6 Fun Ways to Play Secret Santa or Kris Kringle

If you are feeling confused with all of the different names being thrown around when it comes to Secret Santa, you're not alone! we're bloody confused too! Our customers have mentioned so many different ways they share gifts at Christmas parties that we wanted to share them with you! Here are our top picks and advice on how to gift swap this Christmas in July!

1. Secret Santa or some people call this Kris Kringle.. 

Starting with the traditional Secret Santa, we all pretty much know how this one goes down. All names go into a hat, bucket, vessel of some kind, and each person gets to draw a name. This is the person you are buying a gift for. Usually, a price limit is set and everyone keeps their names secret, hence the name "Secret Santa"! At the start of the night the gifts are all placed together and handed out. Oh and you should use the name you drew as the gift tag to keep it super-secret!

2. White Elephant

This variation removes some of that pressure to buy the perfect Secret Santa gift for the person you have drawn. With White Elephant rules, you have no idea who you are buying for, an amount to spend is given and that's it! The gifts are then all placed together, and guests draw out numbers. The person who draws 1 goes first and so forth...BUT! When it is your turn, you can steal someone else's gift! Someone scored an awesome Inappropriate Gift Co Mug...go ahead and snatch it! We personally love these rules!

3. Bad Santa

This one got thrown around by some of our awesome customers a bit last Christmas, before then we hadn't heard of it! Following a similar format as White Elephant, each guest must bring along an unlabeled present of a predetermined value which has been wrapped! From the 2nd person onward, you are free to steal any gift that has already been opened. If your gift is stolen, you choose again, this continues until there are no gifts left. Apparently Bad Santa tends to go longer and have more rounds than White Elephant as the aim of the game is to be bad! We also like to think that the gifts should be the kind you'd expect from a bad Santa! 

4. Pass the Presents

We feel like this one is self-explanatory to some degree, apparently there are a few variations, but we loved the idea of creating a funny story that is read aloud and every time the word left or right is said people pass their gifts that direction. This game starts off basically like White Elephant and Bad Santa, where unlabeled gifts are placed together and guests select a gift, however the difference is at some point in the gift exchange all the gifts are passed left, or right depending on the story which is being read. When the story ends, everyone should have a gift. 

5. Treasure Hunt

Everyone loves a good treasure hunt! And a Christmas treasure hunt is no exception. This follows the same suit as most of the Secret Santa games, a gift is purchased of a pre-determined amount, the gifts aren't for a particular person. The host them takes all of the gifts and hides them. From here it is up to the host how much effort they wish to go to...Over the top host, hand out clue cards that lead guest to a series of locations with new clues at each stage, lazy as fuck host, tell everyone to go find a gift.

6. Lucky Dip

This one a little like White Elephant in the sense you have no idea who you are buying for, you simply bring a gift with a nominated value, you also need to bring an off cut of your wrapping paper you used to wrap your gift. These off cuts go into a hat and each person draws a piece of wrapping paper and matches it to the gift that will then become theirs. From here the rules are loose and you can blend in any of the above, sending gift left or right, stealing gifts, whatever feels appropriate for your level of crazy! We also recommend you have a little fun with your gift wrapping! 

For all your Christmas shopping... in fact any gift shopping for someone who has a sense of humour... check out our store...  but remember before you click on the shop now button, this sign is relevant... 

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