Work holiday gift exchange ideas

One year our gift exchange was toys. We gave a childhood toy to the person whose name was drawn, but after the party all the gifts were taken to a local Toys for Tots drive (or toys for foster children). The fun was to match the childhood gift to the adult.
Example: The CPA got a gift that was math related. The nurse got a toy stethoscope. If the adult was a sports fanatic, then a sports item was the gift.

We have done a White Elephant gift exchange. Definition of White Elephant for this group was: Something that is perfectly fine, perhaps gently used, but you just don't want. It can be a vase that you just don't like, for example.

I like the ideas of the socks because they are practical, take up little space, and eventually wear out, so it's not like someone will eventually have 20 tchotchkes if they work there for a 20 years, kwim?

At my age, I'd personally be glad to participate in an ornament exchange, but given how many I have already accumulated over the years, my kids would probably wish that I did not!

Why not a favorite snack or a wine exchange? Everyone loves to eat, but not all drink wine.

Any type of food would probably go over well. If it has to "be something from a bakery" or "be something from a candy store" those might go over well.

We did a similar toy exchange at my last job, but we had to pick a toy and write a description as to how it related to our role. People then guessed who purchased which toy - the three people with the most correct answers won a small door prize.

I would stay away from food/wine exchange, as so many people have allergies/don't drink.

I like the idea of an ornament exchange, but you'd need to set a price limit.

A friend of mine used to have a dirty Santa gift card exchange in her family in lieu of buying everyone gifts and it was always the hit of their get together. Everyone would buy a gift certificate or gift card for a set amount from a local place. They would wrap it up as creatively or imaginatively as possible and then would do the dice game. (Pass around two dice, whoever rolls doubles gets to take their pick from the pile and open it. The next person who rolls doubles can steal from the previous person or choose a new gift. Once a card has been stolen twice, it’s dead and can’t be taken again. Continue on until everyone has a gift.)

She said the gift cards that were the most frequently stolen were the ones from Michael’s, gas station cards and liquor stores but other good options would be local restaurants/ coffee shops, grocery stores, gift shops/Hallmark stores, Target/ Walmart/ Amazon, book stores, department stores, movie theaters, Cabela’s/ Fleet Farm / Menard’s / Home Depot. Lots of places have those big displays of gift cards at this time of year so there are always a ton of options.

We do the same as crazy4scraps friends do.... we all bring a $25 gift card wrapped... toss them on the table and then go around getting a turn to get a new card or steal a card... we used to have a bunch of starbucks and chick fil a... but now we have home depot or petsmart... several different stores.... its not super exciting but its fair... we had problems with being $$ fair in the past...


this is at my job.... dh works in the same place and his dept still does secret santa... where you draw a name and shop for that person... 

different depts.. 

All great ideas! My office does the white elephant exchange where you bring a new wrapped gift of $20 or less, draw numbers and start picking. It's always fun once people start stealing gifts. Personally I don't participate because I'm being very intentional about what I bring into the house. We are decluttering and don't want to add to the pile. But it sure is fun to watch people play the gift exchange!