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Have you ever heard of a Chinese gift exchange? The directions follow, it is lots of fun and takes some time. Chinese Gift Exchange
There's probably nothing really Chinese about it. But I don't know. There's also nothing gender-specific about it, but since at the parties where we do this the women usually outnumber the men, I'll use the words "she" and "her".
It's what we do at one of our annual Christmas parties around here, and it's a lot of fun.

The rules go something like this:


Everybody brings one gift, wrapped. It should not be bought new for the occasion. It should not be fancy or expensive, but it should not be just plain junk either.
It's not a bad idea for a few people to bring an extra item in case somebody else hasn't gotten clued in,
Pile all the gifts in one place (and make sure they don't get mixed up with other gifts in the host's house).
Everyone who participates is expected to stay all the way to the end; splitting the scene with your gift can be seen as poor sportsmanship, and probably the best etiquette for earlier departers would be to put the gift back in the pile, even though it's open.
Check that the number of gifts at least equals the number of participants; it's a bummer if there's nothing for the last person. Prepare a set of numbered slips, folded and put in a bowl or hat; when you are ready to start everyone takes a number.
The person who drew number 1 takes a gift from the pile, opens the gift and sits down with the gift in plain sight, generally on her lap.
Then "2" then takes a gift, either from the pile or from 1. Then 2 sits down with the gift displayed. If 1's gift was taken, then 1 gets to take another from the pile. She cannot directly take back the gift that was just taken from her. She may be able to get it later, however.
Then "3" gets up and can take a gift, either from the pile, or from 1 or 2, in which case that person can take either a new gift, or one from another person, but not the gift that was just taken from her.
Etc. etc. and the very last person has the choice of all of the previous gifts, or the one (or more) still in the pile. Toward the end of the game it's not at all unusual for a lot of gifts to move around in a single turn before finally somebody takes a gift from the pile.
If there are still gifts left in the pile when all the numbers are accounted for, whatever people agree to do with them is fine.
Attempts to limit the number of times an item can change hands usually bring less than satisfactory results. The only rule here is that you can't directly take back something that was just taken from you, though the next time something else is taken from you, then you can get back the earlier item from whoever has it then, even the person who got it from you. No guarantee you'll keep it for long, however.
If someone brings a relatively expensive and very nice gift and the hostess gets it, which I've seen happen more than once, it's somewhat likely that nobody will mess with it, and that is probably karmically OK. Aside from that everything is fair game from start to finish, and expensive stuff brings out greed, ruins the game, etc., so make sure everybody knows not to bring any. There's a difference between wanting and coveting.

A Scenario:
1 takes a gift from the pile and unwraps it. It's a coffee cup with "Been There -- Done That -- Forgot Already" on it.
2 thinks about taking the cup but then takes a gift from the pile. It's a paper towel holder.
3 likes the paper towel holder and takes it from 2.
Then 2 says what the heck and takes the cup from 1.
1 then takes another gift from the pile. It's a can of olives.
4 takes a gift from the pile. It's a combination lock.
5 takes the can of olives from 1
1 takes the lock from 4
4 takes the cup from 2
2 takes the can of olives from 5
5 shrugs and takes a gift from the pile. It's a microwave bacon tray.
6 takes a gift from the pile. It's a teapot.
7 takes the teapot from 6
6 takes the cup from 4
4 takes a gift from the pile
and so on. It generally gets going a little slower than this, but it does get lively soon enough.
... Later somebody takes the lock from 1, and then 1, who had the cup in the first place, takes it from 6. No telling where it will end up.

2006-11-27 12:14:29 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2 0

3 ideas, depending on the age of the boys and girls, Christmas themed trivia games are fun for both adults and children (have a prize at the end for the kid/adult who answered the most questions right. It's best to break up the kids from the adults, so you might need 2 different gifts depending on how many people are there). Questions about the Grinch and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer etc. Also, Im from CT, so you can do a yankee swap. This also works for adults and kids. Have everyone coming to the party bring a gift valued at whatever price you want. Then you can do a yankee swap. Depending on how may people are there, do the kid swap first, then the adults. A Yankee Swap is where everyone picks a number (for the amt of people & gifts there). Then #1 picks first. #2 can pick either #1's gift or a gift from the pile etc, etc. At the end everyone goes home with something and you didn't have to pay for it, your guests did. Maybe you picked good, maybe you took something from someone else. It's all great fun. You can also fill jars with m&m's or jelly beans and have everyone at the party guess how many are in each jar. The closest wins the jar of whatever you put in it.

2006-11-27 15:22:20 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

Ok. This might seem a little immature but getting a pinata is a good idea. You'd be surprised at how much 12 year olds like to hit things and make lots of sweets fall out! You could also put in some other little toys rather than just sweets because they are 12 after all. You could also give a larger prize to the person that manages to break the pinata. Give everyone a turn. Otherwise, you could have the party somewhere other than your house. That way party games won't really be necessary. How about a bowling alley? -Hope i helped :)

2016-05-23 15:46:40 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

Suggest Christmas caroling!

2006-11-27 11:53:40 · answer #4 · answered by HotInTX 5 · 0 0

"each other Santa" ask everybody to bring a little box, like a shoe box. Taht will become their mail box. and allow the people to leave anonimous (or not) notes to the other participants of the party as if they were santa. Try to organize it so no body gets cought and try that the people send messages for fun, as much as for getting any

2006-11-27 11:55:36 · answer #5 · answered by epadaniel 2 · 0 0

White Elephant... Everyone brings a wrapped gift, but it's usually something silly. Then, pile them up in the center, and draw numbers. People can pick from someone that already got a gift as well.

2006-11-27 15:01:59 · answer #6 · answered by korean_godess 2 · 0 0

There is Christmas Caroling.
Dress up as your favourtie Christmas character.
Have christmas themed food and decorations
Ask them what they like and use those ideas to help you.

Good Luck and have fun with it.

2006-11-27 15:50:06 · answer #7 · answered by Joey L 2 · 0 0

maybe you can do some caroling and find some recipes to bake Christmas cookies. good luck.

2006-11-27 12:35:44 · answer #8 · answered by ? 2 · 0 0

Do something that involes chrismas colors
Go to google and goole what you need its real simple

2006-11-27 11:54:24 · answer #9 · answered by All your anwsers are here 1 · 0 0

wot about a fancy dressed party!

2006-11-27 12:12:20 · answer #10 · answered by foxy lady 4 · 0 0

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