whats a unique way my staff can exchange gifts. something diff other than secret santa or white elephant..?

Answer 1

Yankee Swap Gift Exchange

Another variation on the gift exchange is a fun game called Yankee Swap. Suitable for small to large groups, the game, also going by Yankee Doodle or Dirty Santa, adds an element of excitement and humor to traditional gift giving.
In Yankee Swap each participant brings a wrapped, unmarked gift and places it in a designated area. Guests are given numbers as they arrive, or their names are randomly drawn, and they select and unwrap gifts from the pile in that order — with a twist.

The person who receives the number 1 will pick a gift (that is not their own) from the pile and open it for all to see (or models it, reads it, or demos it). During the selection of a wrapped gift, the participant may visually inspect the gifts, pick them up and/or gently shake them.

The person who receives number 2 then chooses a gift and opens it, and then must decide whether to keep it or swap it for the first player’s gift. Each person in order then gets to select a present, open it and decide whether to keep it or swap it for any other gift someone has already opened.

Opening of gifts and swapping takes place until all the presents have been chosen. Finally, the person who picked first gets to choose from all the gifts or keep what he/she has already received. In the end, the gift you are holding is the gift you take home.

With the GuessList service, organizing and managing a Yankee Swap gift exchange is now easier and much more fun. Using GuessList, a gift exchange manager is able to:

Send fun email invitations to a group of friends, family or coworkers, inviting them to participate in your Yankee Swap gift exchange.


Enter all the participants’ names in a virtual “hat.” The system, using the patent-pending RIDDLE algorithm, randomizes all the names and selects each participant’s number for you.

Create a customized Yankee Swap Gift Exchange page, which enables all participants to post RSVP responses and comments, as well as wish lists.


Manage a Yankee Swap gift exchange year after year, guaranteeing that participants do not get the same number two (or more) years in a row.



Or you can go with a theme and each pick a gift to exchange in that category.

Happy Holidays!

Answer 2

A friend of mine does this at her Christmas party. Men bring a gift for a man and label it as such (you don't list who it's from). Women do the same. There can also be "for anyone" pile if you want. Then the gifts are distributed so each person gets one. They've done it that way for many years and it always works out great.

Answer 3

what about a scavenger hunt? Draw numbers and have the different things hidden through out the building. It seems way too involved I know, but it just kinda popped into my head

Answer 4

hide n seek ...like a easter egg hunt