I posted a little while back about Dh's family and the gift giving nightmare at Christmastime and how I hoped that we could change it this year.

Well, we talked about it yesterday and decided to do a "chinese" exchange and a lot of people had fun ideas. So each adult is going to buy ONE gift for about $25. Should be fun! I'm excited about it!

The person I was worried about upsetting...didn't get upset at all! And then another person, got really ticked! It just totally came out of left field but she's really annoyed. She felt that spending more was better and that it was better to have explicit lists so that people got what they wanted instead of '$25 worth of crap that will end up in my basement'.

Oy

She got shot down though and we're doing the Chinese exchange thing! LOL! I'm just relieved. None of us NEED anything and the gift exchange was too expensive for some members of the family (and part of my beef about having it was that some folks couldn't afford it!). And a lot of times we were just giving out gift cards or buying things EXACTLY off long lists because otherwise, people were getting annoyed. To me, that's not what Christmas is about.

What exactly is a Chinese exchange?

Sounds like a great wayt to buy for family. Saves you money and you also get a present you like and will use.

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Melanie.
Mum to Lillianlee- 1st September 2006.

Monkey Mia's Savings... (my blog)

We have been doing this for years and it is so much fun.

Can you tell me how your family does it? There seems to be a lot of different ways of doing it and we're looking for suggestions!

Thanks!

We have a "theme" each year and we all buy something related to the theme. One year it was anything edible, another year Games, another year a theme basket. We always draw numbers for how many ever people there are...#1 goes first selects a gift opens it....#2 can take #1's gift or pick from the pile...if #2 steals #1's gift than #1 chooses another gift....then #3 gets to steal or pick from the pile...this continues on until the last gift is taken from the pile.

I love this idea!!

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Kelly mom to 2 gymmonkeys!!!

Our dollar amount is $35. We started with $20 and over the years it has gone up. Of course all gifts are wrapped and placed in the center of the room or under the tree.

Each person selects a number from a hat to determine the order in which a person gets to select a gift. Number 1 goes first and gets to select and unwrap a gift.
Number 2 then selects. But she may take Number 1’s gift or she/he may select a gift from the pile. If she/he takes Number 1’s gift, Number 1 gets to select again from the pile. After she has finished her turn, Number 3 gets to select.

Once again, she/he may select any opened or unopened gift. Each time a gift is taken away from someone, that person gets to select again. She/he may select any gift except the one that was just taken away from her. She/he may however, have the opportunity to select it again later.

Some gifts are more popular and may get stolen several times. The fourth person to possess it gets to keep it. No more swiping the gift. The gift is frozen.
At the end of the game, Number 1 gets to select again, and take someone else’s gift if she wants to, but she/he doesn’t have to. The only gifts she can’t take are those that are frozen.

We also call ours dirty santa instead of the chinese gift exchange. Makes it sound really interesting that way It really is soo much fun. We have been playing for about 7 years now.

I've done the exchange thing before, and it was always a lot of fun! Lucky you!

My side of the family stopped exchanging $50 gift cards a couple of years ago! We were drawing names, but still, we'd just take the person shopping and buy them stuff they picked out! We always got what we want, but it was kinda pointless!

DH's side of the family is a different story - I'd love to start the gift exchange for them, but I don't know - I don't see them wanting this! We have one 3-year-old nephew there and the rest are adults! Some are pretty picky and want certain things so I'm doubting I could talk them into doing this!

I don't know though - I'll have to mention it to DH, maybe he can talk them into it!!!

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Stay at home mom to my 3 boys... ages 5, 3 & 1!

I can do all things through CHRIST who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13