Monday, November 26, 2018

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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17 comments:

Julie Howard said...

What a fun game. I love the creativity. Nice blog post, Cj!

CB Clark said...

What a great idea. Sometimes gift buying is so challenging, but this sounds like fun. Thanks for sharing, CJ.

Anonymous said...

We've done a version of this game at our work Christmas party, but we didn't follow the letter formula. I like spelling out CHRISTMAS much better! Thanks for the fun post!

DeeDee Lane said...

Having just had the - what are we going to do about gifts for the adults in my family - I really appreciate the inventive way you've solved this and made it fun! Thanks CJ!

Kristal D Harris said...

We exchange gifts because the family is so large, but never this way. Neat idea!

Luanna Stewart said...

I love this idea!!! Sort of a variation on the "yankee swap" but with the added challenge of a gift that starts with a certain letter. Perhaps I'll suggest this to the family (all adults) for next year.

Vicki Batman, sassy writer said...

This sounds like tons of fun!

Sadira Stong said...

We play this game every year for my sis-in-law's birthday, which falls right after Christmas. Big fun!

JENNIFER WILCK said...

Such a cute idea!

Starra said...

Charming Christmas game! Thanks for sharing with us.

Cat Dubie said...

This is a fun way to play the game, and challenging when using the letters. My big family played a variation that they called "Greedy Santa." In this game each participant brought something from home that they no longer use [had to be in working order] or no longer wanted. Wrapped in newspaper or plain cardboard boxes. Names were written on paper and put into a hat. Then it was much the same – pick or steal, only we had 3 steals altogether, and anyone was allowed. This could get quite rowdy and loud. I much prefer your version!

Ilona Fridl said...

That really is a clever idea! We always drew names.

ELF said...

Sounds like a great way to deal with that age-old challenge! Thanks!

Kathy Otten said...

I really love this idea, especially since everyone in my family has a tight budget this year. Thanks for sharing it.

Reviews By Crystal said...

This sounds like a really fun idea!

Anonymous said...

What a creative way to have fun and still give a gift within your budget. Happy Holidays. Rae

Lior Nachshon said...

I must say it's a great idea. Thanks for the share

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