10 Most Festive & Fun Christmas Gift Exchange Games To Try in 2024
Move over, White Elephant and Secret Santa!
These creative Christmas gift exchange games bring a whole new level of fun and excitement to your holiday gatherings.
In our family, we aim for a gift exchange that’s simple to organize. But it has to be enjoyable for both kids and adults. We look forward to this tradition every year!
These Christmas gift exchange games are:
- Perfect for any group size
- Fun for all ages
- Guaranteed to keep everyone entertained
Make your holiday gathering unforgettable. Try one (or two) this year and create lasting memories!
10 Wildly Entertaining Christmas Gift Exchange Games to Play
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1. Left-Right Story Game
Supplies: One wrapped gift per participant, Left-Right Christmas Story
How To Play: Players gather in a circle and each holds a wrapped gift. A narrator reads a fun, pre-prepared Christmas left-right story. Players pass their gifts in the corresponding direction whenever the words ‘left’ or ‘right’ are heard.
By the end of the story, everyone unwraps the gift they’re holding and keeps it.
Pro Tip: Play this at any holiday celebration with only one or a few small prizes the winners can keep. Even candy canes work with this engaging game!
2. Christmas Trivia Gift Exchange
Supplies: One wrapped gift per participant, Christmas trivia questions
How To Play: Place all the gifts in the center of the circle. The host will ask Christmas trivia questions. Participants take turns answering the questions. If a player answers correctly, they get to choose a wrapped gift from the center and keep it. Continue asking trivia questions until all gifts have been selected and unwrapped.
Alternative Play Options:
- Allow younger players to work in pairs or teams.
- Have participants “buzz in” after a question is asked. The person who gets a predetermined number of answers correct first gets to open a gift.
- Allow participants to steal gifts after they’re unwrapped. Once a gift is opened, other players can bid on it by answering trivia questions. The first person to answer correctly can swap their gift with the one just unwrapped.
More Holiday Trivia To Use For All Ages:
- Christmas Music Trivia (Grab the printable cards for easy use!)
- Christmas Food Trivia
- Christmas Movie Trivia
- Home Alone Movie Trivia
- A Christmas Story Movie Trivia
3. Dice Gift Exchange
Supplies: Dice, one wrapped gift per participant
How To Play: Players sit in a circle holding the gift they brought. Each player takes turns rolling the die. Based on the number rolled, they either pass, steal, or open a gift.
- Roll a 1: Swap gifts with the player on your right
- Roll a 2: Swap gifts with the player on your left
- Roll a 3: Swap gifts with the person across from you
- Roll a 4: Everyone passes their gift to the right
- Roll a 5: Everyone passes their gift to the left
- Roll a 6: Unwrap your gift
Once a player unwraps their gift, they can either leave the circle or you can decide on a set number of rounds to play before ending the game.
Alternative Play: Use two dice and play!
- Roll a 2: Everyone passes their gift to the right
- Roll a 3: Unwrap your gift
- Roll a 4: Trade your gift with anyone
- Roll a 5: Everyone passes their gift to the left
- Roll a 6: Choose 2 people to trade gifts
- Roll a 7: Trade your gift with anyone
- Roll an 8: Trade with the person across from you
- Roll a 9: Pick someone to unwrap their gift
- Roll a 10: Swap gifts with the person on your right
- Roll an 11: Unwrap your gift
- Roll a 12: Roll again!
Make this game last longer with a smaller group by having each participant provide two or three smaller wrapped gifts. Then, people can choose which gifts to pass and open with each roll. This is a fun option for kids because everyone ends up with more than one item!
Related: Exercise Dice Game (To Get Energy Out!)
4. Christmas Music Gift Pass
Supplies: One wrapped gift per participant, Christmas music
How To Play: Participants sit in a circle each holding a wrapped gift. As Christmas music plays, guests pass gifts around until the music stops. When the music stops, everyone keeps and unwraps the gift they are holding.
Alternative Play: Start with one to three gifts given to people in different parts of the circle — the more gifts you start with, the faster the game. Put on some music, and ask everyone to pass the gifts to their right. Once the music stops, everyone holding a gift keeps it. They sit out the next round, and the game resumes this way until all the gifts are gone.
5. Rock Paper Scissors Switch
This entertaining game combines the stealing aspect of the White Elephant gift exchange with the classic challenge of rock-paper-scissors!
Supplies: One wrapped gift per participant
How To Play: Everyone gets a random gift from the pile. The first player opens their gift. The next player can choose to open the gift they have or challenge the first player to rock-paper-scissors to steal their gift.
