7 Awesome Christmas Gift Exchange Ideas for All Ages

You really can’t go wrong with the classic- and it works in just about any setting, too (the office, friends, family, classrooms, etc.) If you’ve never done a Secret Santa or Secret Snowflake gift exchange before, it’s a pretty simple concept: you set a price limit that works for your group and then each participant draws a recipient’s name from a hat without sharing who they got. The name they chose is who they have to buy a gift for. 

Then, gifters can either reveal their identities as they pass out gifts or you can have everyone guess who their Secret Santa was. Plus, you can easily do a Secret Santa exchange via mail if you’re celebrating long-distance- you can even reveal your identities over Zoom!

Rather than draw names and shop for specific people, in a Yankee Swap, each person buys one nice, quality gift (that stays at or below a chosen price point) and wraps it, keeping their gift a secret. Come exchange day, everyone draws a number and each number represents the order in which people get to choose their gifts. The first person will open their chosen gift before the second person chooses, and so on. Recipients can choose to steal one of the open gifts from someone who went before them (those who already opened one would get to open a new one, in this case), or open a new one.

Another classic, in a White Elephant gift exchange, participants follow the same rules as a Yankee Swap, but with one major twist: the gifts are weird. More for a crowd with a sense of humour, the gifts you choose for a White Elephant swap can be just about anything (again, under a set price limit) from things you already own and no longer want to the strangest things you can find at the store- something another person might be able to use, but weird and unique nonetheless.

You can buy gifts for everyone or follow the general rules of a Secret Santa or Yankee Swap if you’d like- it really just depends on who you’re exchanging gifts with. The structure is up to you, but the concept is what matters- everyone buys gifts that fit a certain theme. Try to pick a theme that everyone can get behind or you can even have everyone submit a theme on a piece of paper and have someone draw one out of a hat. 

For the little ones (or young at heart), set up a row of chairs or pillows and place a wrapped gift near each seat. Choose music kids love and stop the music sporadically, which is the signal for participants to take the seat nearest to them. At the end, each child will be given the gift under or nearest to their chair or pillow. 

Channel your inner child with a gift-based scavenger hunt. Have everyone in your crew buy small to medium-size gifts and wrap them. At someone’s home, hide the presents. You can limit it to a basement, the backyard, or even the whole house. Once everyone finds a present, gather in one room and have each person open the gift they found for a fun surprise- do it one at a time or all at once! 

For a little friendly competition, set a price point and have everyone buy a gift that they leave unwrapped, so everyone can see what they are. Put the gifts on display with empty cups or jars next to them. Give everyone the same amount of fake money (Monopoly money works great for this!). Have each person go up and show off the gift they bought, asking for bids. The person with the highest bid wins the gift. Do this until all of these gifts have been distributed.