christmas exchange gift essay

December 16, 2023

Why Do We Give Gifts? An Anthropologist Explains This Ancient Human Behavior

Gifts play an important role in human relationships and are about more than consumerism

By Chip Colwell & The Conversation US

Liliya Krueger/Getty Images

The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation , an online publication covering the latest research.

Have you planned out your holiday gift giving yet? If you’re anything like me, you might be waiting until the last minute. But whether every single present is already wrapped and ready, or you’ll hit the shops on Christmas Eve, giving gifts is a curious but central part of being human.

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While researching my new book, “ So Much Stuff ,” on how humanity has come to depend on tools and technology over the last 3 million years, I became fascinated by the purpose of giving things away. Why would people simply hand over something precious or valuable when they could use it themselves?

To me as an anthropologist , this is an especially powerful question because giving gifts likely has  ancient roots . And gifts can be found in  every known culture  around the world.

So, what explains the power of the present?

Undoubtedly, gifts serve lots of purposes. Some psychologists  have observed  a “warm glow” – an intrinsic delight – that’s associated with giving presents. Theologians have noted how gifting is a way to express moral values, such as love, kindness and gratitude, in  Catholicism ,  Buddhism  and  Islam . And philosophers ranging from  Seneca  to  Friedrich Nietzsche  regarded gifting as the best demonstration of selflessness. It’s little wonder that gifts are a central part of Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa and other winter holidays – and that some people may  even be tempted to regard   Black Friday , the opening of the year-end shopping season, as a holiday in itself.

But of all the explanations for why people give gifts, the one I find most convincing was offered in 1925 by a French anthropologist named  Marcel Mauss .

Giving, receiving, reciprocating

Like many anthropologists, Mauss was puzzled by societies in which gifts were extravagantly given away.

For example, along the northwest coast of Canada and the United States, Indigenous peoples conduct potlatch ceremonies. In these dayslong feasts, hosts give away immense amounts of property. Consider a  famous potlatch in 1921 , held by a clan leader of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nation in Canada who gave community members 400 sacks of flour, heaps of blankets, sewing machines, furniture, canoes, gas-powered boats and even pool tables.

In a now-famous essay titled “ The Gift ,” originally published almost a century ago, Mauss sees potlaches as an extreme form of gifting. Yet, he suggests this behavior is totally recognizable in most every human society: We give things away even when keeping them for ourselves would seem to make much more economic and evolutionary sense.

Mauss observed that gifts create three separate but inextricably related actions. Gifts are given, received and reciprocated.

The first act of giving establishes the virtues of the gift giver. They express their generosity, kindness and honor.

The act of receiving the gift, in turn, shows a person’s willingness to be honored. This is a way for the receiver to show their own generosity, that they are willing to accept what was offered to them.

The third component of gift giving is reciprocity, returning in kind what was first given. Essentially, the person who received the gift is now expected – implicitly or explicitly – to give a gift back to the original giver.

But then, of course, once the first person gets something back, they must return yet another gift to the person who received the original gift. In this way, gifting becomes an endless loop of giving and receiving, giving and receiving.

This last step – reciprocity – is what makes gifts unique. Unlike buying something at a store, in which the exchange ends when money is traded for goods, giving gifts builds and sustains relationships. This relationship between the gift giver and receiver is bound up with morality. Gifting is an expression of fairness because each present is generally of equal or greater value than what was last given. And gifting is an expression of respect because it shows a willingness to honor the other person.

In these ways, gifting tethers people together. It keeps people connected in an infinite cycle of mutual obligations.

Giving better gifts

Are modern-day consumers unknowingly embodying Mauss’ theory a little too well? After all, many people today suffer not from the lack of gifts, but from an overabundance.

Gallup reports that the average American holiday shopper estimates  they’ll spend US$975 on presents in 2023 , the highest amount since this survey began in 1999.

And many gifts are simply thrown out. In the 2019 holiday season, it was estimated that more than  $15 billion of gifts  purchased by Americans were unwanted, with  4% going directly to the landfill . This year, holiday spending is expected to increase in the  U.K. ,  Canada ,  Japan  and elsewhere.

Modern-day gifting practices may be the source of both awe and anger. On the one hand, by giving presents you are engaging in an ancient behavior that makes us human by growing and sustaining our relationships. On the other hand, it seems as if some societies might be using the holiday season as an excuse to simply consume more and more.

Mauss’ ideas do not promote runaway consumerism. On the contrary, his explanations of gifts suggest that the more meaningful and personal the present, the greater the respect and honor being shown. A truly thoughtful gift is far less likely to end up in a dump. And vintage, upcycled, handmade goods – or a personalized experience such as a food tour or hot air balloon ride – might even be more valued than an expensive item mass-produced on the other side of the world, shipped across oceans and packaged in plastic.

Quality gifts can speak to your values and more meaningfully sustain your relationships.

This article was originally published on The Conversation . Read the original article .

A Sociologist Studied Christmas Gifts, and Here's What He Learned

Christmas shopping is worth stressing over: Anthropologists and sociologists have long believed that ritualized gift exchange is one of the most important mechanisms keeping our fragile social networks intact. The French anthropologist Marcel Mauss hypothesized in his seminal 1925 essay, “ The Gift: The form and reason for exchange in archaic societies," that when an object is given as a gift, it becomes inextricably tied to the giver. “To make a gift of something,” he wrote, “is to make a present of some part of oneself." Mauss identified three obligations associated with gift exchange: giving, which he equates with the first step in building a social relationship; receiving, which signifies acceptance of the social relationship; and reciprocating, which demonstrates the recipient’s integrity. If gifts are refused or unreciprocated, relationships can be threatened.

In 1979, University of Virginia sociologist Theodore Caplow, in keeping with the tradition of a generation of sociologists led by Robert and Helen Lynd , travelled to the small town of Muncie, Indiana—a stand-in for “Middletown, USA”—to study something the Lynds had neglected: the annual exchange of gifts on Christmas, a ritual in which even the most socially isolated residents participate. Caplow interviewed 110 adults on their experience of Christmas the previous year, and from their responses was able to collect data on 366 Christmas gatherings and 4,347 individual gifts. Though he discovered strict rules underlying nearly every aspect of holiday gift-giving—from who gives what to how presents are wrapped—Middletown residents denied the existence of such rules, preferring to envision Christmas gifting as a voluntary, spontaneous demonstration of love and friendship. “Gift exchange,” Caplow concluded, “is a language that employs objects instead of words as its lexical elements…. The language of prestation, like the verbal language, begins to be learned in early childhood and is used with increasing assurance as the individual matures and acquires social understanding.”

He presented his findings in two essays, “ Christmas Gifts and Kin Networks," which appeared in American Sociological Review in 1982, and “Rule Enforcement Without Visible Means: Christmas Gift Giving in Middletown ,” published in American Journal of Sociology in 1984.

Gifts must be given to the right people

"The 110 respondents in the sample gave 2,969 gifts and received 1,378 gifts, a mean of 27 given and 13 received. Participants in this gift system should give (individually or jointly) at least one Christmas gift every year to their mothers, fathers, sons, daughters; to the current spouses of these persons; and to their own spouses. By the operation of this rule, participants expect to receive at least one gift in return from each of these persons excepting infants…Gifts to grandparents and grandchildren seem to be equally obligatory if these live in the same community or nearby, but not at greater distances. Christmas gifts to siblings are not required.

