How To Navigate Gifting Over the Holidays

Identify Gifting Groups

• Family holiday
• Best friends
• Extended family
• Work life
• Any others?

These first few things might seem elementary, but trust us. Holiday parties are all the more bright when the communication is all the more clear. And we are the senior squad, after all, when it comes to parties. 

General Gifting

White elephant party

The only thing you need to know about gifting for a white elephant party is this: are gifts to be funny or genuine? Then pick from the list below and go all out. Our two cents are this: either be super ridiculous or super intentional and people will love you. Bonus points if you come dressed as Santa. ;)

Here are a few places to shop: 

• Dollar section at Target
• Local thrift stores 
• FB marketplace 
• Amazon (bc duh)
• Party City 

Favorite things

What could be better, really? The concept here is that all guests come to the party with something they would classify as one of their, you guessed it, ‘favorite things’. A dollar range on the invite is helpful here to guide guests. We love your favorite gum flavor, but when Sophia shows up with the latest mascara hot on Poosh, well, your gum doesn’t shine so brightly. 

• Guests each show their ‘favorite thing’.
• Navigate gifting with a standard gift exchange practicum.
• Allow trading of course!
• All guests walk away with a gift.

Gift exchange in $$ range

Purchase a fun gift of your choosing that could be enjoyed by any of the guests who may receive it. Think broad items like accessories, books, cozy socks, electronic accessories. 

Category gift exchange

• In this gifting type, a gift category is specified beforehand.
• i.e. book, game, accessory, makeup item, cooking utensil, etc. 
• Every guest brings a wrapped gift of the decided specific item type.
• Come party time… guests trade and open gifts. 

Specific Recipients

Secret Santa

• Pick names! 
• Simple as that…every participant picks names beforehand. We love Elfster.com to automate your name-picking process. 
• Participants all shop for the name they picked.
• Choose to give gifts anonymously so guests get to guess who picked their name after gift exchange. 

‍Couples gifts to couples

We love love, and we love this one. Put each couple's names in a hat, and draw. Each couple now selects a couple from the hat and can take the intentional time to spend money on a gift. Rather than trying to pick just the right gift for that one person, sometimes having a couple to focus on is even more sweet. 

‍Gift experiences

Experiences are the gift of the century. The following could be used as ideas to gift either couples or individuals. A few of our favorites: 

• Gift card to the nice restaurant in town
• Broadway show
• Gas card: personalize it with a map of highlighted places to visit.
• A written pre-planned date: ie directions to the local destination mountain town and gift card to ice cream or local shop.
• A deck of cards and a gift card to the local hot coffee shop
• Massage: couple’s edition, hello!
• Nails: his and hers, it’s the 21st century after all.
• Drive-in movie

You get the point. Spend money on things that will create lasting memories. We all need clothes, but what we all really need is more quality time with the people we love. 

The holidays hold some of our fondest memories. Giving gifts to our favorite people are intended to be acts of love, but the hustle of the season sometimes interferes with the objective. That’s why we’re here. Pick the gifting type that suits your crew. Our goal is to remove the stress of gift giving and give you the leg up to the nice list. 

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