We're doing the Dirty Santa this year for the first time.
Everyone is buying a generic gift for a set amount and gift-wrap it.
Someone draws a name out of a hat and that person chooses a gift.
The next name drawn can choose the gift that's already opened, or choose one from under the tree.
The gifts can only be exchanged twice.

Dirty Santa, gift cards and generic gifts sorta take all the fun out of it all. Sorry, but I can't see any of that. I've done a White Elephant party, with everyone bringing something in like new condition that they don't want, and playing for that. Jasdip's game with recycled items and no limit on how many times it can go around.

But I have just gotten to the point that spending money just because you have to is inappropriate to the season. Sigh.

I disagree Sushi.
I think it'll be fun. Every year it gets harder and harder to buy (there are only adults in my family). Even when you ask what they want, they don't really know. I'm one of them.

For instance, I bought a large open roasting pan with rack, and a bamboo cutting board. There are people in the family who really enjoy cooking and this would appeal to them.
Hub bought a 16 gb flash drive and a really nice pen, and that would appeal to the techies.
So these items may not be considered, if someone asked me what I wanted, but to see them, they could really be desired. Stealing from one another just makes it fun.

The way we do it in my DH's family is the women bring a woman's gift and the men bring a man's gift. The women draw numbers and the first one draws a gift and so on. The gift is opened by the person that draws it. If the next one in line wants the gift instead of picking a wrapped one she can do that. The one that looses the gift then draws another one. The gift can only be taken 3 times.. We always try to spend around $10.00 to $15.00. Everyone has all year to pick up something. We do the same with the men.Some terrific ideas have been scissors, cookie jars, birdbath, yankee candels,money cards and the list goes on. This year I have bought a Tabletop Fire Pit. It was orginally $25.00 and it ended up being $2.50 on clearance. I bought extra gel fuel for them.. I was the one that bought the scissors. They were half price when I bought them. They fought over them.. We have had lottery tickets, rolled up coins, flashlights, leather gloves. Actually the list is endless of what you can bring. We always have a blast.

I just wrote out a long explanation of how my Red Hat group plays and saw Susie posted the exact same system. I really like her idea of each man bringing a guy gift and each woman a gal gift.

I think gift cards would be boring. Jasdip has the right idea. You want to bring something people will want after they see it.

Our families all agreed to stop buying gifts for each other when our children left home. We didn't need any thing, it was a waste of money for everyone.

Being force to give up a gift seems cruel to me, even if it is just a game. I would not host that game.

My family decided that as adults, we had "outgrown" exchanging gifts. This will be our third year to do the Dirty Santa game. We haven't set a price, but it all seems to turn out pretty much the same.

I saw something at Big Lots earlier this week that I thought would be perfect, but decided to think about it. Now I wish I had gotten it, and I know I won't get back there before Monday. Hope it will still be there.

The idea is to have fun, and we certainly do. When I am with my family and there is conversation and laughter, it warms my heart. That is a gift much better than another sweater or dust-catcher.

To each his own, though.

Sue

We play our game like Susie 53, but we only spend $5.00. We have extra gifts that we have on hand in case we have some guests. If the gifts aren't drawn they are saved for another year. We do not draw names. The kids get things for us and we get things for them. They do not give to each other.

Sue

Dirty Santa is an awful name. We call it a Yankee Swap. Everyone gets a number. The first person picks a gift and opens it. The second person picks a gift and opens and can exchange with #1 if he/she wants to. This continues until all the gifts are opened with the most recent person having the option of trading with another. Then #1 gets the final chance to swap out their gift. Everyone ends up with something even though it may not be what they would have chosen.

We have done it sorta like that. Everyone brings a generic gift of say $5-$10. Jar candles,travel mugs for the car, calendars,fancy flashlights,outdoor thermometers,I am trying to think what else, but you get the drift. Just set your price so things are kind of the same.
Then everyone takes a gift, one person reads the Right/Left story and the gifts start traveling. It is hilarious but doesn't take a long time. You need to read the story slowly so everyone can keep up though.
Everyone opens the gift they end up with. Sometimes there is a trade between people, sometimes not. No one has to trade if they don't want to.
It's been awhile since we've done this in my family. I am thinking the little ones are old enough now, maybe I should bring it up for next year?

Here is a link that might be useful: Several versions of Right/Left story

I forgot to add. The parents bring a gift for each of their little ones to open, too. It is all about having fun..

