15 Christmas Gift Exchange Games that are Fun

If you are like me, bored with Secret Santa and White Elephant Gift exchange, and looking for new Christmas gift exchange ideas. What better way than to combine gift exchange with Christmas games and play some fun Christmas gift exchange games? In this post, I have for you 15 fun gift exchange games that everyone will enjoy.

Gift Auction Showdown

Make your gift exchange a formal auction event. Where everyone bid on the wrapped gifts with fake money or tokens.

Give everyone the same amount of money, a token, or, to make it fun for kids, give them candies. Everyone brings one wrapped gift, and it is placed on the auction table. The host will auction one gift at a time, and guests will bid on the gift. The one with the highest bid gets the gift. Once sold, the bidder opens the gift in front of everyone to reveal the surprise.

This is perfect for office Christmas parties, friend groups, and works best with 6+ players. To make it more fun, you can give bells to the guests instead of raising a hand to bid.

The Naughty or Nice Wheel

This game is a twist on the spin-the-wheel game. Make a spin wheel divided into equal sections of “Naughty” and “Nice”. Each guest takes a turn to spin the wheel. If it lands on Nice, they get to choose the gift from the pile of gifts everyone brought. But if it lands on Naughty, you can either make them wait to pick the gift until all the “nice” have picked their gift, or the host can make them do a fun challenge, after which they can pick the gift. The fun challenge can be as simple as truth or dare, or ask them to sing or dance. If you want to make it more challenging, you can choose from these 1-minute challenges.

This game is good to play with family and friends, or any group that loves humor and surprises.

The Scarf Swap

This is a cozy twist to the conventional Christmas gift exchange. Instead of bringing any gifts, ask everyone to bring a stylish or funny scarf; you can even set a fixed budget to make this gift exchange affordable.
To play the scarf swap game, put a number on every wrapped scarf, and guests will draw and get the gift that matches the number on the wrapped Scarf.
This game is perfect for family gatherings and women’s groups, or if you work with colleagues who love fashion. For a fun twist once once everyone has unwrapped they are gifts, they can wear the scarf and take a group photo

Gift Story Mystery

This is a fun, storytelling-style gift exchange. Make Everyone sit in a circle holding a wrapped gift. The host will read a Christmas-themed story that has many times words “left” and “right.”. Each time the word left or right is mentioned, guests must pass the gift to the left or the right, once for each word. At the end of the story, whatever game the guest is holding is their gift. You can even make your own story or customize a famous Christmas story with many left and right words to make it more fun.

This game is perfect for family gatherings, schools.

The Gift Detective

Make the gift exchange more interesting, where guests turn into detectives and guess who brought this gift.

To play this game, guests must bring wrapped gifts without a name. Guests take turns to pick a gift from the pile, unwrap it, and guess who brought it. If they guess it right, they keep it. If not, they put it back in the pile for the next person to guess, or the real giver can reveal themself and allow them to keep the gift.

This game is perfect for grown-ups, and can be played best with coworkers, friends, and family.

Dice Gift Grab

This is a fun-filled gift exchange where dice decide your gift. Make everyone sit in a circle with a wrapped gift and take turns to roll a dice. You need to make a chart or display of what each number on the dice means.

For example, if the dice

Roll 1: You can steal a gift from anyone
Roll 2: Swap gifts with the person on your left
Roll 3: Freeze your gift; no one can take it.
Roll 4: Pass the gift 2 times to the left. and so on.

Once everyone got a chance to roll the dice, the game ends. And the gift they hold in their hand is their gift.

This game is fun for all age groups and can be played at any Christmas gathering.

Gift Musical Chairs

This is a fun twist to the musical chair game, but a bit different. Arrange chairs in a circle with a gift placed on each chair. There will be 1 chair less than the number of people playing, which means there will be one gift that is not placed on the chair. When the music plays, everyone will move and dance around. Once the music stops, they have to sit on a chair and pick the gift from the chair.

The person left standing will take the extra gift that was not on the chair. Other players, if happy with their gift, can quit from the game too. The remaining people will keep the gift on the chair, and the game continues. The final winner can choose to keep the gift they found on the chair or steal from anyone.

