What the heck is Dirty Santa?

[southern_redhead]

I have a general idea but I've never had to PLAY it. This year, instead of drawing names as usual, one of the women in my office decided (for us all I guess, I sure didn't get asked LOL) to play Dirty Santa. Argh! I hate shopping for a "generic" gift. When we drew names I knew what that person liked, could/would use, etc... Well, now it could go to ANYONE. There are 6 of us doing this and really none of us have common interests, sizes, or even like the same things. *sigh*

One woman told me she got a couple of three wick candles from BABW. So candles are out, I don't think we all just want to trade candles. What I ended up doing was buying a travel mug and ceramic mug from Starbucks. I'll add a $5 or $10 McCafe gift card and put it in a cute bag. We don't HAVE a Starbucks closer than an hour away so I decided NOT to do a GC from there. All we have is McD's Anyway, the GC puts me either $5 or $10 over the limit of $20 BUT....I hate to give basically two mugs. I really don't even want to do this but I have to work closely with all of them and if I don't participate then it'll be because I'm "". I'm sure I'll get stuck with the least desirable gift because I would NEVER say I didn't like something and hurt someone's feelings. That is how you play right? When the gifts are open you pick the one you like and trade for it and then people keep "trading" until....what? How do you know when it's done. How many times do you have to trade?

 

[luvmesometigger]

I had to google it. I never heard of it.

 

[tomaszewski58]

Everyone thinks that their own gift will be the least desireable. And everyone's gift is really quite similar.

You never get "stuck" with a gift. instead, someone considers your possession to be so desireable that they take it from you. and then you get to take another valuable possession from a co-worker.

It is most succesful if people only go to the table (and open a new unwrapped gift) if they absolutely have to. The fun comes from stealing--not opening. Remember, every gift cost the same, so teh chance of finding something amazing in the wrapped pile is highly unlikely. Go forward and steal.

 

[pjacobi]

Dirty Santa? Huh?

In New England, the game is known as a Yankee Swap. I guess that name doesn't work so well south of the Mason-Dixon line.


-Paul

 

[midori sweet]

I have heard it called both Yankee Swap and Dirty Santa.

I have done these several times, and it seems the rules are always slightly different.

But, basically, people bring a generic gift at a certain dollar value (something that you know everyone playing might want). Girly lotions and the sort are fine for a group of all women, but when I have done them with a co-ed group from work it was things like wine and Christmas decorations.

The overall way it goes is that somehow people go in order (usually draw numbers, but I have also seen it done with decks of cards) to select a wrapped gift one at a time. The next person can either "steal" one of the selected gifts or open a new one from the pile. (That is where the "dirty" part comes in)

From there, I have seen all different rules. In some swaps, a gift can only be stolen 3 times. In other ones, there is no limit.

Also, then sometimes at the send of the game, the gifts get passed to the left or right (using a poem or again a deck of cards). So it really becomes completely random what you end up with.

 

[2disneyboys]

we do something similar to this, but we do it with ornaments.... everyone buys a nice ornament ($10 range) something you might not normally buy for your self... then you do the unwrapping/stealing etc. At the end of the night,everyone goes home with a nice ornament.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

Wow... around here we call it White Elephant...

Anywho, are there any dollar store around that you could find something?

Our family tries to find something off the wall/hilarious as a WE gift each year. The best one of yet was a gag gift of a golden man-thong.

 

[mjkacmom]

Wow... around here we call it White Elephant...

Anywho, are there any dollar store around that you could find something?

Our family tries to find something off the wall/hilarious as a WE gift each year. The best one of yet was a gag gift of a golden man-thong.

I think white elephant swaps are different from dirty santa swaps - you try to buy things that people actually want with dirty santa.

 

[okeydokey]

Dirty Santa (or Naughty Santa) can be great fun with the right crowd. If your gift gets stolen, you choose another wrapped one. We have done it with groups of 15-20 people and put a limit on how many times a gift can change hands (like 3 times).

 

[PatsMom]

Yankee swaps as we call them here in New England are usually lots of fun. Chocolate is always a big draw at my office. I live near a Lindt outlet so I am usually the one who brings that. But I've also picked up stuff at Harry and David - Moose munch is a big winner. Wine is good unless you know you are dealing with a lot of non-drinkers. Nice Christmas ornaments. If you are dealing with a lot of women, lotions, etc usually are well liked.

One of the more unusual swaps was held by an old neighbor of mine in mid-January. Everyone was supposed to re-wrap and bring their least favorite Christmas gift for the swap. Someone was always getting rid of a fruitcake! But the swap itself was definitely a case of "one man's garbage is another man's treasure".

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I think white elephant swaps are different from dirty santa swaps - you try to buy things that people actually want with dirty santa.

Then we must play White Elephant wrong at my work.

 

[RMulieri]

We do Dirty Sants..It can be fun, but occasionally you can get some pretty NASTY participants that get really angry.We did this at our Christmas party on Sunday with 16 people and it was real fun and no one got upset .2 years ago it got really heated and nasty between 2 people..