Parents expect to give more valuable and more numerous gifts to their minor children and to their adult children living at home than they receive in return. This imbalance is central to the entire ritual. The iconography of Middletown's secular Christmas emphasizes unreciprocated giving to children by the emblematic figure of Santa Claus, and the theme of unreciprocated giving provides one of the few connections between the secular and religious iconography of the festival-the Three Wise Men coming from a distant land to bring unreciprocated gifts to a child.

There is little reciprocity in the gift giving between non-kin. A large number of the gifts in this category are addressed to persons who provide minor services; reciprocation in those cases would be bizarre. Gifts from employers to employees, from grateful patients to physicians, and from pupils to teachers do not call for reciprocation."

Gifts must be given in the right way

"Christmas gifts should be distributed at gatherings where every person gives and receives gifts. More than nine-tenths of the 1,378 gifts our respondents received, and of the 2,969 they gave, were distributed in gatherings, more than three-quarters of which were family gatherings. Most gifts mailed or shipped by friends and relatives living at a distance were double wrapped, so that the outer unceremonious wrappings could be removed and the inner packages could be placed with other gifts to be opened at a gathering.

Christmas gifts must be wrapped before they are presented…. Difficult-to-wrap Christmas gifts, like a pony or a piano, are wrapped symbolically by adding a ribbon or bow or card and are hidden until presentation."

Gifts must be the right type

"Clothing was by far the most common type of gift (35 percent of all gifts); followed by toys (10 percent); money and food/beverages (9 percent each); decorations/ornaments (7 percent); cosmetics/toiletries, household equipment, and jewelry (6 percent each); appliances and sports/hobby equipment (3 percent each); and plants/flowers (2 percent). The preference for clothing over all other categories is probably accounted for by the automatic individualization of items of clothing. In effect, they describe the receiver by age, sex, appearance, and style.

Money is an appropriate gift from senior to junior kin, but an inappropriate gift from junior to senior kin, regardless of the relative affluence of the parties."

Giving the right way can strengthen a relationship

"Most of Middletown's gift giving occurs between close kin…the pattern it displays shows up the two principal points of stress in the contemporary American family. The first point of stress is the insecurity of the spousal relationship. Viewed cross-culturally, the contemporary American family is unusual in exhibiting a very high level of interaction between spouses while permitting easy, almost penalty-free divorce at the initiative of either spouse at any point in the life cycle. Since divorce is always more than a remote possibility in a Middletown marriage, the relationship with affinal relatives [in-laws] is always a little uneasy.

The individual message [of a gift] says, “I value you according to the degree of our relationship” and anticipates the response, “I value you in the same way.” But the compound message that emerges from the unwrapping of gifts in the presence of the whole gathering allows more subtle meanings to be conveyed. It permits the husband to say to the wife, “I value you more than my parents” or the mother to say to the daughter-in-law, “I value you as much as my son so long as you are married to him” or the brother to say to the brother, “I value you more than our absent brothers, but less than our parents and much less than my children.” These statements, taken together, would define and sustain a social structure, if only because, by their gift messages, both parties to each dyadic relationship confirm that they have the same understanding of the relationship and the bystanders, who are interested parties, endorse that understanding by tacit approval."

Giving the wrong way can be the end of a relationship

"In the dialect of Christmas gift giving, the absence of a gift is also a lexical sign, signifying either the absence of a close relationship, as in the Christmas contact of cousins, or the desire to terminate a close relationship, as when a husband gives no gift to his wife.

The spouse’s or lover's gift that is disliked by the receiver is a sign of alienation. Two of the five couples in our sample for whom such gifts were reported at Christmas 1978 had separated by the time of the interview several weeks later."

Alice Robb is the author of Don’t Think, Dear: On Loving and Leaving Ballet .

How we turned our family’s holiday gift exchange into a chance to really connect

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The winter holidays are a time of giving, but too often that means nonstop spending, shopping and stress. Read how one family boldly reimagined their annual gift swap.

Giving presents is a fun way to show people we care about them. But as many of us know, giving presents during the December holiday season can cost a lot of money and cause a lot of stress. In the US alone, holiday spending is estimated to exceed $1.1 trillion in 2018, with Americans planning to spend roughly $850 on gifts , on average.

A few years ago, our family made a few observations about the financial and emotional toll of our holiday gift exchange. Our exchange involves seven adults — three sisters (Kate, Lizzie and Charlotte), their parents (Ted and Sue), and Kate and Charlotte’s husbands (David and Sam) — and two children (Nyaanina and Arthur).

Gift giving was getting more and more tricky. Traditionally, everyone showed up with a present for every other person, and Sue, the matriarch, provided an additional bounty “from Santa” that she chose through loving but laborious guesswork. But after the packages were opened, we inevitably found that people didn’t want or need many of the presents they’d received; there was always the distinct threat of repeat gifts for the same person or the same household (one year, three copies of Yotam Ottolenghi’s vegetable cookbook Plenty More were exchanged among seven grownups); and the need for so much shopping took away from how present we could be during the holidays.

For Christmas 2016 we tried to go lower key, inspired by an idea of Lizzie’s: We made Google Docs where every adult would list a few relatively inexpensive items ($20 or less) that they’d be pleased to receive. People decided on one item to buy for each person, and communicated their selection to everyone (except the recipient, of course!). And “Santa” was eliminated entirely from the circle of gift-givers.

It worked but also, it didn’t. Some people procrastinated writing their lists (probably a sign they didn’t want or need more stuff). And, even with the new plan, gift buying still took too much time and energy during a period that was supposed to be about family connection.

For Christmas 2017, we made a big change. First, one ground rule: The kids could get as many gifts as the loving adults in their lives wanted to shower on them (because shopping for toddlers is fun!). But instead of adults exchanging presents, each of us would give the rest of the family a presentation — in any format and on any topic they wished.

This idea began as an elaboration on a family joke from another get-together; somehow, we’d started talking about the Powerpoint presentations we’d given at work or school, and we resurrected a few of them for dramatic renditions. It was amusing and strangely edifying (one oddball presentation titled “The Mitford Sisters: A Surprising Powerpoint” became a family favorite).

We thought it could be fun to do this in a more purposeful way over the holidays — and we were genuinely curious about what our family members might share. We left the format wide open. Besides a Powerpoint, people could offer a how-to workshop, detailed update, story, performance, demonstration, Q&A, facilitated discussion, and so on. We all liked how this form of giving emphasized shared activity, conversation and focused attention.

In the weeks before Christmas, we circulated a Google Doc so people could commit to a time slot. On December 23, there was great excitement at the grandparents’ house as we convened for the first of eight presentations to take place over the next few days. Seated together in the living room, we practiced the hissing of snakes with Uncle Sam and learned what sounds giraffes make from his 15-month-old son, Arthur, a budding animal vocalist and Sam’s copresenter on “Animal Sounds.” Then, two-year-old Nyaanina — with assistance from her father, David — led demonstrations of gravity and shadows in her presentation “Physics by babies: What do light sources, the horizon, shadows and gravity have in common?”

