Christmas Gift Giving Traditions can make holiday gift-giving a lot less stressful for large families and co-workers. Try any of these gift-giving rules and Christmas gift exchange ideas to make holiday gift-giving a lot easier!
Keep the peace in your home, school, or workplace this holiday season with Christmas gift exchange ideas, games, and Christmas gift-giving traditions!
Related: 32 Fun Family Christmas Traditions
Related: Ultimate Gift Giving Guide: DIY and Readymade Ideas for the Whole Family
Keep the Peace with Gift Giving Rules, Gift Exchange Games, and Christmas Gift Giving Traditions
There are several reasons why implementing a Christmas gift rule or tradition in your home or workplace can help keep the peace this Holiday season. For one thing, Christmas gift rules and practices can make holiday gift-giving a lot less stressful for large families and co-workers.
Gift-giving rules and exchanges also make sense for families that live at great distances from each other. Christmas gift exchange ideas can also make it easier for family members and friends with a smaller Christmas budget to participate in holiday gift-giving.
And finally, Christmas gift-giving traditions can also lessen Christmas’s impact on our children’s mental health and well-being. Too many gifts breed dissatisfaction and entitlement.
Help everyone remain happy and healthy this holiday season with fun gratitude activities and Christmas gift exchange ideas. Feel free to mix and match or create your own Christmas gift-giving tradition from the Christmas gift tradition ideas below.
Related: Meaningful Christmas Traditions for a Magical Holiday
1. Four Gift Rule Gift Giving Tradition; Want, Need, Wear, Read
The classic Christmas four-gift rule is: “Something you want, something you need, something to wear, and something to read.” This Christmas gift rule is common in families with children.
Families that follow this Christmas gift tradition give each child one gift to represent each of the four rules. In other words, each child in the house is given something they want, something they need, something to wear, and something to read.
Please look at the book suggestions found HERE and at our gift guide for Children.
Related: Children’s Books That Make The Best Christmas Gifts
2. Second-Hand, or, Handmade Christmas Gift Giving Tradition
The rule for the second-hand or handmade Christmas gift tradition is just as it sounds. Gifts can be purchased at second-hand stores or handmade by the gifter or an artisan. You can do both if you’re feeling crafty!
You can find wonderful second-hand gifts at thrift stores, garage sales, craigslist, or in your giveaway box. Purchase an item second-hand and upcycle it for a double whammy second-hand homemade gift!
Check out our Gift Guide for homemade gift ideas both adults and kids can make.
Related: Homemade Gifts Kids Can Make
3. Experiences Instead of Things Christmas Gift Giving Tradition
The rule for this Christmas gift-giving tradition is giving family members things they’d like to do, such as classes or trips, instead of more stuff they don’t need.
You can give experiences instead of things to each person, a couple, the kids, the parents, or the whole family. Just make sure everyone is gifted with an experience to enjoy, and you are good to go!
Experiences instead of things gift ideas
- Tickets to an event, show, or amusement park.
- Spa treatment or spa day.
- The gift of a vacation or trip.
- A class, classes, or lessons of some kind. (Examples include, cooking, dancing, pottery, sewing, knitting, jewelry making, yoga, golf, swimming, gymnastics, music, art, etc.)
- Dinner at a nice restaurant. (Date night and weekend coupons are always a great idea for mom and dad!)
- Membership for a month, a year, or a lifetime.
4. Secret Santa Christmas Gift Exchange
This Christmas gift exchange is perfect for large families, schoolmates, large groups of friends, and co-workers.
The Secret Santa gift-giving tradition is when each person picks another person’s name out of a hat. You become the Secret Santa for the person you choose and don’t know who your Secret Santa is until they reveal themselves on gift-giving day.
Some families and co-workers draw a name out of the hat on or after Christmas Day and agree to give and send secret gifts to this family member throughout the year (birthday, Easter, Valentine’s Day, etc.) with one final gift and revel on Christmas Day. Other families and co-workers agree to spend under a specified amount on a gift given at Christmas.
The Secret Santa Christmas gift exchange is easy to combine with another Christmas gift tradition such as “second-hand or handmade” or “experiences instead of things.”
Related: Christmas Art Project Ideas
5. White Elephant Christmas Gift Exchange Game
The White Elephant gift exchange is a popular Christmas tradition where the participants do their best to walk away with the best present. “It also goes by Yankee Swap, Dirty Santa, and a plethora of other names.”
