Gift Exchange Games

Gift exchange games are the best Christmas party games. You can also play exchange games for birthday parties, showers, Halloween parties, New Years and more.

We're unwrapping the best gift exchange game ideas on the planet. You'll even get gift exchange printable games for adults and kids. Let the party begin!

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	White Elephant Gift Exchange The white elephant gift exchange is one of the most loved Christmas gift exchange games. Gift giving rivals gift stealing as part of the fun! Any gift is game, a regift, funny gag gift, and of course, a white elephant! It also makes a great idea for exchanging all those unwanted gifts at a New Year's Eve party!
	Dirty Bingo Dirty Bingo is not what you might think! It's a sneaky version of bingo with a gift exchange added in. "Dirty Bingo" is great for both kids and adult Christmas parties. Find out more about fantastic game and why it's one visitor's Christmas tradition.
	Left Right Game This one's excellent for bridal shower, baby shower and Christmas party gift exchange games. Gifts travel from left to right based on a narrative you create. Get some examples of the narrative you'll write and see how much fun this gift exchange game can be!
	Christmas Gag Gifts Looking for the perfect item for your secret Santa ideas or holiday gift exchange. These gag gifts are the ticket to loads of laughs and lots of fun. Take a peek!
	A "Bag Lady" Party Find a gently used wonderful something and "re-gift" it. The best way to recycle is to use again! Michele of Hot Springs, Arkansas gives us the details of this creative party theme idea.
	New Year's Eve Party Games A selection of New Year's Eve party games, including an After Christmas Re-Gift Exchange games, as well as other activities perfect for tossing out the old and rallying in the new.
	Trick of Treat Gift Exchange Game Gift Exchange Games are great fun not just for Christmas or Birthday Parties. Make your treats gross, funny or true gags and play this gift exchange game with a tricky twist.
	Mystery Gift Exchange Game In the Mystery Gift Exchange Game guests unwrap layered gifts. This game is almost as much fun to set up as it is to play. You include dares, activities and gifts in each layer of the gift.

Gift Exchange Games have Happy Returns!

Cheers, from Jennifer, the host of Themed-Party-Ideas.com. Gift exchange games are a part of my holiday party every year. No matter the theme, whether it's a cocktail party or a funny Christmas party theme, games are always a hit.

A Christmas party game that we always play is the white elephant gift exchange game. You can play this Christmas party game with 5 people or 50!

One year my mother sent me a wonderful hand painted pig shaped soup terrine. Not having much practical use for this thing, she told me I could give it away as my white elephant gift.

I loved the pig, and reluctantly wrapped it and set it under the tree for the annual exchange game.

I was completely surprised at the response to the pig. The ladies at the party went crazy over the pig! It was stolen three times (the maximum amount for the gift exchange game).

Emotionally torn, I was both sad and happy to see the pig leave with one of my guests.

For years the pig was talked about, "Remember the time Jennifer gave the pig at the party?".

Christmas Party Traditions Live On!

This year, we played the white elephant game once again (it gets funnier every year).

When my number came up in the game, everyone cheered, "Open this one, open this one!" So I did, of course.

Much to my surprise, it was the long lost pig. Home at last, home at last!!! "Look inside," someone yelled. Inside the pig were love notes from my friends ... I couldn't hold back the tears!

The pig is on my dining room table where he will live for at least one more year. Maybe he will return to the gift exchange once again.

When it comes to gift exchange games, mystery is the element that's so much fun!

Because the white elephant gift exchange game is so popular, we have developed a white elephant party kit. The kit adds just the right amount of details to make the game even more memorable.

You can print a kit for yourself and make this Christmas party game your own annual Christmas tradition.

White Elephant Gift Exchange Party Kit
(up to 60 players)

The printable party kit includes:

• Printable White Elephant Invitations
• 60 Whimsical and Funny Fortunes (each numbered for the game)
• 20 Beautiful White Elephant Gift Tags (with funny expressions)
• The Official White Elephant Rules Poster and Poem

For easy printing, the 60 fortune cards are designed for Avery 8371 perforated business card stock, available online, at Walmart, Office Stores, etc. But you can also print them on card stock or plain paper and cut them apart.

White Elephant Printable Party Game
and Party Kit
$5.99

Christmas Gift Exchange Games

Then you, the host, can contribute a few nice gifts that everyone will want to "steal". A good bottle of wine or a gift certificate to a nice restaurant is sure to cause a gift exchange frenzy!

If you don't set a price limit, then your party will surely have a variety of white elephant gifts, including gag-gifts and a few nice gifts too!

Every year, my friends ask, "Are you doing the white elephant gift exchange again for this year's Christmas party? It's my favorite part of the party!"

Yes, we play the white elephant gift exchange at every Christmas party. But some years, I give it a twist! The Naughty or Nice party game is very much like the white elephant party. But, you never know which gift giver is on Santa's naughty or nice list!

Since everyone loves gift exchange games so much I even found a way to create a gift exchange out of pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey for my husband's 40th birthday! It was a big hit, proving that any party is a great time for gift exchange games.

Secret Santa Gift Exchange Game

The Secret Santa gift exchange game is perfect for large family gatherings or office Christmas parties, where you don't want for everyone to have to give a gift to everyone else.

It can be simple or involved, often depending on the budget you want to set. For the simple version, just have everyone place their name in a jar for a drawing (or if people can't meet, then you'll need one person to draw for everyone else).

Each name can be accompanied by a checklist that tells the giver if this person has any special requests, dislikes, allergies, etc. (See an example checklist on our Secret Santa Ideas page.

Then everyone gets a gift for the person whose name they drew. The fun is not only in receiving the gift, but in guessing the giver's identity. The the gift receiver gets a poetic clue about the giver's identity: "Who's Secret Santa? Here's a clue. She likes to ____ and likes you too!"

For a more involved version of Secret Santa, give gifts for a few days or a week. In an office situation, the gifts could all be placed in one location.

The gift giver will write a clue for each gift. So that yours will be the best, visit our secret santa poems page for some ideas!

You should set a dollar limit on the gift or gifts. Some great ideas for office secret santa gifts are on this page.

Trick or Treat Halloween Gift Exchange

This gift exchange game is called, the "Trick or Treat Gift Exchange" for a reason! You could get a trick or you could get a treat. You'll have to play to find out!

For a Trick or Treat Halloween Gift Exchange, gag gifts, gross gifts, Halloween treats and even tricks are the order of the day!

Each guest should conceal his or her gift in a brown paper bag and tape or staple it shut to hide the contents. The host writes numbers on slips of paper and has each guest who brought a gift draw a number.

Guests take turns selecting a gift in the order of the number he or she drew. Number 1 selects first, then number 2, and so forth. Everyone selects a gift but doesn't open it until it is their turn.

Then the opening of the gifts begins in order of numbers. If a player opens a trick instead of a treat, he may steal the gift that the next person selected before he or she opens it. In other words, the player doesn't know what he is stealing.

In exchange the undesired trick gift is given to the person whose gift was stolen. And that person may keep the gift or steal the next person's gift and give them the undesired gift. Now that's a really dirty trick!

Each player only has one opportunity to steal a gift. Once the player makes his selection, his gift can't be stolen and he can no long steal a gift.

This continues until all gifts are opened.

Games make exchanging gifts at your fall and winter holiday or Halloween party so much more fun. Guests can loosen up and really enjoy themselves!

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