 

[Ephany]

One of the more unusual swaps was held by an old neighbor of mine in mid-January. Everyone was supposed to re-wrap and bring their least favorite Christmas gift for the swap. Someone was always getting rid of a fruitcake! But the swap itself was definitely a case of "one man's garbage is another man's treasure".

That'd be awesome unless of course one of those gifts came from someone at the party. I usually go with hot chocolate assortments, snuggies, gift cards to a book store with a book about the region you live in, chocolate or food gift packs or a calender for the upcoming year.

 

[budbeerlady]

We do this with Dh's family on Christmas Eve. Its a $5 gift, usually its food or a candle or something. The adults can be worse than the kids when it comes to a favorite candy. We play Bingo to get it started and do a total of 10 bingos after everyone has a gift.

 

[DisneyFan32WI]

We always play SECRET SANTA-I've never heard of DIRTY SANTA before. I think all these Christmas games are fun to play at work. It certainly spices things up around the office.

 

[pat fan]

We call it Yankee Swap and it's FUN!

Since our family got big, we draw names, but to make it more fun, we do the Yankee Swap, too. Last year, my gift was the most fought over. It was an incense burner/holder and some incense. I thought MAYBE some of the 20-something crowd would like it more than some of the traditional items brought, and they all kept nabbing it from each other!

We play by drawing #'s and selecting a present starting with #1. You can "steal" a present that is already opened or take one that is unwrapped. Once you get to the end of the line, the person who had #1 gets to either keep hi/her present or take one from anyone else in the group. Being any low # other than 1 kinda stinks, because you have few "known" items to steal from, but it's still fun because someone might steal from you. And if you have a spouse, you can always get them to swap their gift for something you like if the #'s work out that way

 

[ampc3]

We call it Yankee Swap and it's FUN!

Since our family got big, we draw names, but to make it more fun, we do the Yankee Swap, too. Last year, my gift was the most fought over. It was an incense burner/holder and some incense. I thought MAYBE some of the 20-something crowd would like it more than some of the traditional items brought, and they all kept nabbing it from each other!

We play by drawing #'s and selecting a present starting with #1. You can "steal" a present that is already opened or take one that is unwrapped. Once you get to the end of the line, the person who had #1 gets to either keep hi/her present or take one from anyone else in the group. Being any low # other than 1 kinda stinks, because you have few "known" items to steal from, but it's still fun because someone might steal from you. And if you have a spouse, you can always get them to swap their gift for something you like if the #'s work out that way

That is how we play it too, but we have always called it a chinese gift exchange. (don't ask me why, but even as a kid that is the name that was used)

 

[dizmom2mwjk]

We call it Yankee Swap and it's FUN!

We play by drawing #'s and selecting a present starting with #1. You can "steal" a present that is already opened or take one that is unwrapped. Once you get to the end of the line, the person who had #1 gets to either keep hi/her present or take one from anyone else in the group. Being any low # other than 1 kinda stinks, because you have few "known" items to steal from, but it's still fun because someone might steal from you. And if you have a spouse, you can always get them to swap their gift for something you like if the #'s work out that way

This is how we usually play, but this year, we put a spin on it...we drew in numerical order WITHOUT SWAPPING first, then we had envelopes with our assigned number with directions in each one and you HAD to follow the instructions...like steal 4 times....or exchange with Steve....or swap with the person 4 to the right...change with anyone whose name begins with P...this was alot of fun as well...we never knew what was coming/and had little control over it, so it was surprising, also....

 

[mjkacmom]

Then we must play White Elephant wrong at my work.

I guess you do! If you google white elephant gift exchange, you will see it's a funny secret santa - we call it "attic treasures" for our bunco group, but it's the same idea. The idea is to bring the most pathetic gift you can find - it can be hysterical!

 

[scrapquitler]

I have a general idea but I've never had to PLAY it. This year, instead of drawing names as usual, one of the women in my office decided (for us all I guess, I sure didn't get asked LOL) to play Dirty Santa. Argh! I hate shopping for a "generic" gift. When we drew names I knew what that person liked, could/would use, etc... Well, now it could go to ANYONE. There are 6 of us doing this and really none of us have common interests, sizes, or even like the same things. *sigh*

One woman told me she got a couple of three wick candles from BABW. So candles are out, I don't think we all just want to trade candles. What I ended up doing was buying a travel mug and ceramic mug from Starbucks. I'll add a $5 or $10 McCafe gift card and put it in a cute bag. We don't HAVE a Starbucks closer than an hour away so I decided NOT to do a GC from there. All we have is McD's Anyway, the GC puts me either $5 or $10 over the limit of $20 BUT....I hate to give basically two mugs. I really don't even want to do this but I have to work closely with all of them and if I don't participate then it'll be because I'm "". I'm sure I'll get stuck with the least desirable gift because I would NEVER say I didn't like something and hurt someone's feelings. That is how you play right? When the gifts are open you pick the one you like and trade for it and then people keep "trading" until....what? How do you know when it's done. How many times do you have to trade?

My Husband went shopping for his grab bag thing at work. He bought a George Foreman Grill for $15.

ANother option: scratch lottery tickets