Next, Ted introduced us to the principle of chi and led a sensational tai chi session for beginners. Sue read some “greatest hits” from a record book of family meetings in the ’80s and ’90s, which were the “town hall” for discussing family business and making decisions (every member, no matter their age, had an equal vote). Kate, Nyaanina’s mother and codirector of a breastfeeding innovation project, held a Q&A on her research into obstacles to breastfeeding and breast pumping in the US. Her husband, David, then a research scientist at IBM Research Africa, introduced the family to modern AI techniques by analyzing the family WhatsApp chat history using natural language processing. David found, for example, that the mention of Kate’s name in the family chat was closely linked with words and sentiments of travel (Kate had travelled a lot that year for work). Lizzie, a graduate student in political theory, led a dinnertime conversation about the meaning of “neoliberalism.” Charlotte, who had taken up the piano again after a ten-year break, performed a few of the pieces she’d been working on.

Over our four-day gathering, we learned something new about animals, mindfulness, political theory, breast pumps and family history. We also learned new things about each other and what we’d all been up to over the past year.

We’re planning to do it again this Christmas, and for years to come. As Arthur and Nyaanina grow up, it will be exciting to see them find their way in this tradition. What will they choose to tell us about their lives and interests? It promises to be a creative and productive forum for the rest of us as well. For those of us who don’t have opportunities in our day-to-day life to give presentations about our preoccupations, it’s a good way to consolidate our thoughts and see how they add up. It’s also a great venue for sharing small or informal projects that don’t have a natural public outlet or aren’t intended for a larger audience. And it will likely provide an effective deadline to motivate us to finish such projects.

Through this re-conceived gift exchange, we’ve found a way to put the focus firmly on what matters — on people, not objects; on building rapport with each other; and on family togetherness. It’s been fascinating and lots of fun, and there’s no last-minute shopping needed.

Watch David Sengeh’s TED talk here:

About the authors

David Sengeh TED Fellow David Sengeh is the Chief Innovation Officer for the government of Sierra Leone and head of the Directorate of Science, Technology and Innovation in the Office of the President.

Lizzie Krontiris Lizzie Krontiris is a PhD candidate at Yale University, studying political theory.

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History of Christmas

By: History.com Editors

Updated: December 21, 2022 | Original: October 27, 2009

Christmas is celebrated on December 25 and is both a sacred religious holiday and a worldwide cultural and commercial phenomenon. For two millennia, people around the world have been observing it with traditions and practices that are both religious and secular in nature. Christians celebrate Christmas Day as the anniversary of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, a spiritual leader whose teachings form the basis of their religion. Popular customs include exchanging gifts, decorating Christmas trees, attending church, sharing meals with family and friends and, of course, waiting for Santa Claus to arrive. December 25—Christmas Day—has been a federal holiday in the United States since 1870.

How Did Christmas Start?

The middle of winter has long been a time of celebration around the world. Centuries before the arrival of the man called Jesus , early Europeans celebrated light and birth in the darkest days of winter. Many peoples rejoiced during the winter solstice, when the worst of the winter was behind them and they could look forward to longer days and extended hours of sunlight.

In Scandinavia, the Norse celebrated Yule from December 21, the winter solstice, through January. In recognition of the return of the sun, fathers and sons would bring home large logs, which they would set on fire. The people would feast until the log burned out, which could take as many as 12 days. The Norse believed that each spark from the fire represented a new pig or calf that would be born during the coming year.

The end of December was a perfect time for celebration in most areas of Europe. At that time of year, most cattle were slaughtered so they would not have to be fed during the winter. For many, it was the only time of year when they had a supply of fresh meat. In addition, most wine and beer made during the year was finally fermented and ready for drinking.

In Germany, people honored the pagan god Oden during the mid-winter holiday. Germans were terrified of Oden, as they believed he made nocturnal flights through the sky to observe his people, and then decide who would prosper or perish. Because of his presence, many people chose to stay inside.

Christmas in Photos

Saturnalia and Christmas 

In Rome, where winters were not as harsh as those in the far north, Saturnalia—a holiday in honor of Saturn, the god of agriculture—was celebrated. Beginning in the week leading up to the winter solstice and continuing for a full month, Saturnalia was a hedonistic time, when food and drink were plentiful and the normal Roman social order was turned upside down. For a month, enslaved people were given temporary freedom and treated as equals. Business and schools were closed so that everyone could participate in the holiday's festivities.

Also around the time of the winter solstice, Romans observed Juvenalia, a feast honoring the children of Rome. In addition, members of the upper classes often celebrated the birthday of Mithra, the god of the unconquerable sun, on December 25. It was believed that Mithra, an infant god, was born of a rock. For some Romans, Mithra’s birthday was the most sacred day of the year.

Is Christmas Really the Day Jesus Was Born?

In the early years of Christianity , Easter was the main holiday; the birth of Jesus was not celebrated. In the fourth century, church officials decided to institute the birth of Jesus as a holiday. Unfortunately, the Bible does not mention date for his birth (a fact Puritans later pointed out in order to deny the legitimacy of the celebration). Although some evidence suggests that his birth may have occurred in the spring (why would shepherds be herding in the middle of winter?), Pope Julius I chose December 25. It is commonly believed that the church chose this date in an effort to adopt and absorb the traditions of the pagan Saturnalia festival. First called the Feast of the Nativity, the custom spread to Egypt by 432 and to England by the end of the sixth century. 

By holding Christmas at the same time as traditional winter solstice festivals, church leaders increased the chances that Christmas would be popularly embraced, but gave up the ability to dictate how it was celebrated. By the Middle Ages , Christianity had, for the most part, replaced pagan religion.

On Christmas, believers attended church, then celebrated raucously in a drunken, carnival-like atmosphere similar to today’s Mardi Gras . Each year, a beggar or student would be crowned the “lord of misrule” and eager celebrants played the part of his subjects. The poor would go to the houses of the rich and demand their best food and drink. If owners failed to comply, their visitors would most likely terrorize them with mischief. Christmas became the time of year when the upper classes could repay their real or imagined “debt” to society by entertaining less fortunate citizens.

History of Christmas Trees

From millions of homes worldwide to the White House, the Christmas tree is a tradition that owes its popularity in part to a popular British queen.

History of the Christmas Carol

Get the facts on the tradition of Christmas carols, and find out how “Jingle Bells” came about.

European Christmas Customs

In some parts of Europe, people still celebrate Christmas customs based on long‑standing folk legends.

When Christmas Was Cancelled

In the early 17th century, a wave of religious reform changed the way Christmas was celebrated in Europe. When Oliver Cromwell and his Puritan forces took over England in 1645, they vowed to rid England of decadence and, as part of their effort, cancelled Christmas. By popular demand, Charles II was restored to the throne and, with him, came the return of the popular holiday.

The pilgrims , English separatists that came to America in 1620, were even more orthodox in their Puritan beliefs than Cromwell. As a result, Christmas was not a holiday in early America. From 1659 to 1681, the celebration of Christmas was actually outlawed in Boston . Anyone exhibiting the Christmas spirit was fined five shillings. By contrast, in the Jamestown settlement, Captain John Smith reported that Christmas was enjoyed by all and passed without incident.

After the American Revolution , English customs fell out of favor, including Christmas. In fact, Christmas wasn’t declared a federal holiday until June 26, 1870.

