Party Planning: An Ornament or Gift Exchange Game Your Guests Will Love

Party Planning Week:
Hi Everyone! It's Party Planning Week here at BNOTP. Monday we talked about all the ways available for sending out your party invitations and Tuesday was all about preparing our home for the big day.

This evening for Tablescape Thursday, I'll be sharing information and pictures of the the china I use at my holiday parties, the general layout and where everything goes and about the centerpieces I love to make.


Ornament/Gift Exchange Game:
In the meantime, here's the gift exchange game I've used often over the years. I'll be honest with you, I normally don't really like games at parties because they always take so long and I'd much rather just stuff my face eat and visit with my buds. But this game is different. It's a super fast game...literally, it's over in about 2 minutes...and it leaves folks laughing. It's fun!

Here's how it works:
In the invitation I always ask folks to bring an ornament to exchange at the party. (If you like, you can say under $5 or under $10, so folks know they don't need to spend a lot.)

When you are ready to play, you gather everyone in a room big enough to form a circle. We usually do this in my family room and we end up making more of an oval than a circle. You just want everyone standing in a general circle or oval shape, each holding the ornament they brought to the party.

Tip: I usually buy two ornaments so I'll have an extra one on hand in case someone has forgotten theirs.

Next, you need someone in your household to read the "Right Family Christmas Story." (You'll find it below.) If no one is available and it's just me, I abstain from playing and read.

Each time the word, RIGHT is read, everyone passes their gift to the right. Each time the word, LEFT is read, everyone passes their gift to the left. After a while folks are giggling and laughing...it gets very funny!

Tip: Whoever is reading needs to emphasize the words LEFT and RIGHT when they read it. It just helps those who are playing.

We played the game at work one year and it became a tradition each year from that point forward. It's easy, over in a few short minutes and gets everyone giggling and laughing.

(You can right click on the game below and save it to your computer to print out.)




For easy reference later on, I'm linking all the party planning posts under the heading/category, Tablescapes for all Occasions , at the top of this blog. Just scroll to the bottom and you'll find them there.


See you tonight for Tablescape Thursday: