C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S GIFT GAME! By Cj Fosdick

C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S GIFT GAME!   By Cj Fosdick

          When the number of adults exchanging gifts in your family grows faster than your Christmas budget, or you exchange with co-workers, or a group of friends, you may find this annual gift-game delivers a “creative fun quotient” that is also easy on the budget.

          After you establish an affordable price by consensus, start with finding a gift that begins with the letter “C” the first year. Move to “H” the following year, and continue each subsequent year until you have used up the word, Christmas. With friends, we did this for nine years, choosing mostly gag gifts under $5. With family, we budgeted not more than $25. Each participant bought just one gift or made one gift that didn’t exceed the price limit and began with the sequential letter in the word, CHRISTMAS.  It doesn’t matter how many adults participate or if the number varies, but nobody ever got left with their own present when there were at least 6 to 8 players.   

Number blank Christmas tags-or just blank strips of paper-from 1 to whatever the number of participants. Place all wrapped, tag less gifts under the tree and then draw a number from Santa’s hat or a bowl the host passes around. Whoever holds number 1 gets to choose the first gift from the pile. Number 2 chooses either a gift from the pile…or steals the gift from number 1.

If there is a steal, the “victim” gets to choose another gift to replace the one stolen from him. And so on down the number line, one by one. Choose or steal. Nobody can “re-steal” his original gift, but he could persuade his spouse to do so when their turn is up. To reward the most inspired or in-demand gift, the hostess has the option of awarding a bonus gift of wine or a white elephant of her choosing at the end. Variations on the game can be exchanging gifts using letters from other words, like Holidays, Snowman, Noel, etc. 

Children were exempt from this game in our family. They opened their stash of gifts first and while they were playing with them, the adults played the Christmas letter game. Once these children graduated from school, they were anxious to join in the letter game that produced such gifts as frozen steaks for “S,” and Twenty bow ties made from dollar bills for the letter “T”.

Cj    Happy Holidays!

                       

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