How Christmas Was Celebrated in the Middle Ages

In medieval times, Christmas celebrations carried on for multiple raucous days and nights.

How 25 Christmas Traditions Got Their Start

Learn why we decorate trees, swap cookies and hide pickles and elves, among other traditions.

How the Civil War Changed Christmas in the United States

As a divided nation fought, the holiday became more important than ever.

Washington Irving Reinvents Christmas in America

It wasn’t until the 19th century that Americans began to embrace Christmas. Americans re-invented Christmas, and changed it from a raucous carnival holiday into a family-centered day of peace and nostalgia. But what about the 1800s piqued American interest in the holiday?

The early 19th century was a period of class conflict and turmoil. During this time, unemployment was high and gang rioting by the disenchanted classes often occurred during the Christmas season. In 1828, the New York city council instituted the city’s first police force in response to a Christmas riot. This catalyzed certain members of the upper classes to begin to change the way Christmas was celebrated in America.

In 1819, best-selling author Washington Irving wrote The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, gent. , a series of stories about the celebration of Christmas in an English manor house. The sketches feature a squire who invited the peasants into his home for the holiday. In contrast to the problems faced in American society, the two groups mingled effortlessly. In Irving’s mind, Christmas should be a peaceful, warm-hearted holiday bringing groups together across lines of wealth or social status. Irving’s fictitious celebrants enjoyed “ancient customs,” including the crowning of a Lord of Misrule. Irving’s book, however, was not based on any holiday celebration he had attended—in fact, many historians say that Irving’s account actually “invented” tradition by implying that it described the true customs of the season.

'A Christmas Carol'

Also around this time, English author Charles Dickens created the classic holiday tale, A Christmas Carol . The story’s message-the importance of charity and good will towards all humankind-struck a powerful chord in the United States and England and showed members of Victorian society the benefits of celebrating the holiday.

The family was also becoming less disciplined and more sensitive to the emotional needs of children during the early 1800s. Christmas provided families with a day when they could lavish attention-and gifts-on their children without appearing to “spoil” them.

What Was Christmas Like for America’s Enslaved People?

For some, it was a rare time of respite; for others, an opportunity for resistance.

Dreaming of a White (House) Christmas: 17 Photos

Christmas at the first residence has evolved from an understated, intimate affair in 1800 to an all‑out media event.

7 Latin American Holiday Traditions

Many celebrate the Nativity—and the New Year—in festive, sometimes whimsical, ways.

As Americans began to embrace Christmas as a perfect family holiday, old customs were unearthed. People looked toward recent immigrants and Catholic and Episcopalian churches to see how the day should be celebrated. In the next 100 years, Americans built a Christmas tradition all their own that included pieces of many other customs, including decorating trees, sending holiday cards and gift-giving.

Although most families quickly bought into the idea that they were celebrating Christmas how it had been done for centuries, Americans had really re-invented a holiday to fill the cultural needs of a growing nation.

Who Invented Santa Claus?

The legend of Santa Claus can be traced back to a monk named St. Nicholas who was born in Turkey around A. D. 280. St. Nicholas gave away all of his inherited wealth and traveled the countryside helping the poor and sick, becoming known as the protector of children and sailors.

St. Nicholas first entered American popular culture in the late 18th century in New York, when Dutch families gathered to honor the anniversary of the death of “Sint Nikolaas” (Dutch for Saint Nicholas), or “Sinter Klaas” for short. “Santa Claus” draws his name from this abbreviation.

In 1822, Episcopal minister Clement Clarke Moore wrote a Christmas poem called “An Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas,” more popularly known today by it’s first line: “‘Twas The Night Before Christmas.” The poem depicted Santa Claus as a jolly man who flies from home to home on a sled driven by reindeer to deliver toys.

The iconic version of Santa Claus as a jolly man in red with a white beard and a sack of toys was immortalized in 1881, when political cartoonist Thomas Nast drew on Moore's poem to create the image of Old Saint Nick we know today.

Christmas Facts

• Each year, 25-30 million real Christmas trees are sold in the United States alone. There are about 15,000 Christmas tree farms in the United States, and trees usually grow for between four and 15 years before they are sold.
• In the Middle Ages, Christmas celebrations were rowdy and raucous—a lot like today’s Mardi Gras parties.
• When Christmas was cancelled: From 1659 to 1681, the celebration of Christmas was outlawed in Boston , and law-breakers were fined five shillings.
• Christmas was declared a federal holiday in the United States on June 26, 1870.
• The first eggnog made in the United States was consumed in Captain John Smith’s 1607 Jamestown settlement .
• Poinsettia plants are named after Joel R. Poinsett, an American minister to Mexico, who brought the red-and-green plant from Mexico to America in 1828.
• The Salvation Army has been sending Santa Claus-clad donation collectors into the streets since the 1890s.
• Rudolph , “the most famous reindeer of all,” was the product of Robert L. May’s imagination in 1939. The copywriter wrote a poem about the reindeer to help lure customers into the Montgomery Ward department store.
• Construction workers started the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree tradition in 1931.

HISTORY Vault: the Christmas Truce

World War I was a brutal slog. But on Christmas Eve 1914, something remarkable happened: British and German troops stopped fighting, and came together to share holiday cheer.

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30+ Gift Exchange Ideas—Including Games, Traditions, and Tips

Try one of these festive gift exchange ideas to make this year the best holiday season ever.

• For Friends and Family
• For Colleagues
• Gift Giving Tips
• International Traditions

The holiday season is rife with opportunities for creative gift exchange ideas. From the office Secret Santa to a White Elephant gift exchange among friends to a frenetic Christmas morning with the family, holiday gift giving doesn't have to feel like a never-ending to-do list.

We have games, ideas, and tips to make your gift giving even more fun this year. Let our team of elves—specifically entertaining and etiquette experts, as well as Real Simple readers—inspire you with innovative strategies to make any holiday gift exchange more memorable.

Gift Exchange Etiquette

If you're the coordinator of a gift exchange, here's info to share with your invitees:

• Who's involved
• Price range for the gifts
• Any theme you've chosen—like requesting only gag gifts, baking tools, or books
• Who they're buying for and any preferences they have
• Rules about what to give—such as allergies or other issues among participants
• Whether to wrap the gifts or not
• When, where, and how the exchange will occur

Gift Exchange Games for Friends and Family

Turning your annual gift exchange into a game makes a fun activity more fun, more memorable, and—even better—it makes the fun last longer. Put your game face on and organize one of these activities for your next gifting party.

Start a Rotating Gift Box

Anna Baldwin, a reader from Arlee, Montana, rotates a gift box among her three best friends from college, all of whom live too far away to visit at Christmas. She fills a box with locally made, low-cost items—one for each friend—and a personal note, and mails it.

The first friend takes out her gift, puts in three of her own, adds to the note, and then ships everything on to the next. The box rotates like that until it has made the rounds of all the friends, ending up back with Anna, complete with personal notes from her pals and their gifts to her.

Introduce a Gag Gift

Wrap up your most egregious or inexplicable Christmas present from last year (sad-eyed ceramic cat, anyone?) for an unsuspecting family member. It becomes that person's responsibility to pass it along, like a hot potato, the next year.

