The Re-Gift Exchange

Earlier this week, I attended a Christmas party for the volunteers at our church which was fabulous. As is common at many Christmas parties, we did a gift exchange. For those who aren’t familiar with a gift exchange – generally each guest brings a 5-10 dollar gift and they are all put on a table. The first person picks and opens a gift. Then each person can either steal someone elses gift, or open a new gift. If your gift is stolen, you get to either steal or open again. Once everyone has a gift, the person who went first has a chance to either keep their gift or trade with anyone else.   Everyone goes home with a small gift, and it’s a lot of fun.

The only problem with a gift exchange is that $5-10 is becoming less and less useful. You can’t get much other then mugs and chocolate bars so the gifts start to get a little repetitive. This year, our church group decided to have a Re-Gift Exchange. Rather then buying a gift, each guest brought something from home that they didn’t really need any more. It had to be something they already owned.

It was a blast! Dave and I brought a set of pictures frames that didn’t match our new decor, and a copy of the Newsboys Shine book (we had two copies). We came home with a gardening book and a mantle clock. Some of the other gifts included candle holders, board games, chocolate, cookware, etc. There were some fabulous gifts and the best part was that NO ONE spent a cent!! In the current economy, that’s a huge plus.

So – are you looking for a cheap gift idea for your next Christmas party? Try it out – it was so much fun and the gifts were way better then you’d get with a $5-10 exchange anyway.

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