December comes with a lot of excitement in itself. We make plans for almost an entire month. Be it Christmas or New year, from planning the next year’s resolution to making everyday a cheat day, we enjoy all those 31 days. The ‘official’ way to celebrate this month is with the game of Secret Santa. While this game never fails to amaze us, I thought why not make it double amazing. So, here are a few other alternate games that can be played other than Secret Santa.

A note common to all the games :
Keep a minimum and maximum budget.

Let’s begin!

1. ‘Match’ made in heaven!

1. Similar to Secret Santa, let everyone select their child and get the gifts for them.
2. During the gift exchange, assemble everyone and number each person.
3. Have few chits in a bowl with the numbers above and a task written below.
4. Let everyone pick a chit.
5. Whoever has got their numbers matched, they have to do the task.
6. After successful task completion, the child has to guess their Santa.

And finally, Santa gives the gift.

2. Musical gift!

1. Ask everyone to get the gifts which are common to both the genders (like a showpiece or something wacky and creative).
2. On the gift exchange day, pile up all your gifts on the centre.
3. Now let everyone assemble around the gifts.
4. Let one person pick a gift and start playing the music.
5. Once the music is stopped, with whomever the gift is present, he/she gets to keep it.
6. This person is excluded and the next round begins.
7. Let this go on until everyone has received their gifts.

In case you end up getting the same gift that you’d purchased, that round is considered null and you’ll still be part of the game until you get a different gift.

3. The classic treasure hunt

1. Let everyone get a bag full of goodies like candy, flowers, or cookies.
2. Mark it with a number.
3. Hide it anywhere around your office.
4. Have chits marked with those numbers and clues to find them.
5. Let everyone pick the chits and the number they get, they need to find their gifts from the clues given.

A note to the organizer here is to ensure that the numbers are unique so that you can avoid anyone getting the gift that they have purchased.

4. Win the gift!

1. Let everyone get a bag of goodies as the gift.
2. Based on your total team size, make a group of 5 or more.
3. Play a game of quiz where you ask basic school subjects related questions.
4. Whoever knows the answer will press the buzzer and give the answer.
5. At the end of this game, the team getting the highest score will get to choose their gift first.
6. This team is excluded and the next round begins. Reduce the team size in between 3 to 5.
7. Now play some music and let them guess the song. Whoever knows will press the buzzer and same goes with this.
8. Again, in the end, the team getting the highest score will get to choose theirs.
9. Do it until you reach a point where there are a few left.
10. Give them a task and once they do it, they’ll get to choose their gift.

To avoid the last person feeling bad or low, give that person a tricky task and a bonus gift which is revealed only in the last!

5. Donate a gift

1. Get your most valuable thing which you feel can be donated to others.
2. Let your child guess the gift and if guessed right, give the gift.
3. Else, give a task and after successful completion of the task, give them the gift.
4. You can tweak the game rules to keep the spirit high equivalent to your fun and energetic team.

These games not only brings fun and laughter but also are an ice breaker. Do you have any experiences or any other games in mind? Do drop those in the comments below and share this article to those who are ready to explore.