BY DEB SCHLEEDE
Gift-giving between family, friends, coworkers, and other
peers is a large part of the holiday season. At many celebrations, most
offices, groups, organizations and families on a budget do a variation of the
traditional “get a gift for everyone involved” by implementing a Secret Santa
system — also known as Secret Friend, Invisible Friend, or Non-Denominational
Holiday Icon — to keep costs down. The general rules
are that each person involved anonymously gives a gift to one other person in the
group, there is often a cost limit, and revealing the gift-givers name is usually
optional.
           Secret Santa
is easy to put together, it works, it saves money, and it’s fun. But as someone
who participates in many Secret Santa events during the holidays, it has gotten
stale. Last year I participated in a personal record of 12 different Secret
Santa events between festivities with my coworkers, different groups of
friends, club members, and multiple branches of the family. While entirely
grateful for the opportunity to be cheap during the holidays, each celebration
was almost identical, and by the 12th run I never wanted to hear the words “Secret
Santa” again. For anyone else out there sick of the norm, let’s kick the secret
out of Santa once and for all. There are many gift-giving alternatives or
variations that are both group- and budget-friendly, and which can make a
holiday party a lot more memorable
One of the most popular alternatives is a White
Elephant Exchange, also known as Yankee Swap, Dirty Santa, Devil’s Santa, Nasty
Christmas, Snatchy Christmas Rat, or The Grinch Game.
Similar to Secret Santa, participants only purchase one gift (often within a
budget limit) while making sure that the gift is appropriate for anyone in the
group. At the holiday event all of the gifts are wrapped and put together in a
pile. Some sort of opening order is then determined — perhaps in order of age,
or alphabetical by name, by birth date, or by numbers in a hat.
           The first
person opens a gift of their choosing from the pile, shows it to the crowd, and
then second person chooses. Person No. 2 can either open a gift from the pile,
or they may snatch the gift that was already opened. If they choose to take a
gift from someone else, the injured party gets to open another gift from the
pile. This game play continues for the rest of the participants until all gifts
are gone. Gifts can be stolen from anyone, but generally a limit on “steals” is
placed so that a highly desirable gift isn’t stolen by every single person.
This exchange turns holiday gift-giving into a fun game and involves each
participant, all while preserving bank accounts. Most importantly, it’s not
nearly as boring as regular Secret Santa. White Elephant works especially well
for offices and clubs, as group-appropriate gifts are sometimes easier to
purchase.
Another alternative is the Christmas Casino Game,
which is similar to the White Elephant Exchange but with a bit more risk
involved. Again, each participant purchases only one gift, making sure that the
item is appropriate for anyone in the group. At the gathering the wrapped gifts
are piled together. Each participant is also asked to put a specific amount of
money in a pot — $5 is good enough even for the biggest penny-pinchers. Similar
to the White Elephant, participants again need to decide an order in which
everyone takes their turn.
           Game play in
Christmas Casino gives each person three options: they may choose a gift from
the pile, they may put their name in a raffle for the loot of cash, or they can
put their name in for a raffle of all unclaimed gifts (as people who go for
either of the raffles will not be guaranteed a gift). The gifts are opened and
the two raffles are drawn once each person has made their choice.
           This game
can be fun for everyone, as conservatives who prefer to avoid risk can simply
pick to open a gift, while those who want some excitement can gamble for a
larger prize. Some people will walk away with nothing, but it is typically not
a problem if no one is a sore loser and the party has plenty of food and fun.
This is a game better suited for adults since it is a bit of a gamble.
A fun alternative game that is both exciting and a
little goofy is the Christmas Auction. Each participant is asked to bring a few
gifts for this game, generally two to four items per person. However, only half
of their gifts are “real” gifts that are appropriate for the participants,
while the other half are gag gifts. The “real” gifts can be cheap — yummy
treats, books, or scratch-off lottery tickets will suffice. On the other hand,
the gag gifts can be completely worthless (think toilet paper, gaudy jewelry,
or a toilet seat).
           At the
event, all gifts are placed together and every person is given play money that
they will use during the auction itself. Monopoly money or fake money printed
off a computer works well enough. You can give whatever amount you want to
participants depending on how many gifts there are, or how crazy you want the
auctioning to get, as more money often means more outrageous bets on worthless
crap. Someone will pay $500 for that roll of scotch tape, guaranteed.
           As far as
game play, there are two ways of going about it. You can do a silent auction
where everyone goes around the table and writes down what they’re willing to
bet for items. But that’s boring. Instead, you can have willing participants
take turns playing as an auctioneer with everyone else signaling their bets.
The game is more fun with an auctioneer who can describe the gifts and try to
make them more or less appealing, plus it makes it more engaging for everyone.
While it is possible for someone to walk away with only gag gifts, if enough
gifts are available at the beginning, it’s an unlikely outcome. This game can
be fun for all groups including families, and can be appropriate for kids too
as long as they somewhat understand how bidding works.
           If gift
exchanges like these are a too much for your group, you can spice up
traditional the Secret Santa by making it a theme. Say everyone has to exchange
ornaments, food, or other items possibly pertaining to whatever organization
your holiday party relates. Or if you want to forego giving gifts altogether,
you can also choose to benefit a charity and donate all the gifts involved
instead.
This article appears in Nov 22-22, 2011.