Have a Cobweb Party

This wacky gift game was all the rage during the Victorian era. You essentially make it as hard as possible for your loved ones to find their gifts. To set this up:

• Designate one room for the party, and assign each player a yarn color.
• Tie one end of a spool of yarn to each gift—blue yarn to one player's gift, red yarn to another, and so on.
• Unwind the yarn as you zigzag across the room, trailing it under furniture, looping it around banisters and over curtain rods, and anywhere you can. You want to make it as difficult as possible for the gift recipient to follow his or her yarn through the "cobweb" of different colors to find the present.
• Hand each person his or her spool of yarn and let the mayhem ensue.

Gift Exchange Games for Work Colleagues

While these games are great for livening up a gift exchange among co-workers, they're fun to play with family and friends, too.

When choosing a gift for a gift exchange, consider who's participating in the exchange: Is it your all-female book club or family members of a wide range of ages and backgrounds? For the latter, we recommend simple gifts that work for just about anyone —including people you don't know really well—such as a stylish planter or a fun game.

Host a White Elephant Gift Exchange

Also known as a Yankee Swap or Dirty Santa, a White Elephant gift exchange game's "stealing" aspect gives it an element of unpredictability. Here's how it works.

• Invite everyone to contribute a wrapped gift.
• Draw numbers out of a hat to see who gets to pick from the pile first.
• Player No. 1 chooses and unwraps a gift and then shows it to everyone.
• Player No. 2 then "steals" that present or picks and unwraps another one from the pile.
• Player No. 3 can then steal either gift, or choose and unwrap another, and so on.

Any player whose gift is stolen gets to pick again. The game continues until everyone has a gift.

Here's a twist on a Yankee swap, suggested by Real Simple reader Christine Gritmon of Pearl River, New York, who sneaks decoy gifts into the mix.

Christine Gritmon of Pearl River, New York

"They look like normal presents from the outside, but once you look inside, you see that the original item has been replaced with a note card bearing an instruction, such as 'Switch gifts with a person of the opposite gender' or 'Choose a new gift—and no one can take it from you.' This little twist was a surprise to everyone the first year, but now it is our favorite part of the ritual."

Play Holiday Trivia

Can you name all nine of Santa's reindeer? If so, you get first pick of the presents in the pile. Players can use clickers or simply raise their hands to answer. If correct, they get a present and leave the competition. At the end, the moderator opts to take the last gift remaining or steal a gift from somebody else: a one-time-only privilege for their hard work.

Gift Exchange Games for Kids

Generally, kids don't need any help to make gift giving fun, but as party hosts, sometimes we need a few tricks for organizing and drawing out an activity that can otherwise quickly devolve into chaos. Here are a few ideas.

Try a Trinket Hunt

Save a few stocking-stuffer gifts—small and inexpensive—to wrap and then hide around the house. After the kids finish with Santa's gifts, they go off and search for new trinkets, allowing adults to take a breather, get another cup of coffee, and gear up for unwrapping their presents under the tree.

Play a Word Game

Either of these word games works for a kid-friendly gift exchange:

• Finish the Carol: Seat kids in a circle and have them pass each gift around to the tune of a holiday song. Designate someone to stop the song mid-verse. The person left holding the gift has to finish the line. If they succeed, they get the gift and sit out the rest of the game. If they don't, they remain in the game and the song continues. Repeat until all the gifts are gone.
• Word Guess: Tape a fill-in-the-blank holiday phrase on each gift and have children answer before unwrapping. For example, Not a creature was stirring, not even a _________.

Spin a Bottle

Try a twist on spin-the-bottle to take turns opening gifts. With everyone seated around the room, give a bottle—or perhaps a large candy cane—a spin. Whoever it points to opens a gift or, if that child doesn't have any gifts left, designates another child to do the same.

Play Musical Chairs, Gift-Exchange Style

This version of musical chairs makes gift-getting more exciting than just picking one from a pile, and it doesn't even require chairs. For this one, kids sit in a circle and pass wrapped gifts while Christmas music plays. When the music stops, the child holding the gift keeps it and leaves the game. The music continues with a new gift until each child has one.

Themed Gift Exchange Ideas

A themed gift exchange helps gift givers by narrowing down the vast array of gifts to choose from to a more focused selection.

Host an Old Fashioned Cookie Exchange

The granddaddy of themed gift exchanges is the cookie swap . This is where guests arrive with dozens of one kind of home-baked cookie and leave with a dozen each of a wide variety of homemade cookies. Double-down on the baking theme with an add-on gift exchange featuring aprons, cookbooks, or baking supplies.

Set Up an Ornament or Craft Exchange

Entertaining expert Jeanne Benedict suggests making handmade ornaments out of 4-by-4-inch boxes that are light enough to hang on the tree. Inside the box, fashion a small kit of some kind, like a stamping kit, a jewelry-making kit, or a knitting kit: something fun that would be easy to pick up as a hobby. Each party guest should bring a kit to the party and then exchange it, so that everyone takes home a handcrafted ornament and gets a new project to start in the New Year.

Try a Pet Present Exchange

Incorporate your furry friends into your holiday celebration. Gather fellow pet parents with their charges dressed in holiday garb—like a Santa hat, if they'll allow it—for a pet gift exchange. "Obviously you want to stay within the same species, either all cats or all dogs," Benedict says. Theme the presents toward the pets: bones and biscuits for dogs, claw scratchers and catnip for cats.

Swap Cocktails

Give the gift of holiday "spirits." Have each guest bring a gift bag with items needed to make a certain holiday cocktail —like coffee liqueur, orange cognac, and Irish Cream for a B-52—and then exchange the bags. For a different take, exchange red, white, or sparkling wines.

Gift Giving Ideas and Tips

Use these strategies to make your gift giving experience simpler, less expensive, more charitable, and more fun!

Make Gift Giving Simpler

If gift giving is stressing you out, you're doing it wrong. Try one of these ideas to make your gifting tasks easier.

• Go in on a gift with your family. In lieu of presents, consider renting a ski cabin for the weekend after Christmas or going on a beach escape together.
• Buy recurring gifts. Eliminate the guesswork and give the same gift every year. This way, you know what to give and the recipient looks forward to getting it. It might be an annual shipment of Florida citrus or Vermont cheese, a series of theater tickets, a museum membership, or a nice desk calendar. Smart gift card ideas can also work well here.

Robin McClellan of Lehigh Acres, Florida

"I ask gift recipients to send me a wish list that I buy from. It saves time, effort, and returns, yet still preserves an element of surprise,"

Make Gift Giving Less Costly

Make your celebration more about the giving than the gift. Consider these ideas for a more budget-friendly holiday:

• Have a heartfelt conversation. Tell recipients up front you're going to cut back. "Don't make it a money issue with your kids, but talk about it in the context of what the holiday really means," says Sue Fox, founder of Etiquette Survival and author of Etiquette for Dummies . "This is the time to be with family, not for getting new skis."
• Be upfront. Tell friends and family of your leaner gift-giving philosophy early, and be direct. Say, "I'm paring down this year, so why don't we just exchange cards or go out to lunch?" You may find your giftees are actually relieved.
• Refrain from reciprocation. When someone unexpectedly gives you a gift, "By all means, say 'Thank you,'" says Peggy Post , coauthor of The Gift of Good Manners. "But other than being super-appreciative, you do not have to reciprocate."