The Christmas Heist

This is a thrilling gift exchange. In this, players get to steal gifts. All the wrapped gifts are kept in the center, and players draw a number to decide the order of play. The first player picks a gift from the pile and opens the gift, and shows it to everyone. The next player can either pick from the pile or steal the gift from the first player. Each gift can be stolen only 3 times, after which it belongs to the person who stole it last. The game finishes once everyone finds a gift.

This game is best played with a group size of 8- 20 people and is perfect for adults.

Taste & Trade (for Foodie Gifts)

If your group loves Christmas treats, this game is fun. All the guests must bring only edible gifts like cookies, snacks, or chocolates. All the wrapped gifts will be placed on a table, and the player’s name will be drawn from a mix of names of all the guests. The player comes forward and chooses a gift, and everyone tastes a small sample if possible. Once everyone has tasted, they can keep their gift or trade it with others.

It’s perfect for small to medium gatherings and a potluck-themed celebration.

Gift Karaoke Roulette

To play this game, you need a karaoke setup. Just arrange a mic, speaker, and a projector to display the lyrics. Everyone brings wrapped gifts that can be displayed on a table. Guests can either volunteer or you can randomly pick names. Write down Christmas songs on small slips of paper and put them in a bowl. Guests pick one and sing the song. Whoever sings at least one verse or chorus can pick a gift of their choice. Those who are shy can either wait to pick a gift from the remaining or as someone to volunteer to sing on their behalf. The volunteer can steal or swap gifts with the person for whom they sing.

This game really gets the party started. Perfect for a group of 6-20 people. You can actually play this game with anyone: colleagues, family, friends.

Chews Your Own Gift Exchange

This is a sweet and simple yet fun gift exchange. Everyone sits in a circle with their wrapped gifts. And you pass a bag or jar filled with colored candies like M&M or Skittles. The color of the candy should not be visible through the bag or jar. Everyone takes a turn to pick the candy, and each color has a meaning.

For example:

Red means swap gifts with anyone.
Yellow means pass your gift to the left.
Green means pass your gift to the right.
Purple means keep your gift.

Once everyone gets a chance to pick candy, the game finishes.

Gift Exchange Card Game

This is simple and unpredictable. Make a deck of cards with different actions. For example, you can write “Steal a gift from anyone,”“Swap gifts with someone wearing red,” “Pick a gift in green wrapping,” and so on. Now shuffle the cards and keep them on a table upside down. Each player picks a card and follows the action. The game continues until everyone gets a gift.

Fun to play, will need a bit of preparation, but suitable for any gathering and size.

7 Up or Down Gift Exchange

This is a simple dice game that needs minimal preparation. Arrange all the gifts on display. Guests take their turn to play. You need 2 dice, which you roll in a cup or glass, and invert the glass on the table. Before lifting the glass, you ask the player, “7 Up” or “7 down”? If the dice count matched the player’s guess, they win and can choose a gift of their choice. If they lose, they wait for everyone’s turn and pick from the remaining, or you can play the game again.

Perfect to play in a small space or when you are tight on time, and is suitable for all ages.

Emoji Clue Exchange

This is a brain-teasing gift exchange game full of laughter. Each person brings a wrapped gift and writes 3–5 emojis on a tag that hint at what the gift is. Arrange all the gifts on a table. Guests take turns to come and pick the wrapped gift they like and guess the gift inside based on the clue on the tag. If they guess right, they get it; if not, they have to leave it, and the other gets a chance. The loser can try again once everyone has had a chance. Or if anyone else is able to guess it, they take the gift, and the guest gets to choose another gift.

In case some clues are not enough, the person who brought the gift can give extra clues or reveal it. This game is perfect for teens and to play with friends.

Hot Potato Gift Exchange

This is a simple yet exciting and fun gift exchange. A simple twist to the classic hot potato game. Everyone sits in a circle and all the gifts a placed in the center. Each gift is picked one at a time, and when the music starts, the players need to pass the gift to the next person. When music stops, whoever has a gift in hand gets up and steps out of the circle, and the game continues.

This game needs no prep and is perfect for kids.