Spice Up Your Holiday With These Fun, Festive Gift-Exchange Games

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    In this day and age, nothing is simple — and that includes presents. Sure, you could just throw it all in a pile and let everyone loose...but that's no fun, and it will most likely end up in a trip to the emergency room. That's where gift-exchange games come in! Some classic, some recently invented by yours truly (but all the more lovable for that!), we've got five slammin' ideas to take your holiday up a notch. Whether you're getting festive with family or goofing around with friends, these ideas will add a little excitement to the proceedings and, thankfully, relieve a bit of the tension of wondering whether the recipient loves, hates, or is indifferent to your carefully sought-out gift.

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    White Elephant (a.k.a. Yankee Swap)
    Classic, but for a reason! This game exists in many versions, but this is the easiest one we've tried.

    Each person brings one wrapped item, usually an inexpensive gag gift, but not necessarily. The host selects a random person to pick the first gift and unwrap it. Each subsequent person in the circle can choose either a wrapped gift or steal an unwrapped gift from another person (you must wait at least one turn to steal an item back). Finally, once everyone has a gift, the first person in the circle has the opportunity to steal a gift (since they had to pick from the unwrapped pile on their initial turn).

    White Elephant Candlestick, $48, available at Macy's.
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    Spoons: Holiday Edition
    Ever played the card game Spoons? This is basically that, but replace the spoons with unwrapped gifts.

    Arrange for each participant except one to bring an unwrapped, inexpensive present. The dealer begins with a full deck of cards (or two, if you are playing with a large group), giving four to each player (including the dealer). The aim is to obtain four of the same card. The dealer draws one card, decides whether or not to keep it, and discards that card or another from the original hand to the right. The player to the right picks up the card and does the same. Once you have obtained four cards, you can grab a gift — and the faster you go, the better, because you don't want to be stuck with the lamest gift in the pile, or worse, no gift at all! The game continues until all gifts are gone and one person is left empty-handed.

    Slotted Spoon, $9.95, available at Crate & Barrel.
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    High-Stakes Taboo
    We've all played the classic party game Taboo, to varying degrees of frustration. This is a group version with notably higher stakes in the form of presents!

    Request that every member bring a wrapped gift (or two if you're working with a smaller group — the more the better!), and place them all in a pile. The group picks a gift and the lucky (or unlucky) participant to describe it. The person unwraps the gift out of site of the group, and then tries to explain what it is. In this version of Taboo, everyone can guess at once, and the winner gets to keep the present!

    Photo: Courtesy of Warner Bros.
  • Holiday Scavenger Hunt
    This one is a bit weather-dependent, and requires some planning — but we've tried it and it is beyond fun.

    Have everyone contribute a small sum of money, then plan a large-scale scavenger hunt around town leading up to an awesome group prize (concert tickets, straight-up cash, a set of cool decide!). This works best with a close group of friends — the places and activities can be inside jokes or memories. The planner creates a checklist of activities that must be completed and distributed to the players. Remember, this isn't a treasure hunt, so you don't need clues — just various activities that they need to check off a list. You can create teams among the group and whichever team finishes first, wins the prize — but it's also equally fun to do it just for the experience! And please, don't include anything that requires driving — everyone will be having too much fun to be worrying about road safety.

    Image via Google Maps.
  • Dollar Dash
    Cheap and fun? You can't do better than that.

    Assign a recipient to each participant. Have everyone contribute $9 to a group fund, and then spend an additional $1 on a hilarious dollar-store gift of their choice. The host uses the group fund to purchase a larger, nicer gift. Everyone exchanges their presents and shares with the group. Then take a vote on the best $1 gift...the buyer wins the big prize!

    Image: Courtesy of Dollar General.