“The White Elephant game has many names, variations, and rulesets associated with it. Some are super simple, while others confusingly elaborate.” Check out the official white elephant gift exchange rules HERE.
6. Try a New Christmas Gift Exchange Game
If you are tired of the White Elephant gift exchange game, give one of these 11 fun and creative Christmas gift exchange game Ideas over on Play. Party. Plan a try this year.
7. Jolabokaflod Icelandic Christmas Eve Book Gift Tradition
Iceland started a lovely gift tradition in the mid-nineteen hundreds that many people participate in on Christmas Eve called Jolabokaflod. Jolabokaflod translates to read “Yule Book Flood” or “Christmas Book Flood” and is the Icelandic tradition of giving and receiving a new book on Christmas Eve.
This new book gift Christmas gift exchange tradition began during World War II once Iceland had gained its independence for Denmark in 1944. Paper was one of the few commodities not rationed during the war, so Icelanders shared their love of books even more as other types of gifts were in short supply.
Learn more about how the gift-giving tradition known as Jolabokaflod came to be HERE. And learn more fun things to do on Christmas in Christmas Traditions and Celebration Ideas. You might also enjoy this excellent list of Book Gift Ideas for Kids.
8. Stockings Only Christmas Gift Rule
The rule for this Christmas gift-giving tradition is to give things that fit into a stocking. Experience gift certificates can easily fit into a stocking. 😉
Invite each family member to find something to put in everyone’s stocking, or combine this tradition with the Secret Santa gift exchange for even more fun. Draw names on Christmas day to learn whose stocking you need to fill next year!
Related: Stocking Stuffers for the Whole Family
9. Santa Sacks Christmas Gift Tradition
Here’s a fun gift exchange idea for Christmas that my family made up. We like to use this Christmas gift-giving tradition as a way to teach our children that they must give to receive. First, gift each person in the house a Santa Sack sometime before Christmas, and we like to get ours out during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
Next, encourage everyone to fill their Santa Sacks up with items they’d like to give to those in need and place them under the tree on Christmas Eve. Then, empty each Santa Sack into a donation bin to be donated later. And finally, fill the sacks up with gifts for each person and put them back under the tree to be opened on Christmas morning.
If there is a gift too big to fit into a Santa sack, have the recipient open a box with the start of a scavenger hunt tucked inside, so they have to hunt for their gift!
Store your Santa Sacks in the Christmas box to use again next year.
Related: Christmas Handprint, Footprint, and Fingerprint Card Crafts
Start a Christmas Gift Exchange or Gift Giving Tradition This Year!
Try these Christmas gift-giving exchange ideas with your family, friends, or co-workers to keep the peace in your home, school, or workplace this Christmas.
Feel free to mix and match or create your own Christmas gift exchange from the above ideas. As an example, you can combine the second-hand or handmade rule with the secret Santa gift-giving tradition.
Another idea is to combine the four-gift rule with a family experience gift. If the children are teenagers, the parents can get the four gifts for each of the children, while the teens can gift the whole family with an experience to enjoy together, or an experience just for mom and dad–you get the idea!
Remember, Christmas gift-giving traditions are supposed to take the stress out of the holidays. If the Christmas tradition becomes a stressor, don’t do it. It isn’t worth it if it’s not fun for everyone to have a Christmas gift exchange!
Related: Christmas Art Project Ideas for Kids
Christmas Gift Ideas to Exchange with Loved Ones
Please have a look at our ultimate family gift guide with DIY and readymade ideas for everyone on your list. In it, we share all of our favorite homemade gift ideas and readymade ideas you can buy with the click of a button.
You can find even more ideas in the Rhythms of Play Store.
Next, head over to look at 30 fun family Christmas traditions that make the holidays magical. You may also like our winter bucket list for more seasonal ideas to enjoy with your loved ones.
Learn more about Rhythms of Play HERE!
Happy holidays!
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I loved this post! Thank you for sharing. I also loved your ultimate gift guide roundup! Coming up with creative gifts for everyone on your list can be difficult and stressful. Thanks for doing your best to make Christmas a little easier and less overwhelming. Thanks again!
So glad you found it useful Taylor. I agree, finding the perfect gift for family, friends, and co-workers can be tough… so glad my tips made it a little easier. :0