Make Gift Giving Charitable

Instead of targeting gift giving toward friends and family, pivot your gifting to the needy by implementing one of these ideas:

• Adopt another family for the holidays. Instead of buying gifts for one another, sponsor a needy family. If you have kids, talk to them about the difference the gesture can make to the other family and make sure they're okay with giving up presents. (You can always get them something little.) One way to give is through the Angel Tree program sponsored by your local Salvation Army branch, which provides a needy family's wish list to shop from.
• Put a charitable spin on Secret Santa. Benedict suggests adding a philanthropic twist to the game: Instead of giving material gifts, make a $20 donation to a charity your recipient would support. For instance, donate to the ASPCA in the name of an animal lover. It makes a more meaningful gift than another stocking stuffer.
• Swap toys with Santa. Along with cookies and milk, leave gently used or outgrown toys under the tree on Christmas Eve for Santa to "take back to the North Pole." You can subsequently donate those toys to an organization like Toys for Tots or Goodwill.

Make Gift Wrapping a Group Affair

Gift opening is inherently fun, but gift wrapping can be a chore. Since presents are unlikely to wrap themselves, get the job done and have fun with one of these pre-Christmas party ideas:

• Host a wrapping party. Divvy up responsibility among guests for bringing supplies—ribbon, paper, decorative bags, bows, tags, scissors, and tape—and have them also bring their own unwrapped presents. Set out the supplies, cue the festive music, and have everyone work together to get the job done.
• Try a cookie swap packing party. Think of this as a holiday cookie exchange plus . Besides cookies to swap at the party, guests bring extras, along with metal tins, takeout containers, plastic boxes, and packing materials. Together, you carefully box up the extra cookies to ship to out-of-town family and friends. Alternatively, team up with an organization like Treat the Troops and ship those cookies (for free!) to U.S. military members serving abroad.

International Christmas Gift Traditions

Americans aren't the only ones with gift-giving traditions. Here's what they do in other parts of the world.

Germany and Czech Republic

German and Czech families hang an advent calendar on the wall four Sundays before Christmas Eve. Each day on the calendar has a little window, behind which tiny toys and pieces of chocolate are hidden . Children open a new window every day until Christmas, delighted by the unveiling of a new treat and the countdown to the big day.

The Netherlands

Dutch children receive their gifts on December 5, St. Nicholas Eve, when families gather to play treasure hunt games and exchange riddles. Presents are anonymously signed " Sinterklaas ," but a dedication is written on the wrapping paper to offer clues to the real gift-giver's identity.

A rhyming verse teases the recipient (in good humor, of course) or offers a hint at what's inside. Other small, unwrapped gifts are hidden in odd places—like inside a potato or a cup of pudding—the more surprising, the better.

Swedes used to practice a tradition called julklapp, which translates as "Christmas knocks." A gift-giver knocks on a friend or relative's door on Christmas Eve, quickly tosses a present inside the opened door, and then sprints away before the recipient has a chance to ID him. The mysterious packages were wrapped in many layers, one box inside another.

Sometimes the only thing inside the final box is a clue to the real gift's location. The more time the recipient spends on figuring out who gave the gift and where it was, the more successful the julklapp . Swedish children also believe in an alternative gift-giver to Santa Claus—the jultomten , a little gnome in a red cap who hides under the floorboards or in the attic until Christmas Eve, when he emerges to hand out gifts to the children.

Nova Scotia, Canada

During the 12 days of Christmas—December 25 to January 6—masked jokesters called belsnicklers run around Nova Scotia neighborhoods ringing doorbells, making loud noises, and demanding treats. If the hosts correctly identify the masked strangers, the belsnicklers unmask themselves and ask the children of the home if they've been good. Upon hearing the inevitable answer of "Yes," they distribute candy to the children, like a reverse trick-or-treat.

On January 5, Epiphany Eve, Spanish children set their shoes outside their home and fill them with straw, carrots, and barley for the camels of the Three Kings, who they believe pass through Spain on the way to Bethlehem. Overnight, the kings—not Santa Claus, who isn't widely celebrated in Spain—fill the children's shoes with gifts.

Rather than Santa, Italian children believe in La Befana, an old witch who travels throughout Italy on a broom during Epiphany Eve. She doles out presents, candies, and fruit to the good children and bags of coal to the bad ones. A few weeks before her arrival, the children write wish lists with all the presents they want and then hide them in a chimney for La Befana to find.

Italians practice another gift-giving tradition called the Urn of Fate, where a tall urn is filled with wrapped presents—one for each family member. Each person takes turns picking until they find their rightful gift.

The peak of gift-giving in China is the Chinese New Year, which they celebrate on the first day of the first month of the Chinese lunar calendar. (That's February 10 in 2024.) On New Year's Day, elders hand out special red envelopes called hong bao , filled with money, to the young people in their lives. The amount of money is always an even number, like 88, but never includes the number 4, which signifies bad luck.

On January 1, Greeks bake a special cake or bread called vassilopita , which hides a foil-wrapped gold or silver coin. Whoever finds the coin in their piece of cake will be lucky for the next year. Put a modern gift-giving spin on the tradition by wrapping slips of paper inside foil. On each piece of paper write an IOU for a movie or a night out for pizza.

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The Tradition of Exchanging Gifts Has Gotten Out of Hand

I used to get together with a group of friends every holiday season. We’d plan the whole thing via our Yahoogroups (remember that?) and talk about the gifts we wanted to receive. We even started drawing up a “wish list” for ourselves to make it easier for the others to figure out what to get. 

In the beginning it was exciting. I had just begun to earn money for myself and it was a good feeling to go out and get nice gifts for friends. There were about seven or eight of us in the group and we’d all exchange gifts after dinner and then spend the rest of the night doing what barkadas do: drink, chat and then drink some more.

Eventually, the whole thing started to get more complicated and stressful. The minimum price for the gifts began shooting up, ostensibly because we were starting to get paid a bit more than minimum wage. Items in our “wish list” got more and more exorbitant, and we started planning bigger and grander parties in fancier venues.

I went along with it for a while. I loved my friends and figured they deserved the best. We even started buying gifts for boyfriends and girlfriends as our little group expanded from the original seven or eight. 

But then there was that year I switched jobs, to take on something I loved, but for which I had to take a significant pay cut. That holiday season, I explained the situation to my friends, saying I probably wasn’t going to be able to buy stuff from their wish lists and may be a bit behind paying my share of the hotel suite we rented for the festivities that year.

I thought they would understand. Boy was I wrong. I remember vividly one friend’s stinging rebuke: she said it was my responsibility to figure out a way to cough up the payment for the hotel and the other expenses for the party and buy gifts for everyone.

And that makes one really take a step back and question the whole exercise of gift-giving. It wasn’t an issue before, when I had the money and was happy to splurge on gifts. But when the whole thing becomes a chore—when you’re left feeling like you have no choice but to give—then you have to wonder why you do it in the first place.

When the whole thing becomes a chore—when you’re left feeling like you have no choice but to give—then you have to wonder why you do it in the first place. 

