Why Not… Host a Gift Exchange
The December holidays will be here before you know it, so why not get ahead of the game while you can? Since the holidays tend to be a time when wallets are stretched to the max, a simple way to cut down on costs is by limiting the sheer volume of gifts you need to purchase. Enter: The Secret Santa Gift Exchange. Instead of buying each of your friends a gift, host a gift exchange where each person gives only one gift within a given price range.
Here’s how a Secret Santa Gift Exchange works:
- Confirm who will be involved in the gift exchange.
- Then randomly assign each person to whom they must anonymously give a gift. (This is easiest if you have everyone draw names from a hat.)
- Decide on a price range.
- Plan a get together where each person shows up with his or her assigned gift.
- Exchange gifts, eat, drink and be merry!
Aside from the fact that this is a great budget-conscious option to consider for the holidays, it’s also just plain fun. It’s a great reason to get together with friends over the holidays and you avoid the awkward question of who you should give gifts to.
For more tips and insights, check out my Holiday Gift Giving Etiquette blog.
Have you hosted a gift exchange? Or participated in one before? If you have any helpful tips, share them below!
Also, be sure to check out our holiday wish list too!
XO Lauren
Photo: The Glitter Guide
81 comments
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Here are some fun gift ideas!
For a White Elephant Gift or if you draw a guys name:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/117840194/mr-manly-mug-black-mustache-mug
Or for the girls on your list:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/117899008/genuine-leather-blue-hair-bow-large
https://www.etsy.com/listing/117888872/leather-keychain-genuine-leather-tassel
All these are under $10 which is awesome because the white elephant party I'm going to this weekend has a $10 limit! -
Christmas is coming. Everyone is waiting for Santa. He will bring gifts to all. Excitement is everywhere. People are busy in buying gifts. You can get great discounts for home appliances.
https://drsnooze.com/ -
A Holiday Gift Exchange is a wonderful idea especially if you have a lot of friends and it also works for classmates and co-workers too.
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Super smart for those of us who are new to the working world and don't have much money!
We did this in my sorority but made it more of a white elephant deal so you still only brought one but it was a hilarious gift!
Stay warm at work
http://thebuscas.com/2012/11/29/fight-the-cold/ -
I love gift exchanges!! If you are hosting a secret santa but can't get everyone together before hand you can use a site like SecretSants.com to organize everything for you. Here are some more ways that you can hold a holiday gift exchange.
http://thepreppyplanner.weebly.com/1/post/2012/11/tuesday-ten-holiday-events.html
xo
Megan
The Preppy Planner -
love gift exchanges. they are such a good way to make sure you can buy a nice gift for a friend, but not break the bank by buying one for everyone. i haven't gotten organized enough to do one this year, but it's already on my list for next year!
http://hooleywithaz.wordpress.com -
nice idea, it reminds me of my highschools days...so when i was in highschool, at the beginnig of the Advent, we drew our names, that were written on the piece of paper. The person, that you randomly drew, is the one, that you should pray through the whole Advent, and at the end buy a gift. the trick was that you never knew, who was praying for you, until the end.
nesto-netko-negdje.blogspot.com -
I love doing secret santa, once we have drawn names, everyone that participates does a group email with their likes and dislikes and this helps us in getting our people things they really like and avoid getting them something they will never use or enjoy! -
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Secret Santa exchange had been a tradition for my girlfriends and me for years now. We love using elfster.com to organize our exchanges.. You can use it to secretly choose your giftees and create wish lists!
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I love "Secret Santa"! I'm totally going yo run this idea by my friends this year :) Check out my blog: http://thechicstreetblog.blogspot.com/ -
This is also a great idea for a large family! I have 6 siblings and buying presents for everyone and our parents is tough, so we do secret santa between the siblings every year. It's also fun because each sibling has different taste, so you usually get something different each year that reflects a little bit of who gives it to you.
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I love gift exchanges, we do one with the girls Bible study.
http://ohthethingsyoucanwear.blogspot.com/ please check out my blog! -
Hi Lauren!
Here in Colombia there is a tradition like that but it's for September, we don't celebrate valentine's day, but it's something like that and the game's name is "secret friend" The idea is to keep the name of the person whom our gift is going, in secret. and just reveal it in the gift exchange... I have to say it's a good idea to make it in December too! -
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This is the 2nd year my family and I are doing it.. It's my 3 older brothers, my sister-in-law and myself... It's fun, we set the limit at 40$... I got my sister-in-law last year, and this year I have the youngest of my brothers. It's so neat, and this is a great way to not tress out with the family... You don't have to think, did I not get them enough, did they get more than me, because you don't want to make them feel bad or anything, ya know? -
you can also use a site like www.elfster.com to organize a gift exchange and it will actually do the random assignments for you :)
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I love being part of a gift exchange! It takes the stress off finding something original for everyone.
Also, thanks for the throw-back to the gift exchange etiquette article. Good reread for this time of the year! -
My floor is having a gift exchange :) It is a little difficult to find something for someone you don't know as well, but it has also been a little fun :)
http://alittleglitzneverhurts.blogspot.com -
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Great idea! Think I might want to do this!
For for fashion and beauty advice, please check out my blog: http://myfashavenue.blogspot.ca/
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xo
Deanne
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