25 Christmas Gift Exchange Games and Ideas for Home or Work

This huge list of Christmas gift exchange ideas is perfect for your holiday party with friends, co-workers, or family! A fun collection of gift exchange games, themed holiday gift exchange ideas, and more!

Christmas is hands down one of my favorite holidays! I absolutely love creating my own DIY Christmas decorations, making our house look like a winter wonderland, and selecting the perfect gifts for the people I care about. Then there are all the yummy treats, like these super easy and delicious chocolate pretzel Christmas trees! 

We have a large extended family, and every year we try to do a different Christmas gift exchange game! It keeps everyone guessing, and it always ends up with lots of laughter, gift stealing, and covert spy operations to see who has gotten what! 

If you want to start your own gift-giving tradition at your office or home, try one of these fun gift exchange ideas! 

Christmas Gift Exchange Games for the Office 

These office gift exchange ideas will spread so much holiday cheer, even Steve from IT will have a smile on his face! 

Gift Auction 

This office gift exchange game is perfect for those who like a little competition! Your workplace can provide the gifts, or you can set a spending limit (think $15-$20) and ask each participant to bring a wrapped present. 

Each person will receive a certain amount of artificial coins or fake money. You can also use this free printable Christmas play money. The host will select a gift from the pile and put it up for “auction.” Those who are interested will bid using their fake money. Whoever bids highest wins the gift! Play until all the gifts are distributed. 

Left Right Game

Your colleagues will have a blast playing this fun gift exchange game! Beforehand, decide on a dollar amount to stay under. Have everyone sit in a circle holding their gift. 

The host begins reading a story, and every time the word “left” is read, everyone passes their gift to the person on their left. The same goes for when they read the word “right”. Once the story is finished, everyone opens the gift they’re holding. *You can grab some free printable left right Christmas story templates here!

Alphabet Gift Exchange

If you’re looking for an easy gift exchange idea for work, you’ve found it! Each participant will draw the name of the person they’ll be buying the gift for. Their task is to find a gift that begins with the first letter of the person’s first name, within the agreed-upon spending limit. 

12 Days of Christmas Gift Exchange 

This holiday gift exchange for the office works best with 12 people, but you can also accommodate larger groups by doubling up on numbers/days. Each person draws a number labeled 1 through 12. Then your gift has to relate to that number in the 12 Days of Christmas song.  For example, if you draw 5, then you could bring something related to gold or rings or the number five.

Alternatively, you can have everyone bring a small gift for someone for 12 days, each gift corresponding to the day in the song. People can draw names for who they give their gift to, or they can simply trade with someone. 

*Go here for 12 Days of Christmas gift ideas – and these printable gift tags!

Crazy Christmas Socks

Everyone needs a pair of crazy holiday socks, especially for work! For this holiday office gift exchange, each person buys a pair of socks and fills them with goodies! 

First, have everyone decide on a spending limit for both the socks and goodies. Next, draw names so that each person knows who they’re buying for. Alternatively, you can give everyone a short questionnaire with questions about their favorite color, candy, and so on. 

Each person buys a pair of the craziest, most colorful holiday socks they can find. Then they fill the socks with items they think their person will enjoy, such as gift cards, holiday candies, homemade cookies, or even a bottle of wine! 

The Numbers Game Exchange 

For the Numbers Game, the party host will give each participant a number and a piece of paper. Write down a fun or interesting fact about yourself on the paper. Once the host has collected all the gifts, they’ll put everyone’s paper in a hat or bowl. 

One by one, the host will draw a piece of paper and read the fact without revealing the number or name. Everyone in the audience will guess who the fact describes. The person who guesses correctly will get a gift with that number. 

Grab Bag Exchange 

Grab Bag is a hilarious Christmas gift exchange game where appearances are not all they seem! For this game, each person brings a gift wrapped in a deceiving way. For example, you can place a small box inside several larger boxes or use paper to alter the shape of the gift. 

Everyone places their gift on a table or in a large container or bag, selecting a gift based on its appearance or at random. Once everyone has chosen a present, they can open it and see if it’s what they expected. Getting surprised is the best part of the game! 

Holiday Sweets Swap 

This Christmas gift exchange idea is sure to satisfy everyone’s sweet tooth, and it’s easy on the wallet! Ask each participant to bring several batches of their favorite holiday treats (such as bars, candy, or cookies). Everyone trades so that they can enjoy several treats over the holidays. 