It’s a similar situation in countless schools and offices and in every small group of colleagues and friends. Giving gifts has become an essential Filipino holiday ritual—right up there with simbang gabi and eating bibingka and puto bumbong . There’s nothing inherently wrong about it: handing somebody a box covered in Christmas wrapper and tied up with a ribbon is a basic expression of fondness and gratitude. It’s an age-old tradition that, in itself, is harmless and can actually be quite uplifting to the spirit. 

The problem begins with the expectations we put on others. Giving is an act of altruism—we do it because we want to, without thought of getting something in return. At least, that’s how it’s supposed to work.

What does it say about us when we go to all the trouble of picking out the right gift for someone only because we know we’re getting the same or something better? Aren’t we completely upending the “spirit of Christmas” if we judge people based on their less-than-ideal gift and even resent those who refuse to join the “exchange gift” pool?

Nobody should be forced to do something they don’t want to do. And that includes giving gifts for Christmas. But the tradition of monito-monita or Secret Santa has blurred the lines somewhat. It’s entirely voluntary, they say, but you know, deep down, that you’re obliged to come up with a gift, no matter if you’re broke, or werent planning on giving a gift to your asshole officemate or you’d prefer to make a donation to a charitable institution. When you say no to something as banal and as innocent as a Christmas exchange gift, suddenly, you’re weird, uncooperative, stingy and even mean.

When you say no to something as banal and as innocent as a Christmas exchange gift, suddenly, you’re weird, uncooperative, stingy and even mean.

Look. If everybody in a Secret Santa group agrees to the specifics—what kinds of gifts should be given, how much they should cost, how they’re going to be distributed, etc.—then there’s no issue. But don’t hold it against someone if they opt out. You’re not supposed to compel somebody to shell out cash for a gift if they can’t or don’t want to. Forced generosity isn’t generosity at all.

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Home — Essay Samples — Life — Christmas — The Importance of Christmas

The Importance of Christmas

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Religious significance, family and community bonds, economic impact, cultural traditions.

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Christmas Essay for Students and Children

500+ words essay on christmas essay.

Christmas is a well-known Christian holiday set in December, celebrated the world over and famed for its decorations and Santa Clause. The Christmas means  “Feast day of Christ”.It is a yearly celebration marking Jesus Christ’s birth; it is observed on the 25th of December as a cultural and religious celebration among a lot of people all over the world. Christmas is celebrated in all Christian countries but there are differences in the way each nation celebrates this date.

History Behind Christmas

The history of Christmas is one that dates back to a very long time; the first Christmas was celebrated in 336 A.D. in Rome. It played a very important role during the famed Arian controversy that took place in the 300s. During the early years of the middle age, epiphany overshadowed it.

Christmas was brought back to limelight around 800 A.D. when the emperor Charlemagne received the crown on Christmas day. During the 17th century, the Puritans had Christmas banned because it was associated with drunkenness and different other misbehavior.

It was made a proper holiday around 1660 but was still quite disreputable. Around the early 1900s, the Oxford movement of the Anglican Communion church started and this led to the revival of Christmas.

Preparations for Christmas

Christmas is a cultural festivity that entails a lot of preparations. It is a public holiday and so people get a Christmas break to celebrate it.

Preparations for Christmas start early for most people so that celebrations begin on the eve of Christmas. Preparations for Christmas involves a lot of activities. People usually buy decorations, food, and gifts mostly for children in the family and friends. Some families shop for matching Christmas outfits for everyone.

The common preparations include decorations of the place with Christmas trees, lighting. Before decorations begin, the house must be deep cleaned. The Christmas tree brings the Christmas spirit in homes.

Presents are placed under the Christmas tree in wrapped gift boxes and are not to be opened until Christmas day. The church is also decorated for the special event. Thorough cleaning of the churches is also done to usher in Christmas. Songs and skits to be performed on Christmas day.

People usually spend a lot on Christmas and so saving money for these plans should be the earliest preparation among all these. Families also plan to travel to stay together during this celebration period. Traditionally turkey is the common meal across the world in this day. Cards are also written to friends and family to wish them a happy holiday and to show love.

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Christmas Day Celebration

Christmas carols are played on radios and televisions to mark the day. Most families start by going to church where performances and songs are done. Then later, they join their families to exchange gifts and celebrate with food and music. Happiness during Christmas is like no other.

Homemade traditional plum cakes, cupcakes, and muffins are the special treats on Christmas. Kids are showered with lots of presents and new dresses. They also get to meet the ‘Santa Claus’, dressed in a fluffy red and white costume, who greets them with hugs and gifts.

Conclusion:

Christmas reminds us of the importance of giving and sharing with friends and family. Through Christmas, we know that Jesus birth is the beginning of great things in the world. It is generally an opportunity to think about nature and the reason for our existence. Christmas is such a festival which people from all religions and faith celebrate worldwide despite it being a Christian festival. It is the essence of this festival which unites the people so much.

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20 Gift Exchange Ideas That Everyone Will Love

You'll love these fun, simple ideas to swap gifts at your next holiday gathering.

• Ideas for Co-Workers
• Ideas for Friends and Family
• Ideas for Children

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Gift exchanges are part and parcel of the holiday season, but different groups of people may require different approaches to gifting. While your co-workers might love a White Elephant gift exchange, your book club friends might prefer a book swap. There are so many ways to make the holidays a little more magical, and these gift exchange games and ideas are the perfect place to start to bring more holiday fun to your gatherings this year.

Gift Exchange Ideas for Co-Workers

You may not know co-workers as well as friends and family, but that doesn't mean a gift exchange needs to be boring. These ideas are perfect for a group of colleagues—very fun, and you may even end up with something you love.

Secret Santa

Most people are familiar with Secret Santa, and it's a great gift exchange game to do with your colleagues. Set a spending limit, and have everyone choose a name (you can either go the old-fashioned way and have people choose out of a hat, or set yourself up with a digital matcher like Elfster). Don't let your giftee's name slip before the exchange happens!

White Elephant

The idea behind a White Elephant gift exchange is sort of similar to Secret Santa but with a twist. "White Elephant is a game where each participant brings a wrapped gift to the exchange and takes turns picking gifts from a designated area," says Billy Parker, director of GiftDelivery.co.uk . Here's what you do: Each participant brings a wrapped gift to the exchange festivities. You then choose the order in which guests choose gifts—and subsequent participants then have the option to choose a gift from the pool, or "steal" another person's gift. It's common for gag gifts to show up in White Elephant gift exchanges, or just silly, inane gifts that bring a smile to the recipient's face.

Set a spending limit, and have participants each bring a small, wrapped gift. Toss each gift into a bag, and come exchange time, have each participant take a surprise gift from the bag.

Cookie Swap

Show off your baking skills and try a cookie swap . Each participant should bake enough cookies so that everyone leaves with at least one or two of everyone else's cookie creations (generally a dozen cookies per person attending, but you can scale up or down). Bring festive tins, sparkly gift bags, or pretty paper sleeves for everyone to pack up their cookies to bring home.

Regift Game

We all have gifts we've received that we're not enthusiastic about. Save those gifts and create an entire gift exchange around them. Everyone will be happy to pass along their unloved gift to someone who might enjoy it more, and you might receive something more suited to you. Just make sure you don't regift something that you received in the same social circle!

