The weekend before Thanksgiving, we gathered with Mr. Handsome’s extended family to ring in the holiday season. With everyone scattered in different directions this year, we knew we wouldn’t be able to get together for both Thanksgiving and Christmas, so we decided to kill two birds with one stone.
Lunchtime was our Thanksgiving celebration. We ate homemade soup and bread bowls, played board games, and chatted at Mr. Handsome’s aunt’s house (the one whose wedding dress I wore).
At 4:00, we headed over to a nearby church building to play air hockey, ping pong, foosball, and more board games (including Wits and Wagers, a new one recommended by one of my readers). Then we ordered pizza for dinner and did our Christmas gift exchange. (I know pizza isn’t super Christmasy, but we have some picky eaters in our bunch, and it’s hard to find foods that please everyone. We also wanted to minimize prep and cleanup time so we could spend more time together as a family.)
The aunts still buy presents for the few remaining kiddos, but the adults try to find a unique way to exchange gifts. For as long as I have been coming to family gatherings (four years), we have drawn names, which isn’t super unique. This year, someone came up with the brilliant idea of doing a gift card exchange.
Everyone purchased a $20 gift card to a random store, webstore, or restaurant and came up with a clever way to wrap it. The goal was to provide a hint at what the gift card might be and then have everyone guess.
The actual exchange proceeded like a regular white elephant or dirty Santa gift exchange. (We drew numbers, and everyone either chose a gift card from the pile or stole one that had already been opened.) Mr. Handsome’s grandparents gave prizes to those who brought what they considered to be the most clever gift cards. It was a blast.
How does your family do gift exchanges?