Gift-giving is a part of the holiday season, but participating in an office gift exchange can be tricky. As a manager, you want to make it smooth and fun for all your employees. Simple planning can make it stress free for everyone while making it fun and exciting.
Set spending limits
Set a reasonable spending limit for the gifts or even a low dollar amount. Setting a spending limit lets people know what is expected of them. Choosing a low dollar amount allows for everyone that wants to participate to do so without straining their budget so close to the holidays.
Make it a sign up
Workplace gift-giving should not be considered mandatory. Instead of making people opt-out of participating make them opt-in and ask people to sign up for the gift exchange. People may feel awkward if they are declining to participate. Many people choose not to participate for personal, religious or economic reasons. This should be respected. Invite everyone to participate in the gift-exchange ritual but don’t obligate anyone.
Avoid the secret Santa
Selecting a gift for a co-worker can be difficult depending on how well you know them. To make it easier, make it a fun game instead of a gift for a particular person. Here are some great ways to randomly exchange the gifts and more exciting than just picking a gift out of a bag.
Have a cobweb party. Designate one room for the party and tie one end of a spool of yarn to each gift—green yarn to one player’s gift, red yarn to another, and so on. The yarn is then unwound across the room, trailing it under furniture, looping it around chairs and over desk in the office, anywhere you can. You want to make it as difficult as possible for the gift recipient to follow his or her yarn through the “cobweb” of different colors to find the present. Hand each person his or her spool of yarn and let the mayhem ensue.
Do a kids’ “musical chairs” gift exchange. Play a version of musical chairs by having everyone sit in chairs in a circle and pass around wrapped gifts while Christmas music plays. The person gets to keep whatever they’re holding when the music stops.
Do a Yankee Swap/White Elephant. A new item if you’re following Yankee Swap rules; a used one if you’re doing the White Elephant rules. “Stealing” from other participants gives this gift exchange game an element of unpredictability. Contribute a wrapped gift. Draw numbers out of a hat to see who gets to pick from the pile first. Player No. 1 chooses and unwraps a gift, then shows it to everyone else. Player No. 2 then either “steals” that present or picks and unwraps another one from the pile. Player No. 3 can then steal either gift, or choose and to unwrap another, and so on. Any player whose gift is stolen gets to pick again. The game continues until everyone has a gift.
Play holiday trivia. Have everyone compete for picking order by answering Christmas trivia questions. Such as, name all the gifts given in the “12 Days of Christmas”? The first to answer correctly gets to pick the first present. Once they get a present, they’re out of the competition. At the end, the moderator gets to either choose the last gift remaining or steal a gift from somebody else—a one-time-only privilege for all of his or her hard work.
The office gift exchange is a great way to get into the holiday spirit. If you follow these tips, you’ll keep your workplace merry and bright.