Hot Potato 

A fun twist on a classic party game, this uses gifts instead! Everyone sits in a circle and passes a gift around. The host plays music, randomly stopping it. Once the music stops, the person holding the gift gets to keep it. 

You can also do variations of this game, such as giving the gift to the person who held it last, or doing two or three gifts at the same time. Those who already have a gift can also attempt to distract other participants, throwing balls of wrapping paper at them or loudly singing Christmas carols. 

Gift Exchange Ideas for Your Friends Group

Enjoy celebrating the holiday season with your friends with one of these fun (and funny!) Christmas gift exchange games! 

Merry Make Up

Give your friend the gift of a glow-up with a makeup gift exchange! Ask each person in your friend group to bring their favorite cosmetic item to exchange that falls within your agreed-upon price range. 

You can draw for the items, play a hot potato circle while listening to holiday music, or opt for a Secret Santa-style gift exchange. Gifts can include: 

• Makeup gift sets
• Lip products
• Makeup tools
• Eyeshadow palettes

You could also make fun party favors using sheet face masks and these printable gift tags – a perfect favor to go with the gift exchange theme!

Merry Makings

If you and your friends love giving each other handmade gifts, this is the Christmas gift exchange game for you! First, decide on a budget and theme, like White Elephant or Yankee Swap. Then it’s time to DIY! Each person can choose to create any gift they’d like, from homemade bath bombs to candles to jewelry. 

Go here for over 70 different DIY Christmas gift ideas!

Gift Wrapping Exchange 

Everyone needs wrapping supplies during the holidays, so why not make it a fun experience? For this holiday gift exchange idea, each person creates their own gift wrapping bundle with wrapping paper, bows, and tape. They also need to bring several Christmas gifts with them that require wrapping. You could use these printable wrapping paper gift tags!

Decide how you want to distribute the packages, such as drawing names or numbers. After everyone has a wrapping bundle, it’s time to wrap gifts! Listen to Christmas music, drink hot cocoa, and enjoy being together. 

Guess the Giver 

This holiday gift exchange game tests how well you know your friends! Everyone must bring a wrapped, unlabeled gift. Each gift will be numbered upon arrival. The person who brought the gift will be given a piece of paper with the matching number. 

Each participant will write a little-known fact about themselves on the back of their number and put it in a hat or bowl. The party host draws each piece of paper and reads out the fact without telling the guests what number it is. The person who guesses correctly gets the gift! 

Holiday Sippers Gift Exchange 

Everyone has a favorite drink, so add some holiday spice to your friend circle by bringing anything drink-related within your set budget! It could be a Starbucks gift card, cute coffee mug or tumbler, or ingredients for your favorite cocktail or mocktail. 

Local Only Gift Exchange 

Support your local small businesses by exclusively buying from them for this holiday gift exchange idea. Set a spending limit and discover local treasures within your budget, then exchange them using whichever method you prefer!

Gift Card Exchange 

Everyone loves getting gift cards to their favorite places! For a gift card exchange, each participant brings a wrapped gift card within a set price limit. Decide how gift cards will be exchanged and see what you get! 

Christmas Gift Exchange Games for Families 

Exchanging gifts with family members is extra special because they come from the heart! These gift exchange ideas for family Christmas are sure to add some extra holiday cheer!

Christmas Dice Game

You can play this fun and easy holiday gift exchange game with any age, making it a perfect option for your family! You just need two dice, my free printable Christmas Dice Game, and some paper! Everyone brings a gift, with all participants sitting in a circle. 

Put all the presents in a circle and draw for who gets which gift to hold. Decide who goes first, and have that person roll one dice at a time. The first dice corresponds with the number at the top of the game card, and the second one matches the number on the left side of the card. Complete the action for that turn and go to the next player! 

DIY Ornament Exchange 

Some of my favorite memories are sitting around the kitchen table making handmade ornaments with my girls! For an ornament gift exchange, each person decides what kind of ornament to make. Gather the supplies and then spend an afternoon or evening DIY-ing! 

Each person can either create one epic ornament, and you can do a regular gift exchange, or they can make enough for each family member, and everyone can exchange at the same time. 

