from the other gifts available or "Steal" the gift already chosen. Keeps going that way...PICK OR STEAL until no more gifts remain on the table.

 

So until everyone has a gift, no one is sure they get to keep the 1st gift they have chosen.

 

The more "stealing" the more fun :D

[Northshorecruisers]

We did the type of gift exchange mentioned above on our Grand Princess cruise. The lady who set up our roll call did an excellent job of organizing. To add to it, we all brought our gift to exchange from the region of the country we were from. It was a lot of fun.

[jkeivel11]

White Elephant is fun. Everyone brings their gift (puts on table) and then puts their name in a basket (or whatever). 1st name drawn picks a gift - but does NOT open it. That person pulls the next name. Next person can pick from the other gifts available or "Steal" the gift already chosen. Keeps going that way...PICK OR STEAL until no more gifts remain on the table.

 

So until everyone has a gift, no one is sure they get to keep the 1st gift they have chosen.

 

The more "stealing" the more fun :D

 

We play something like this with my DH's family at Christmas with gift cards. However, we sit in a circle and give everyone a number. Then, they read a story that uses the words left and right alot. Everytime you hear the word left you pass your number to the left, same thing for right. Then, you don't have the number you started with.

 

Then, starting with #1, they pick a gift and open it. Then, #2 can either steal #1's gift or pick from the pile and open it. Then, #3 can either pick from the pile, steal #1 or #2, and so on. Then, after the last person goes, person #1 can choose to keep their gift or trade for any of the ones that are open.

 

Over the years, we did stipulate a rule that each gift could only be stolen a total of 3 times. The person who steals it for the third time gets to keep it permanently. This keeps the same item from being stolen the entire game.

 

We have a lot of fun with this each year, so enjoy!

[littleone9699]

We've used a website the last few years . .. at Christmas, but it can be used whenever!! It's elfster dot com :) It's a lot of fun to be able to ask questions w/o the person knowing who the question is coming from!

[MonaCK]

We play something like this with my DH's family at Christmas with gift cards. However, we sit in a circle and give everyone a number. Then, they read a story that uses the words left and right alot. Everytime you hear the word left you pass your number to the left, same thing for right. Then, you don't have the number you started with.

 

Then, starting with #1, they pick a gift and open it. Then, #2 can either steal #1's gift or pick from the pile and open it. Then, #3 can either pick from the pile, steal #1 or #2, and so on. Then, after the last person goes, person #1 can choose to keep their gift or trade for any of the ones that are open.

 

Over the years, we did stipulate a rule that each gift could only be stolen a total of 3 times. The person who steals it for the third time gets to keep it permanently. This keeps the same item from being stolen the entire game.

 

We have a lot of fun with this each year, so enjoy!

 

 

We do this every year with this one group that we do white elephant gifts with. It's an annual tradition - the reading of the "Left" famiily chronicles. :)

[bobbyfk]

thanks all!

[Frosty 77]

We've used a website the last few years . .. at Christmas, but it can be used whenever!! It's elfster dot com :) It's a lot of fun to be able to ask questions w/o the person knowing who the question is coming from!

 

I second elfster. So easy to organize!

[lady_cruiser]

My friends and I did this on a recent cruise andd we decided that with just a large group it would take too long to play secret cruise director (too early for secret Santa) or white elephant. So as each person brought in a gift we placed their names in a hat and put their unwrapped gift on a table. When it came time to exchange gifts we pulled names from the hat and that person got to choose which gift he/she wanted and they got to keep it.