Whether you’re trading home-baked cookies with neighbors, swapping ornaments with family, drawing a co-worker’s name for secret Santa or giving a favorite read to a fellow book club member, there are plenty of ways to exchange gifts around the holidays. Here are some ideas from NOCO residents to make this year’s gift exchanges both fun and memorable.
Communal gift exchanges
White elephant
With a large extended family and grandchildren receiving more gifts than they knew what to do with, Greeley resident Angela Vondy turned to the white elephant exchange.
Vondy, owner of craft studio Pinspiration Loveland, asks each family member to bring a wrapped gift. While some white elephant gifters opt for funny or unusual gifts, Vondy’s family chooses a different theme each year. Last year’s camping theme inspired gifts such as a hammock and a Stanley mug.
Participants draw numbers and select gifts in order, with each person choosing a new gift or stealing one that has already been opened. The game continues until everyone has a gift, usually with a predetermined limit on how many times a gift can be stolen.
“We set a dollar limit of $15 to $20, and it helps us focus on spending time together rather than worrying about shopping for everyone and making sure all the gifts are equal,” Vondy says.
Regifting exchange
When busy schedules pushed the Loveland Downtown District’s holiday party into January, the organization came up with a fun twist on the white elephant gift exchange.
“We were looking for a fun way to get downtown business owners to interact,” says Nicole Fellure, events and promotions manager for the DDA. “I came up with the idea of making it a regifting exchange.”
Fellure encouraged guests to bring something they already had, figuring most people ended up with a gift or two they didn’t want or need after the holidays.
“People brought hot chocolate sets, lotions and bottles of wine,” she recalls. “There were funny gifts and total duds. I ended up with a Bob Ross mug, which had already been stolen a couple of times before it got to me.”
Themed exchanges
Cake walk exchange
Growing up in Ault, Natalia Carnevale attended a holiday celebration at a local community center that included a cake walk. Years later, she’s continuing the tradition with her own family and friends.
Each guest brings a dessert to add to the table before the group circles a ring of numbered chairs. As music plays, everyone walks around the chairs until it stops. Participants take a seat, and the person sitting in the chair matching the number drawn gets to pick a dessert. The game continues until all desserts have been distributed.
Carnevale says guests are encouraged to bring a family favorite. Her family often opts for German chocolate cake.
“We try to be mindful of allergies and make sure there are desserts everyone can eat, and by the end of the day, we’re all usually sharing everything,” she says.
Cookie exchange
Karen Henton, a cooking and baking teacher at the Greeley Options homeschool enrichment program and owner of Three Little Pigs mobile bakery, says that when it comes to cookie exchanges, traditional flavors are usually the crowd pleasers.
That doesn’t mean you can’t get creative. Henton dresses up her chocolate chip cookies with crushed pretzels, potato chips or peanut butter chips. She also dips her Rice Krispies Treats in chocolate or drizzles them with caramel.
Comparing the recipe’s serving size to the number of cookies you’re expected to bake is paramount to success, she says, as most swaps involve bringing a large batch and selecting a variety of the same amount to take home.
Ornament exchange
For this exchange, participants bring a wrapped ornament and follow white elephant rules.
Jenelle Kemper, a teacher in Loveland, selects an ornament with a personal touch for her immediate family’s exchange, often representing something the family accomplished or something special they did together during the past year.
“It’s fun looking back when the ornaments come out of storage each Christmas and remembering the events that were related to each one,” she says.
Book exchange
When Mireille McKenna moved to Windsor, she didn’t know anyone. She started a book club through Facebook and soon had a dozen new friends, ranging from their 30s to their 70s.
Four years ago, she introduced a holiday book swap to her club. Each member brings a wrapped book, either new or from their own shelf. The game follows white elephant rules, with everyone selecting an unopened book or stealing one from someone else.
“The best part is trying to guess who brought each book,” McKenna says.
Games with gifts
Christmas Bingo
Jessica McIntosh’s aunt started Christmas Bingo years ago by creating a set of hand-stamped Bingo cards for the family to use at their Christmas get-togethers.
The game evolved into an exchange with a gift limit of $5 per person, ranging from candy and ornaments to fast-food gift cards and souvenirs. One family member calls each round, while everyone else plays for a gift. The games continue until each family member has won something.
“The best prize ever was a fruit cake I won around 11 years ago,” says McIntosh, a Fort Collins resident. “I decided, instead of eating it, to sneak it into the following year’s prize pot, and it’s continued to be regifted every year since then.”
Roll the dice
For this game, each participant brings a wrapped gift. The group sits in a circle, then chooses someone to roll one or two dice (predetermined by the group) and follows prewritten instructions for that roll. Examples might be “trade with someone wearing red,” “all pass to the left,” “unwrap your gift” or “steal.”
Play continues clockwise, with each participant rolling the dice until all gifts have been unwrapped, or until a certain number of rounds have passed. The gift players have at the end is the one they take home.
Pass the gift
In this holiday classic, everyone brings a wrapped gift and sits in a circle. Gifts are passed either left or right according to when those words are spoken in a read-aloud story. When the story is over, the gift in your hands is the one you keep.
Exchanges with known recipients
Secret Santa
Anastasia Kelly’s family began their secret Santa exchange when the family grew too big for everyone to buy gifts for one another.
Kelly, who hosts Christmas Eve for her extended family in Severance, sends out questionnaires in November about likes, dislikes and wish list items. Then she uses a virtual spinning wheel to assign each person a secret Santa. Everyone receives their recipient’s name and questionnaire, shops within a set budget and reveals their gift at the Christmas Eve gathering.
“We never want anyone to feel left out or burdened,” Kelly says. “This allows us to spend time together without the pressure of bringing gifts for everyone.”
Sister shopping
Kristine Elmore’s parents started “sister shopping” when she and her sisters were too young to have their own money. Her parents contributed a set amount to a pot, and each sister could add to it. Then Elmore’s mother took two sisters to Super Target to shop for the third while the remaining sister spent time with their dad. The sisters took turns until all three had been shopped for.
“The whole experience was so special and memorable for all of us,” Elmore says.
Today, the sisters are married with kids of their own, and “sister shopping” has become “family shopping,” but little else has changed. Most years the group still meets at Target and takes turns shopping for one family member, who gets to hang back with Dad.
“Our ultimate goal is to all travel to New York City to shop together some day,” Elmore says.
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How to Choose Gifts That Won’t Be Regifted
Tips courtesy of Angela Vondy, owner of Pinspiration Loveland
Know the recipient?
- Personalize it. Try Pinspiration Loveland’s custom engraving service or personalize an item on your own with a handmade label, fancy pens and lettering or a Cricut cutting machine.
- Cater to their interests. Are they an animal lover? Have a pet photo sketched on a canvas they can paint later.
Shopping for a white elephant-type exchange?
Gift cards are always a safe bet.Try trendy tumblers, camping chairs, cozy blankets or specialty foods.
Making something?
Think practical but unique, such as a soap tray or kitchen ladle holder. Consider something seasonal so that the recipient doesn’t feel pressured to leave it out all year.