Wallet Friendly Wonders

Sometimes the most hilarious, unique family gifts are the ones you can find on a budget! Set a spending amount – let’s say $10. Then each person has to find a gift – or gifts – that don’t exceed that amount. Decide on a theme for exchanging the gifts and enjoy discovering what each person found! 

Experience Exchange 

For this family gift exchange idea, have everyone bring a gift that provides an experience instead of a physical present. These could be things like movie theater tickets, a gift card for a pedicure, a ski lesson, and more! Have each person wrap their piece of paper with the experience written on it (or gift card) and exchange however you’d like!

Year You Were Born 

Bring back the ‘80s – in the best way! Ask each person to bring gifts that were popular the year they were born or related to when they were born. For example, someone born in 1975 might bring a pet rock. In 2010, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One came out, so someone might bring something specific to that movie (like Deathly Hallows earrings)! 

Classic Gift Exchange Games

If you’re having trouble deciding on a fun gift exchange idea, sometimes it’s best to go back to the basics. Here are the most popular gift exchange ideas, and for good reason! 

Secret Santa 

There are many variations of this classic Christmas gift exchange game, but the basic one involves distributing a Secret Santa questionnaire to all participants in the first week or two of December. Once everyone has filled out the forms, they fold them up and put them in a bowl or some type of container. Each person draws a form, ensuring it’s not their own questionnaire.

Make sure to set a budget before everyone starts buying their gifts, usually around $10-$15. Set a deadline for the Secret Santa gift exchange so that everyone knows when they have to bring their gift. I recommend putting that a few days before the party is supposed to take place. Then it’s time to spread the holiday cheer! 

White Elephant

There are many different variations of White Elephant, but here are the basic rules. Each player brings one wrapped gift within the preset spending limit. The key is for gifts to be funny, impractical, or extravagant! 

Participants draw numbers out of a hat to determine what order they go in. Everyone sits in a circle so they can see the pile of gifts in the middle. Players select gifts according to the number they’ve drawn. 

Each person opens their gift so everyone can see, and the following players can either steal that person’s gift when it’s their turn, or they can select a gift from the pile. After everyone has had a turn, the first player gets an opportunity to swap the gift they’re holding for someone else’s gift!

Bring Something You Already Own 

Get rid of used items around your house with this hilarious gift exchange game! Make sure everyone understands that “one person’s trash is another person’s treasure.” The goal is NOT to spend money on your gift! Everyone must wrap their gift, and you can do a White Elephant swap, draw names/numbers, etc. 

Favorite Things Gift Exchange

Kick off this holiday gift exchange idea by playing the timeless song “My Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music! For this game, you bring something that’s your absolute favorite within a specific budget.

There are several ways to play this game. One option is for everyone to bring enough of the same item so that everyone can have one. So if your favorite item is Burts Bees lip balm, you would get one for every participant to have. This works well for smaller groups. 

Another option works nicely for large groups. Each participant brings ONE wrapped favorite item. Everyone’s name goes into a bucket, and when a person’s name is called, they can pick a gift from the pile or steal someone else’s. 

Saran Wrap Ball Game

If you’re looking for a truly hilarious Christmas gift exchange idea, you have to try the Saran Wrap Ball Game! We played it at our family holiday party one year, and it was a huge hit! 

This game works well if you’re the host giving all the gifts! You’re going to need Saran Wrap – lots and lots of Saran Wrap! The idea is to wrap lots of small prizes in a giant ball of plastic wrap. 

Players sit in a circle and take turns trying to unwrap the multiple layers of plastic to reach the prizes inside within a certain time limit. I also like to include my free printable “Wrap Trap” cards to make the game extra challenging! 

Yankee Swap 

Yankee Swap is a super simple gift exchange game that works well for both small and large groups! This is very similar to White Elephant, with the key difference being that Yankee Swap gifts are typically more practical and useful rather than funny! Each participant brings a wrapped, unlabeled gift and puts it in a pile in the middle. You can either assign a number to each player or they can draw numbers at random. 

The first person chooses a gift that isn’t their own from the pile and opens it for everyone to see. The second person who goes can then select a gift, open it, and decide whether or not they want to swap it with the first person’s gift. Each person who goes follows the same method, and the game ends with the first person either swapping or keeping their gift. 

I hope you and your family LOVE these Christmas gift exchange games! What is your favorite gift exchange game to play? Leave me a comment down below.

And don’t forget to PIN this post for later!