Ideas for Christmas Gift Swaps for Moms

Host a Christmas gift swap to give busy moms a break.

Mothers often spend their Decembers creating a magical Christmas for their children. Take a break with a mothers-only holiday gift swap. Organize a cocktail-flowing childless evening with friends or swap gifts with adult family members while the children play with their gifts. Unlike a reciprocal gift exchange, you leave and return from a Yankee or decor swap with one small gift. Cookie swaps reduce the toil of conjuring up more than your one go-to cookie recipe. For extra "Peace on Earth," swap your children.

Cookie Swap

Share cookies and baking mishaps at cookie swap parties.

While cookie exchanges have been around since the 1930s, the term "cookie swap" was coined in the 1950s, according to Robin Olson, author of "The Cookie Party Cookbook." In a cookie swap, each guest only bakes once. Bake a half dozen or a full dozen cookies for each of the other guests. Olson encourages everyone "state their name, the name of the cookie and their baking story," such as their incident in setting off the fire alarm or the recipe being their grandmother's for education and laughs.

Decor Swap

Swap seldom-used Christmas decor.

Dust off the box of stocking hangers that hung in your old house, but not in your mantle-less new abode. Unpack the Santa Claus cheese tray that you just do not love anymore. Sarah Rae Trover at Apartmenttherapy.com suggests a Christmas decor swap party. Over cocktails or hot chocolate, everyone parts with bows, platters and lights no longer used and returns home with something new to try. Check with your children and spouse before giving something away. That ghastly item could hold a special memory for them. Select an item that you purchased but never used or that the family agrees can go.

Yankee Swap

Come home with a small gift from a Yankee swap.

Each participant brings a wrapped gift of a set monetary value. The first guest selects a present. The second guest may select a present or steal the gift the first mom selected. Draw numbers or arrange guests in a circle. The action travels around the room with each subsequent participant given the option of selecting an unwrapped item from the table or swiping a previously opened gift. When the last mother has a gift, the woman who made the first selection can keep her gift, or exchange it with anyone else in the room. Add cocktails for a more raucous time.

Child Swap

Exchange children to give moms several nights off.

While not exactly a timed party event, busy mothers appreciate time alone to shop for Christmas presents or spend precious time alone with their significant other. Babysitting other children for several nights might take away from your own limited free time, so host all the children at once. Organize games and buy snacks and shuffle the children of the other moms in your basement or living room for several hours. For example, if four mothers participate, each host all of the children one time and their kids enjoy time at the other homes three times. Enlist older children to help with the entertainment.

References

• "The Cookie Party Cookbook: The Ultimate Guide to Hosting a Cookie Exchange;" Robin Olson; 2010
• Apartment Therapy: "Party Idea: Host a Holiday Decor Swap;" Sarah Rae Trover, 2010
• RedBoook: Yankee Swap Rules