We stopped the gift giving years ago and everyone has appareciated it. It's just so hard when you think of what to get people. It's year after year of birthday's, anniversaries, graduations, Easters... and so many other occassions. We just do birthdays with those close to us. Christmas gifts are only given to the children under 18. We just end up having a huge dinner either in house or at a restaurant as a celebration together, come home and the kids gt their gifts.

My neighbors and I do an ornament exchange and I have done the white elephant in the past. We pick numbers and proceed. You can either steal or choose a new one. You can only steal the same ornament or gift twice and the person with number 1 gets to go again at the end UNLESS theirs was stolen at some time during play.

Enjoy!

One of the clubs I belong to has a dirty Santa exchange, we do much the same as described above. We do not unwrap the gifts until all of the gifts have a 'home'. Every one gets a number when they arrive, that denotes the order we go in to choose a gift from the table. There are always a couple gifts everyone goes for, and it is always fun to see what it is at the end.

Another thing that my in-laws do is a treasure hunt. When we arrive we each get a sample of gift wrap, our gift is wrapped in that paper. We then go in search....always fun!

Haha! When I read the subject line and the first posts, I thought "Dirty Santa" meant that all of the gifts were sexy or porn-like gifts! I was thinking that I didn't like that idea for Christmas - haha.

So - now I get it, I think. Dirty Santa is the same as what I know as a Yankee Swap, right (as fran described)? I will agree that I like the term Yankee Swap far better than Dirty Santa.

Yes, it can be fun, or it can be a bust. I never, ever expect to get anything that is any good, because you're always sure to lose it to someone else if you do. If I'm fortunate enough to get a passable thing, that's fine with me - the odds that someone will take it from me are less. Usually, though, I've gotten a can of sauercraut or something equally poor (a joke thing) that I just toss out when I get home.

Yep, I've played like Susie does...except we call it White Elephant. We open the gifts as you choose them, so people can know if they want to steal it or not! Usually, we do this at work with my coworkers and everyone tends to bring really ridiculous gifts, last year someone brought and wrapped a big dust bunny! hahaha. I brought a metal fish attached to a pole and stand. I ended up with my own gift in the end and now I have a metal fish proudly displayed in my office, lol.

I host a similar gift swap at a party I do every summer. Out of season right? But the point of the game is to have fun which we always do.

I call it the Greed Game, mainly because that's what it was called the first time I ever played it years ago at a Christmas party, but also because that is the whole point of the game: greed!

I've found over years of playing it that these things hold true:
1. People LOVE to unwrap a present
2. If you get a low number (one of the earlier pickers in the game) there is a good chance that the game will not be fun for you, in the event that you pick a gift no one else wants to steal. It's not fun to watch everyone else stealing and laughing and having a good time while you sit there with an undesirable gift.

So here are the rules we play by, which seem to work very well.

Everyone draws a number.
Round ONE consists of everyone unwrapping a new gift.
Round TWO is for stealing. #1 looks at his/her gift and decides to either keep or steal. If keeping, play moves to #2. If stealing, #1's gift goes on the table and #1 steals from someone else who we will call 1a. 1a can take the gift on the table or steal from another person (1b). 1b can take the gift on the table or steal from another person (1c). 1c must then take the gift from the table.

Once the gift is taken from the table, whether it be by 1a, 1b or (forced) 1c, #1's turn is over and play moves to #2 who initiates another round of stealing if desired. Within one player's turn (#1, 1a, 1b and 1c for example) a gift can be stolen only once. However, once that person's turn is over and stealing play moves to the next player, all gifts are again available for stealing.

This method allows everyone to open a new gift AND to have an opportunity to steal. The stealing goes on AFTER all the gifts have been opened so that people can decide what they want based on complete information. There is still no guarantee that everyone will go home with the gift they wanted, but that is never guaranteed.

The fun of this game is in the stealing, thus the "greed". So when everyone opens a new gift and everyone can also steal, it's the fun of the game that becomes the star instead of what gift you end up with. The gift you end up with is more of a bonus for participating in the game.

I will say that the gifts need to be imaginative. If everyone brings a gift card, there won't be much fun in either opening or stealing. And it doesn't matter if the gifts are worth $5 or $50. Again, because the point is the fun of the game and the gift is merely a bonus.

I hope you have fun no matter what you decide to do!!