You will need: Dice and wrapped gifts brought by all participants.
For this game, each participant must bring 1 to 2 wrapped gifts. The rules for these gifts can vary. Here are a few suggestions for structuring the game:
Each participant buys a gift within a specified budget.
Participants bring something they already own, wrapped.
Each person brings one wrapped gift with the theme “edible.”
The most common approach is to bring one to two gifts each; however, if you are in a smaller group, bringing more gifts makes the game more enjoyable.
There are many variations of the Christmas gift game. Below are two of the most common variations:
Variant 1: Gifts Are Opened
To start, everyone sits in a circle or around a table and places their wrapped gifts in the center. Each participant takes turns rolling the dice. If you roll a 1 or a 6, you can choose a gift from the pile. (Some people prefer to use two dice, allowing you to take a gift if you roll a double.)
Once all the gifts have been selected, everyone opens their gifts and places them in front of themselves. Next, set a timer for a secret duration of time, ideally between 8 and 15 minutes. Keep the timer short to maintain participants' interest.
After that, everyone rolls the dice again, one by one. If you roll a 1 or a 6, you can “steal” a gift from another participant. A friendly variation of this rule states that you may steal gifts only from someone who has more than one gift. Alternatively, you can allow anyone to take from anyone, which might leave someone without any gifts if the time runs out.
This process continues until the timer goes off, and then everyone keeps the gifts they have accumulated by the end.
Variant 2 (Gifts Remain Secret)
This variant begins the same way as Variant 1: everyone places their wrapped gifts in a pile, and participants take turns rolling the dice. If you roll a 1 or a 6, you can take a gift from the pile. This continues until all gifts have been selected.
However, in this version, the gifts are not opened right away. You set a timer for 8-15 minutes, and everyone takes turns rolling the dice. If you roll a 1 or a 6, you may steal a gift from someone else. Once the timer runs out, everyone opens their collected gifts to see what they have received.
What makes this variant particularly fun is that the most exciting moment occurs at the end. It’s hilarious to see what’s inside the gifts that everyone was trying to steal!
A Fun Twist on Variant 2 (Empty Gift)
For an added surprise, include some gifts in the pile that are either empty or contain something humorous. Wrap these just like any other gift. This twist often leads to hilarious reactions when participants open their gifts and discover they’ve unwrapped an empty package! Please do not use this on children, as they may become very disappointed.