Alternative to gift exchange with family

My dh's family always gives gag gifts very beautifully wrapped. You have to give a little thought to it but very little money. You draw a name and shop in your attic or basement, local thrift store, or even a grocery store. A few examples would be Aunt Suzie had lost about 50 pounds and still around 250 and received a slightly used sexy nightie, in a size small to give her a goal, from a thrift store. Uncle Charles had lost his leg years befor and one year he got a gorgeous pair of used cowboy boots, to realize his childhood dream of being a cowboy. The first year I went was before we were married and I was the first girl my husband had ever brought to his Grandparent's home, I received a slightly used WEDDING DRESS and DIAPERS, guess what they had in mind. It is all in good fun (and humiliation on my part) especially after a few drinks. The more creative your family is the more fun. These people shop year round looking for their "special gifts" for their loved ones. It is a blast.

have you ever played rob your neighbor?

Tudu - my family would likely love the gag gift exchange! LOL! Mckenna - no...do I dare ask???:)

everyone who wants to play brings a 5-10 dollar wrapped gift. all the gifts go in the middle of the circle. you get two dice and if you roll a 7 or 10 (not sure if those are the right number, but you get the idea), you get to pick a present out of the center. once all the gifts have been picked, you set a timer (10-15 minutes). you keep rolling the dice now if you get a 7 or 10 you get to steal from someone. you can make a rule that when the 10-15 minutes is up you get to keep what you have (which may mean some get nothing & some get 3or 4 gifts) or if you have more than one gift, you get to keep the one you want and give the others to someone who did not end up with a gift. it is fun!

How about a Yankee Swap? We do this at my office. Everyone brings one inexpensive often silly gift, wrapped. Each person draws a number. Then, according to the number you've drawn people open a gift. After it's opened you either get to choose to keep it or swap it with someone else's. It goes like this: #1 opens a gift, say it's potholders # 2 opens a gift, a book. #2 decides to keep the book #3 opens a gift, a bottle of wine #3 decides to keep the wine #4 opens a gift, a notebook. #4 swaps the notebook for the bottle of wine #5 opens a gift, a box of crayons #5 decides to take the wine from #4 and gives him the crayons. After everyone has gone, #1 gets to decide whether to swap or not. It can be fun!

Good ideas and with my family, I know we'd have a great time. My only concern is the kids...they probably won't "get it"...kwim? I also know that some members of my family are wishing to find something that doesn't include any type of gift exchange at all and yet still want something fun to take the place of that time we spend together. We eat, play a couple of board games etc. but then the gift exchange is also an activity. Wondering what other type of activity we could replace it with?

what about some kind of make and take craft???

What about a white elephant? You bring things from your house that you don't use anymore, wrapped of course, and then number them. Everyone draws numbers and gets their gift. Then you can trade if people will trade with you. The last one I went to I got the bottom half of a cookie jar but not the top. I did trade for the top, so now my mom has a beautiful christmas chicken cookie jar.

This year we are donating every dollar we would have spent on holiday gifts to a project in Guatemala that is helping to re-establish mudslide victims. We are doing it in the name of our family and will list everyone's name individually. They will receive a card with a copy of our letter to the organization listing all their names. That's one way to stick to a budget! I predict that this will be our *new* holiday tradition. For the kids, if you feel stongly about presenting something perhaps a make it/bake it/sew it/grow it gift? We did that before and it was fun. There were alot of crafty activities going on and most of us had a blast.

My uncle's family draws names, but they must make the gift. Some in the family didn't like this because they felt that they weren't crafty, but some of those came up with the best things. The other thing I have heard of is to maybe spend the 1 hour or 2 hours that you might be opening gifts and go to serve food at a homeless shelter or retirement home. Give to others.

At my husband's work party we do a slightly different variation to stealing. Everyone brings an untagged gift, usually has a monetary cap. Each person draws a number from a hat, then: #1 picks a gift #2 picks a gift or chooses to steal #1's gift #3 picks a gifts or chooses to steal one of the other gifts already openned If your gift is stolen from you, you can then steal someone elses (but you can't steal back the one you just lost) or you can choose an unopenned. And so on. The big difference from Spay's version is that the person has to either choose an *unopenned* gift not taken or an openned gift, and a gift can only be stolen 2 times, then it's "dead." If the gift you really wanted is stolen from you (a box of See's for instance), and it's only been stolen once (meaning it's still "alive"), you're only chance of stealing the Sees back is to have the gift you ended up with stolen from you and then you're free to steal again- I hope that makes sense. Or you get your spouse to steal the See's for you. This works great, there's lots of wheeling and dealing, and spousal manouvering. You never know what will be a hit, one year we brought a banana holder, and I kid you not people fought over it. Another great gift is a back scratcher, what is it about men and back scratchers?! I always bring something I want, in case there is nothing else worth stealing I can steal my own gift. The only really tricky part is having a mix of kids and adults. We did have a few parties when I was a kid that I ended up with booze as my gift (always from a family friend who didn't realize that their gift could end up with a kid), and I then got to pick which adult I wanted to trade with.

I love this white elephant idea! We've got too much stuff around the house as it is. Don't get more new stuff, swap old stuff!

I really like the White Elephant idea too. Although it is too late for it this yr for our family, I will definately suggest it next year. Infact I think this idea could be used yr round as an excuse for getting all the friends and family together. Maybe a pot luck or wine and cheese night out for the girls.:grouphug: :clap: . My suggestion, although not nearly as good as the White Elephant idea ...oh forget it the White Elephant idea rocks.:D

Last year we exchanged help around the house. We thought it was a great idea, but I am still waiting for the siblings to make the trek towards my place to help out for a day. This year we are back to Pollyanna, aka picking names out of the hat. We all buy for the kids, but at least it cuts the parents, and siblings out of the picture.

Thanks guys...:) I'm going to suggest to the family that the kids exchange gifts but the adults either do a white elephant, or any of the above fun swaps. We shall see...it's difficult to get 30 people to agree on one thing...LOL!