Have participants open their gifts at the same time. Of course, people who guess later will have an advantage due to the process of elimination, but hey, that’s just the way the Christmas cookie crumbles. But to add a little extra incentive, you can award token prizes to those who guess correctly. Trying to guess your Secret Santa is rewarding enough. Offer a prize to people who correctly guess their Secret Santa. Of course, spelling out the rules on guessing really only matters if there’s something at stake… If that’s the case, you may want to consider giving them three chances to guess. On the downside, it makes it harder to guess who the Secret Santas are because the gifts don’t necessarily reflect their personalities.įor larger groups, it might be asking a lot for people to guess who their Secret Santa is on the first try. This can make it much easier for people to find appropriate gifts, especially if it’s not a tight-knit group where everyone knows each other well. You may choose to have participants write down a few gift ideas for their Secret Santa. Have participants make out “wish lists” for their Secret Santas. A couple of options include DrawNames and Secret Santa Organizer. There are a handful of free services online that can help you with invites, signups, assigning Secret Santas, etc. The important thing is for everyone to receive a gift that is roughly as valuable as the one they give. However, you can go higher or lower depending on the group. Include a ballpark price on your invitation.Ī typical gift exchange guideline is $20. Here are some ideas to consider if you’re in charge of the proceedings: That said, most Secret Santa exchanges conclude at a holiday gathering, whether it’s at the office, a church, or in someone’s home. In fact, they don’t even have to show up at a Christmas party – in some cases, Secret Santa is organized and run online. It’s a simple type of gift exchange that doesn’t require much from the participants. There are many different ways to run a game of Secret Santa. Of course, organizers of Secret Santa exchanges can add their own touches to make things more interesting and/or competitive. Continue until everyone has opened his or her gift and attempted to guess who their Secret Santa is.Īnd that’s it! Those are the Secret Santa rules at their most basic. The gift recipient attempts to guess who their Secret Santa is.Ħ. To determine who goes when, the organizer may choose to draw names from a hat.ĥ. Each person opens his or her present where everyone can see. Note that for online Secret Santa gift exchanges, participants send their gifts directly to the recipient.Ĥ. Gifts should be wrapped with a tag indicating the recipient. Participants bring their gifts to the holiday party or meetup. You can find tips on writing Secret Santa clues in this article.ģ. For an office party, the clues are often left at the person’s desk when they are away. Each Secret Santa sends clues as to their identity.Ĭlues are traditionally accompanied by token gifts, such as candy canes or other sweets. It goes without saying, but keeping this information secret is (literally) the name of the game!Ģ. This is typically handled by the organizer, who privately informs the participants whom to buy for. Using a list of participants, randomly determine who is buying for whom. Just keep in mind that, as with most gift exchange games, rules can vary from place to place and household to household.ġ. Here’s how Secret Santa is typically played. Read on to learn more about this not-so-secret gift exchange game. Also, for better or worse, there’s none of the stealing typical of holiday gift exchanges.īecause it’s so simple to play, Secret Santa can be a good alternative to White Elephant for some groups (especially large ones). For one thing, participants buy a gift for a specific person, rather than for a random recipient. Having said that, the standard rules of Secret Santa distinguish it from a White Elephant gift exchange in a couple of important ways. Some people refer to it as Kris Kringle, while others consider Secret Santa to be a synonym for White Elephant. In fact, not everyone even agrees on the terminology. Secret Santa is one of the most well-known types of gift exchange, but not everyone knows it in the same way. But another key is making sure all of those fun people understand what to do. What’s the secret to a great Christmas gift swap? First and foremost, it’s about getting a fun group of people together.
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