How to hold a Yankee Christmas Swap in the classroom

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By ReuseItAll
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hold a Yankee Christmas Swap in the classroom

A Yankee Christmas Swap is a fun way to exchange gifts! Its a gift exchanging game that many families and circles of friends play around the holidays. I altered the game a bit and hosted them in our children's classrooms as a fun game during holiday parties. Here is how you can hold your own Yankee Christmas Swap in a classroom.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

The number of students in the classroom plus the number of boys and the number of girls.
Enough gifts for each child to have one plus 3 extra gifts
wrapping paper and tape

Step 1

Yankee Christmas Swap in the classroom

First, find out the number of children in the classroom. If you want to purchase gifts that are gender neutral then you'll just need the total. If you want to purchase gifts that girls would like and gifts that boys would like then find out the number of boys and girls as well.
Step 2

What to spend per gift

Next come up with an amount that you are able to spend on each gift. For example, we spent under $5 per gift. If this is costly for you, then have other parents help out and each pay for a few gifts.
Step 3

Small gifts

Small objects are best. For example, I've purchased, stickers, toys, journals, crayons, erasers, markers, etc. I've even combined things like a pen and notebook. I've also given gift bags of M&Ms. These are great little gift items that they will appreciate.
Step 4

Wrap gifts

Next, wrap the gifts. If there are gender specific gifts that, say a boy wouldn't want or a girl wouldn't want, maybe you can mark them in some way or wrap them in different paper. Or just let them open and swap as the game progresses. Think about their ages and how they might react. For younger kids, we've wrapped them in different paper so that the boys were aware of which gifts were, say lipglosses and bracelets, and visa versa.
Step 5

Explain the rules

On the day of the Christmas Yankee Swap, you'll need to have all of the kids sit in a circle on the floor of the classroom. Then, pour the pile of gifts into the center of their circle and watch their faces light up! Instruct them not to touch and explain the rules of the game. ***The first person goes and picks a gift. They have to hold it up for everyone to see. Then the second person can either take the first person's gift or pick a new one. If a person's gift is taken, then they get to open a new one. Once you've gone all the way around the room, the first person who went gets to go again. This is because they never got to choose whether to open a gift or take someone else's in the beginning. Once everyone understands the rules, the game can begin.
Step 6

Happy kids!

Remember to problem solve along the way. Kids are not able to control themselves all the time so explain that in the end everyone will end up with something fun and we should all be grateful. Answer their questions as they go so that they have a fun experience. I recommend that you have extra gifts in the end so that, if a boy opened a girl gift and it is obvious that they are unhappy that maybe they could open a different one. Or, have everyone go around one more time now that the gifts are open and swap again. The choice is yours. See how it goes and how the kids handle the game. Extra gifts that are very neutral are a big help! Use your discretion.

Comments

urbanchristmas said

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on 12/8/2009 Cute gift exchange game! I have played it before. It's a scream. Some adults do have a hard time with it. Good way to teach the sharing concept. 5*

hormellunchmeat said

on 9/3/2009 We have a Yankee Swap every year in my family. You can download the official rules at http://www.yankeeswap.com and they have a great gift finder.