How to Organize a Holiday Gift Exchange That People Really Want to Participate In
The gift exchange should be the most enjoyable part of the holidays, but anyone who gets caught up in the Secret Santa gift exchange show knows better. Even well-intentioned gift exchanges can easily turn into a stressful, exhausting, and costly headache that will make you give up the idea for life.
However, the difference between a poor exchange of gifts and a great one is not the gifts or even the people, but the organizational level. Everyone knows that exchanging gifts requires a budget, but other important details are often left to chance. If your group of friends or workplace wants to exchange gifts this holiday season, here’s how to make sure everyone has a good time.
Put someone in charge
The exchange of gifts is not just spontaneous. Anything that requires the coordinated efforts of several people at a very busy time of year requires ground rules and someone to follow them, so the very first thing to do is to elect (or appoint) a team captain.
Everyone is busy all the time; If the whole group does not consist of people with an unlimited appetite for gifts, someone will definitely forget. Prevent disaster by giving the responsible party the keys to the Elfster account (or bowls of names) and instructing them to communicate deadlines and expectations.
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Mandatory gift exchanges are completely contrary to the spirit of gift-giving. Even if they didn’t, the holidays are very difficult for many, including the “fun” parts. If you want a successful and fun Secret Santa situation, it should be completely optional, no questions asked. (For all psychos, this means not pestering non-participants for not participating.) If you find that two or three out of 20 people are interested, it might be better to just cancel the whole event.
Plan ahead, plan often
It’s never too early to figure out your timeline. Even if your group eventually decides to exchange gifts sometime in 2022, you should do your best to make that decision as soon as possible. Services such as Elfster or Drawnames, simplifies this task by automatically notifying the participants before each deadline.
Choose your date
Guess what? There is no law that says all holiday gifts must be received before sunset on the eighth night of Hanukkah or 12:59 pm on Christmas Day. You can and should schedule an exchange at literally any time.
When choosing a date, be sure to consider the schedule and your group’s feelings about the holidays. An early deadline is a fun way to start the season, which is great for people looking forward to the holidays every year. But putting off until the New Year (or even later) gives everyone a little respite, which has its advantages. You can even turn Valentine’s Day into Secret Santa’s Day if you want – there are no rules here, so do what works best for your group.
Maintain a healthy perspective
Not to think about it too “now, more than ever,” but now is an odd time to shop for gifts. Workers who manufacture and transport products around the world are becoming increasingly dangerous at work due to ever-worsening conditions, including material shortages and rising prices ; theft of wages ; destruction of trade unions ; inhuman scheduling requirements ; blatant disregard for physical safety ; and little or no medical care and sick leave , all during a global pandemic that disproportionately affects low-paid workers and is still ongoing. (Whenever you hear the phrase “supply chain problems” or “labor shortage,” they mean exactly that.)
All of this means that despite their best efforts, their shit may not arrive on time and there is nothing to be done about it. Try your best to roll with punches – remember, this should be fun .