Hello, Everyone.
THANK YOU to those of you who took the time to respond to my query, which was:
"On many school staffs, for the Christmas gift exchange, we each take a turn to
open a wrapped gift OR take a present that someone else has already opened. The
first person, of course, doesn't have that second option. And the person who loses
a gift to a "taker" then gets to choose again. Does anyone know if this practice
has a name and if so, what is it?"
I posted the TARGET because I had heard the activity being attributed to the
Chinese this year and was wondering if at one time the adjective Chinese was
originally included as a slur. No one was able to shed any light on the activity's
origins but in today's world, such expressions have not maintained their original
insulting meaning and many people use them without realizing the derogatory
connotations. I now have many choices to call this activity, thanks to all of you!
It is amazing how many different names the activity has all over North America.
Here is a compilation of the responses I received:
We have done this for 25 years in our church choir, but I don't know
what it is called. I would be interested, too.
Here it is referred to as "Dirty Santa"
Dirty Santa
I've always heard it called a "Yankee Swap"
Competitive gift giving
WE have called this Chinese Christmas but there may be a more PC term.
My friends have always called this a Chinese gift exchange.
Around here we call it a Yankee Swap.
White Elephant
This fun little gift exchange of which you are speaking is called a Yankee Swap!
We do it every year and it is great good fun!
Have a great weekend and a great Yankee Swap!
At our school we call it "Dirty Santa" Exchange.
I believe it is called "Dirty Santa."
Hope this helps!
'White Elephant'
We call that game "Rob Your Neighbor" !
We always called this a "White Elephant" gift exchange. It works best when there
are mostly gag gifts and then one or two good gifts. Then everyone battles over
the good gifts and usually the last name picked gets the advantage.
Selfish Santa
Here in Montana we call an exchange like that a "Yankee Swap".
They can be loads of fun -- we have a good time with one Christmas ornaments at our
district Christmas party / dinner.
We call it the White Elephant Exchange (down here in the south). We do
it the same way.
We've always called it a Chinese Gift Exchange.
We called it a Chinese auction. I have no idea where that term came from
though.
Our family calls it Dirty Santa.
When my sorority used to play that game they used the play on the words grab bag
and called it the "gift grab."
We've always called it "White elephant"
Yankee Swap
White Elephant
This is called White Elephant.
When I lived in Boston we called it a "Yankee Swap."
I don't know anything about the name origin. Hope
that helps.
White Elephant
We used to call it a Chinese Auction
We call that game "Steal the Gift"
A Chinese Auction!!! We had ours last nigth!
We call it "Dirty Santa" ;)
Yankee Swap or Chinese Grab Bag
We know it as a Yankee Swap...........
One more note...it's fun if the first person gets to select any gift he
or she desires at the end of the game (since she didn't get a turn at
the beginning). Being number "1" is very desirable!
I have always heard this called a Chinese Auction.
I've heard it called a White Elephant gift exchange (though I know that
term is also used for simply exchanging gifts by drawing a name or
something at the party). This game is SO much fun!
Our school calls it a Chinese Auction. I don't know why.
"Dirty Santa"
There are many different ways to play. You need to set the ground rules or
sometimes people take it WAY to seriously and get hurt feelings. It's hard to play
with a group much larger than 25 or less than 12. If you have a large faculty,
you may need to break up into departments to make it work. The larger the group
the longer it takes to play the game.
You begin by drawing numbers. #1 selects a gifts and unwraps it. They
have to show everyone the gift. #2 can then either take the gift from #1 or select
a new gift from the pile. If #2 takes #1's gift, then #1 gets to select another
gift. Then #3 is up. #3 may "steal" the gifts from either #1 or #2 or select a
gift from the pile, you continue you on...It's better if you draw a higher number
because you have more gifts to select from..
Ground rules:
Select a price range for gifts. You need to stay within $5-10 of the set range
or it can get pretty competitive. All packages should be wrapped and no one should
be able to identify which person brought which gift. (No name tags etc.) People
can tell at the end of the game if they wish. Sometimes everyone likes a particular
item and want to purchase one for themselves.
You will need to decide how many times can a gift be "stolen" until it is
permanently "owned". (We usually go with the 3rd time - it's out of circulation.)
If you go many more times than that the game will take forever to end. (We usually
add stories like...Oh my grandchild will be so happy to have this Christmas
Ornament it is just what I have been looking for...hoping to keep others from
stealing the only decent gift in the pile!)
Our own quirky version...
Our teacher sorority plays "Dirty Santa" in December and then we play "White
Elephant Dirty Santa" in January. It started out with the most outrageous
"teacher" gift of the season and has evolved into the worst gift you can imagine.
Some of our most prized white elephants that have to be returned each year are: a
very large ceramic and gold white elephant (that was actually once a gift), a
raggedy hand knitted doll toilet tissue cover complete with pink hat, and a plastic
plate that has plastic food glued to it that was designed as a wall hanging. Of
course, there isn't much stealing going on during this game but there is a lot of
laughter. We all bring our holiday leftovers and have a wonderful time. There is
one lady who still hasn't quite gotten the hang of it and she brings a "real" gift
and gets a really funny look on her face if she ends up with the tissue holder.
Everyone groans if you get stuck with the elephant and you have to hang on to it
until the next year. Once I had pity on our clueless friend and stole the elephant
from her.
So you see "Dirty Santa" can be played in lots of different ways. Have fun
and don't take it seriously.
We call it "Dirty Santa".
Here it's called a "Chinese" gift exchange, but I don't know if that's just
local or not. Please do post a HIT.
I've heard it called Chinese auction
I don't know if you got a response yet. We have done it here for a number of
years. Is it called kringling?
*****************************************
I hope you all enjoyed reading the results! Have a great week!
Hilda Mah
Teacher-Librarian
Parkdale Elementary & Junior High School
Edmonton, Alberta
hildamah@telusplanet.net
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Please note: All LM_NET postings are protected by copyright law.
You can prevent most e-mail filters from deleting LM_NET postings
by adding LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU to your e-mail address book.
To change your LM_NET status, e-mail to: listserv@listserv.syr.edu
In the message write EITHER: 1) SIGNOFF LM_NET 2) SET LM_NET NOMAIL
3) SET LM_NET MAIL 4) SET LM_NET DIGEST * Allow for confirmation.
* LM_NET Help & Information: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/
* LM_NET Archive: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/archive/
* EL-Announce with LM_NET Select: http://elann.biglist.com/sub/
* LM_NET Supporters: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/ven.html
--------------------------------------------------------------------
LM_NET
Mailing List Home