Game Rules And Variations
You may know it as the Yankee Swap or the White Elephant, but all over the world, from boardrooms in the office to holiday home parties, gift-swapping games have become a tradition not to be. not to be missed between friends, families, and colleagues. But there is only one kind of Christmas gift trading: the Secret Santa game. It’s the game that keeps the mystery, suspense, and surprise of the freebies alive, turning ordinary people into devious elves. Game Rules And Variations
So what is this game, you ask yourself?
The Secret Santa game is a deeply rooted Christmas tradition in the USA. Members of a group of friends, family, or coworkers randomly draw names to become someone’s secret Santa Claus. Secret Santa receives a wish list of gift ideas to give to the chosen person. After opening his present, whoever received it must guess which group member was his Secret Santa. It’s a holiday classic where guessing is as much a part of the fun as receiving the gift. Learn Vocabulary Words That Start With Y For Kids
when it comes to Secret Santa play
While everyone seems to have their own rules when it comes to Secret Santa play, the idea goes back to the Scandinavian tradition of knocking on someone’s door, throwing a gift inside when it opens. , then to run away. Or, the roots can be traced even further back to German legends about the helpers of Saint Nicholas, who handed out gifts to friendly children but not to those who were mean. But the tradition continues to evolve.
Secret Santa games online now offer a modern take on a classic, allowing anyone to play it from anywhere in the world. It’s an evolution of the Secret Santa game that changes the rules a bit of who can be a Secret Santa: in some versions, it can be anyone, from your neighbor down the street to a distant colleague to the other end of the world. But whether you are playing a traditional Secret Santa game exchange or online, there are rules to ensure the mystery and the fun.
Secret Santa Claus
The traditional rules of the game “Secret Santa Claus,” in essence, are pretty simple: no one knows who they are receiving a gift from. But organizing a Secret Santa game with your family, friends, or coworkers can be a bit trickier. Here are the steps to manage a traditional Secret Santa game:
- Write each name on a piece of paper. Bring all the participants together and ask them to jot down their names on a piece of paper. Encourage readability. Otherwise, you’ll have people buying freebies for “Flogger? Smoky?” If it is difficult to get them all together in the same room, you can do it yourself after everyone agrees by text or email to participate.
- Ask participants to write down one or two gift suggestions. Players can write something specific like thick red knee-high socks or something rather vague like “a book, please.” The more detailed, the better, to make sure everyone gets what they want.
- Draw names to randomly assign a secret Santa Claus to each player. This is the fun part; put your hand in the hat and find out who you’ll be giving a gift to! The host can also do this solo and send an email, call, or text to other players with their assigned names.
- Host a gift-giving party. Pick a day when everyone can get together, preferably before people leave for their Christmas vacation. Make sure each gift is labeled with the recipient’s name, but not the giver’s! Distribute the gifts !.
- Guess who drew your name. Guess who your secret Santa Claus is and reveal yourself to the person you gave a gift to. Who bought you the book for your next book club meeting? Who knows how much chocolate you craved? Was it Alison? No? So it must be… Marc?
This is all fun of course. But what if you want an easier way to manage a large group, to make sure Sally doesn’t get picked twice while Steve is left out in the snow? Or maybe you wish you could expand your group from the North Pole to the South Pole. No reason to doubt the magic of the elves! Santa has gone digital with online versions of the Secret Santa game.
Variants of the game Secret Father Christmas
There are many variations of the Secret Santa game, such as these:
1. The White Elephant: Also known as Dirty Santa or Yankee Swap, the white elephant game brings out the Grinch in all of you. For this Secret Santa game, each player brings a gift with a fixed price limit that all other players would appreciate. Participants take turns choosing a gift or stealing one from a player who has already chosen one. Thus, the last player ends up with his favorite of the peloton.
2. Left, Right, Left: the ultimate game for kids. Each child brings a suitable gift for the boys or girls and passes them around in a circle while someone reads a story. Whenever the word LEFT or RIGHT appears, the skills are given in that direction. The game ends when the story is over, and each child has a gift. And if you’re feeling creative, you can write your account.
3. The jackpot: here’s one for older kids. Players bring cash as well as gifts, perhaps a € 10 table giveaway and a € 5 jackpot ticket (that’s up to you). Each participant has one of the following three options:
- Choose a gift from the table
- Put your name in a hat to win the jackpot
- Put your name in a separate hat to win the unselected gifts
4. The Bag / The Box: Players bring gifts that are unusually shaped or wrapped in deceptive shapes. They are placed in a bag or box so that participants cannot see them. In an order determined by drawing numbers from a hat, participants select a gift whose shape intrigues them the most.
5. Pass the gift: set a spending limit and collect the donations before the redemption. At the party, everyone is seated in a circle. Randomly choose a grant from the table and give it to a member of the group while the music is playing. The gift is passed around the circle. When the music stops, whoever holds the advantage gets it and opens it, then walks out of the process. The game continues until all the facilities are distributed.
6. Treasure hunt: a fun game for all ages. Before the party, collect the gifts and hide them in the play area. Provide clues to their locations. Everyone starts the game at the entrance to the house. Everyone keeps the talent they find and abandons the game so that everyone ends up with a gift.
7. Hot potato: a variation of the hot potato game. As usual, everyone brings a gift. A circle forms and the group receives a gift. They circulate it after the host has started a timer. When the stopwatch stops, whoever holds the advantage gets it. The game continues until everyone has a gift.
8. Auction of gifts: everyone exchanges their money gift. Everyone receives the same amount. Not real money, of course, but Monopoly money. The host can act as an auctioneer. Whoever bids the most gets the gift. The game continues until everyone has a gift.
9. The Numbers Game: When guests arrive, the host takes their gifts and writes a number on them, then hands them a piece of paper with the same number on it. They write an unusual fact about themselves and put the form in a hat. The host takes out the article and reads it, but not the number. Participants have to guess who it is. The first person to think correctly gets the gift. The game continues until all participants have received a lovely gift!
10. Vouchers / Tickets: The game’s object is to get people to do something for someone. Like the traditional Secret Santa game, everyone has to pick a name to give a gift to. Then it’s time for everyone to get creative and create a special voucher for their recipient. Coupons can be for a trip to the movies they can use whenever they want, a free lunch, or a promise to do specific activity on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon.
11. Wonderland: It doesn’t matter how well you know the person. All you have to do is find the most beautiful gift for $ 1! The standard rules apply: everyone must draw a name. Once everyone knows who they’re buying a gift for, they need to find the most magical gift for $ 1.
12. Same-store: Same rules of the traditional Santa Secret game, but all participants must purchase gifts from the same store, whether a retail store, grocery store, flea market, or eBay.