- If they win, they get to steal the gift. Their unopened gift goes to the first player.
- If they lose, they open their current gift, and it stays with them (unless it gets stolen later).
Play moves on to the next player until all the gifts are open.
For added fun, have each player win two out of three rounds of rock-paper-scissors.
Related: Christmas Charades For Families and Hilarious Christmas 5 Second Game
6. Heads or Tails Gift Exchange
Supplies: One wrapped gift per participant, a coin
How To Play: Each guest draws a number from a bowl to establish the order of play. Player #1 selects a gift from the center pile and unwraps it. Then, Player #2 flips a coin to determine their next move:
- Heads: Pick a gift from the pile to unwrap
- Tails: They must steal a gift from someone.
If someone’s gift is stolen, they must flip the coin to decide their next action.
7. Saran Wrap Ball Gift Game
Supplies: Plastic wrap, dice, oven mitts, and three small gifts per person (gift cards, candy, gum, cash, trinkets, jewelry, lotto cards)
*Decide ahead if the host will make the Saran wrap ball in advance or if guests will each contribute three small items.
To create the ball, start by wrapping a small object in Saran wrap. As you add layers, randomly place gifts between them, leaving plenty of wrap between each for added difficulty. Continue until you’ve built a large, gift-filled ball.
How To Play:
- Sit in a circle with one person starting with the Saran wrap ball, while the person to their right holds the dice.
- As the first player begins unwrapping the ball, the player with the dice rolls continuously. The unwrapping player tries to reveal and collect as many gifts as possible before the dice roller gets doubles.
- Once doubles are rolled, the ball and dice are passed to the left, and the new players continue.
- The game continues until all of the gifts are unwrapped.
Make it harder by having players wear oven mitts when they are unwrapping!
Pro Tip: Have a few small extra gifts to hand out afterward, in case one of your guests didn’t get anything from the ball.
8. Holiday Gift Auction
Supplies: 2 wrapped gifts per participant, Monopoly money, auction paddles (optional)
How To Play: Participants bring one gag gift and one traditional gift. Each gift should be wrapped differently to keep their identities a secret. Before starting, each guest receives an equal amount of fake money from the host. The host acts as the auctioneer.
Guests can bid on up to two gifts, using only the money they have in hand. The auction concludes when everyone has successfully purchased their two gifts.
9. Christmas Never Have I Ever Gift Exchange Game
*Fun with friends too!
Supplies: One wrapped gift per participant, Family Never Have I Ever Questions
How To Play: Gather in a circle and place a wrapped gift at each player’s feet. The first player selects a “Never Have I Ever” question and reads it aloud. Anyone who has done the activity mentioned—including the reader—must swap spots with someone at least two spaces away.
The gifts remain in the same spots throughout the entire game.
After reading the question, the player unwraps the gift at their feet, and then returns it to its original spot. Continue this process until everyone has had a turn to read a question and all gifts are unwrapped. At the end of the final round, participants keep the gifts at their feet!
Pro Tip: Establish clear expectations for the game beforehand! Emphasize walking only, no pushing, and no arguing over positions.
Related: Would You Rather: Christmas Edition and What’s Your Elf Name-Free Printable!
10. Christmas Minute To Win It Gift Exchange Games
Supplies: One wrapped gift per participant, Timer, Christmas minute to win it games
How To Play:
- Decide on a Christmas minute to win it game.
- Place all the gifts in a central location. Each participant draws a number to determine their order of play.
- The first player selects a gift and must complete a “Minute to Win It” challenge in under 60 seconds. If they succeed, they get to keep the gift they picked. If they fail, the next player in line has a chance to complete the challenge and either steal that gift or pick a new one.
- After winning a gift, players can choose to keep their gift or steal someone else’s, but they can only steal once per round.
- The game continues with each player completing a challenge and either picking a new gift or stealing one. Once everyone has a gift, the game is over.
Best Christmas Minute to Win It Games for a gift exchange:
- Candy Cane Fishing
- Jingle Bells
- Candy Kiss Unwrap
- Blindfold Challenge
- Candy Cane on a String
- Snowman Stack
Grab a Christmas Minute To Win It Games pdf in the digital shop to take 6 games with you to your next holiday party!
Christmas Gift Ideas
- Punny Christmas Tags (Use With These Creative Gifts)
- Stocking Stuffers For Boys
- Stocking Stuffers For Girls
- Non-Toy Gifts For Kids
What’s Next?
Check out and join our family night club to get a movie, activity, and recipe each week! Perfect for holiday movie nights!