Giftcard Pileup

Have everyone bring a gift card in a nominal amount—coffee shops, restaurants, etc. Toss them into a basket, and then have each person pick a new gift card to enjoy as they please.

Buy One, Give One

During your gift exchange, have your group also bring an extra gift that can be donated. Ideas could include bringing unwrapped toys for a toy drive, or canned food for a food drive.

Recipe Exchange

Everyone always has one recipe where their cooking skills really shine. Ask everyone to bring a recipe card to share the recipe, plus a basket full of the ingredients needed to make it.

Gift Exchange Ideas for Friends and Family

When exchanging gifts with friends and family, there's room to be more intimate and intentional. These exchange ideas still pack in the fun, but are also thoughtful enough to become cherished traditions.

Ornament Exchange

Swap pretty, beautiful ornaments in an activity that can become an annual holiday tradition. Ornaments can range from sentimental and handmade to vintage baubles and personalized pieces. To expand on this, set up an ornament craft station at your party, and have each guest make a DIY ornament to give later on.

Perfect for your book club or a group of avid readers, hosting a book swap can be as simple as gifting your favorite read of the year. Package it with a beautiful book mark, and a gift card for coffee or tea at your favorite coffee house to give the recipient a cozy afternoon of reading.

Accessories Swap

"One of my favorite gift exchange ideas is an accessories swap," says Taryn Scarfone, founder of Joy Filled Eats . "Everyone brings a few new or like-new accessories like purses, scarves, necklaces, etc. and they are all put out on tables. You can choose as many items as the number you brought, one at a time. If there are things no one claims they are donated at the end of the evening."

Furniture Bingo

"Another great idea is 'Furniture Bingo,'" says Alexander Havkin, manager at Ecoline Windows . "Create bingo cards with different types of furniture or home decor items listed in the squares. As each item is called out, guests can mark their cards. Winners can choose from a selection of small, decorative pieces you've prepared, like decorative cushions, elegant table coasters, or plant pots."

Craft Exchange

Handmade gifts are sometimes the best and offer the most sentimental value. Set up a theme for your holiday craft exchange and have your crafty friends bring their projects to swap, Secret Santa-style.

Small Plant Exchange

"Instead of traditional gifts, each participant brings a unique plant they love," says Pranav Nair, operations manager for British D'sire , a luxury lifestyle shop. "Attach a note explaining the plant's usefulness, symbolism and care instructions and gift it to the recipient. It's an everlasting gift that keeps growing with time like the relationship between the participants."

Gift Basket Swap

A gift basket swap is great for friends and family who live far from each other, as the baskets (or boxes) can be sent. "Instead of exchanging individual gifts, participants can curate themed gift baskets," says Nair. "Each person in the exchange draws from a range of themes like 'cozy night in,' 'adventure time,' or 'gourmet delights' and curates a gift basket filled with items related to the selected theme for the recipient."

Gift Exchange Ideas for Children

WIth gift exchanges for children, the fun is more in the process than the gift itself. Turning it into an activity will keep the young ones busy and guarantee delight.

Trinket Treasure Hunt

Send the kids on a treasure hunt for holiday trinkets through the house. Like hunting for Easter eggs, give the kids a basket or Christmas stocking to collect their trinkets from room to room.

Spin a Bottle

Have the kids sit in a circle, and spin a bottle around. Whoever the bottle lands on gets to open a gift.

Handmade Gifts

Children can color, craft, and paint their gifts for one another and for family. Make an afternoon of it by crafting small handmade gifts for each important person in the child's life, or set up a craft station at your family gathering for the kids to craft their gifts.

Holiday Bingo

Play holiday bingo with the little ones. After each round, the winner gets to choose a small gift or trinket from a grab bag.

Plastic Wrap Ball

The plastic wrap game is simple—wrap small gifts, chocolates, ornaments, and more inside a ball of plastic wrap. Have each child take a turn unwrapping a layer to reveal a gift. The best gift should be reserved for the middle of the ball.

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Essay on Christmas Celebration

Students are often asked to write an essay on Christmas Celebration in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Christmas Celebration

Introduction.

Christmas is a festive season celebrated globally on 25th December, commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ. It is a time of joy, giving, and family gatherings.

Decorations

Homes and streets are adorned with colorful decorations. Christmas trees are decorated with lights, ornaments, and gifts underneath them.

Food and Gifts

Special meals are prepared, and families exchange gifts. Cookies and milk are left out for Santa Claus.

Church Services

Many attend church services, sing carols, and enact nativity plays to remember the birth of Jesus.

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250 Words Essay on Christmas Celebration

Christmas, celebrated globally on December 25th, is a festival that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ. It is a time of joy, generosity, and family gatherings, imbued with profound spiritual significance and vibrant traditions.

The Significance of Christmas

Christmas is not just a religious event; it is a cultural phenomenon that transcends geographical and religious boundaries. It symbolizes peace, goodwill, and compassion, fostering a sense of community and global unity. The festive season is also a period for introspection, to reflect on the past year and look forward to the coming one with renewed hope.

Christmas Traditions

Christmas traditions vary significantly across cultures, yet some elements remain universally recognized. The decoration of Christmas trees, exchange of gifts, and singing carols are prevalent practices. In many cultures, a special meal is prepared on Christmas Eve, bringing families together in a feast of celebration.

The Spirit of Giving

The spirit of giving is intrinsic to Christmas. The act of giving gifts is symbolic of the gifts brought by the Three Wise Men to baby Jesus. This tradition serves to reinforce the values of love, generosity, and appreciation, fostering a sense of togetherness.

500 Words Essay on Christmas Celebration

Christmas, celebrated on the 25th of December each year, is a universally recognized festival, commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ. It transcends religious boundaries, becoming a time of joy, love, and community spirit. The celebration involves various traditions, rituals, and symbols, each carrying its own significance and history.

The History and Significance of Christmas

The roots of Christmas trace back to the 4th century when the Roman Church officially recognized the 25th of December as the day of Christ’s birth. The date coincided with the winter solstice and pagan festivals, which were transformed into a Christian celebration. The term ‘Christmas’ is derived from the Old English phrase ‘Cristes Maesse’, meaning ‘Christ’s Mass’.

Christmas Celebrations and Traditions

Christmas celebrations are rich and varied, reflecting the cultural diversity of those who observe it. Preparations often begin with Advent, the period of four weeks leading up to Christmas. Houses are adorned with decorations, including the iconic Christmas tree, wreaths, and lights. The tree, an evergreen fir, symbolizes eternal life, while lights represent Christ, the ‘light of the world’.

Gift-giving is an integral part of Christmas, inspired by the Magi’s gifts to baby Jesus. This act of giving fosters a sense of community and love. Santa Claus, a beloved figure, is often associated with this tradition.

Christmas Food and Festivities

Christmas is also a feast for the senses. Traditional foods vary across regions but often include special breads, cookies, and the main festive meal. In many Western cultures, this meal includes a roast, Christmas pudding, and mince pies. These delicacies add to the festive spirit and bring families together.

The Impact of Christmas on Society and Culture

Christmas has a profound impact on society and culture. It’s a time for family, community, and charity, promoting values such as love, generosity, and unity. The season encourages acts of kindness, often inspiring charitable activities and community outreach.

The economic impact of Christmas is significant too. The surge in retail sales boosts the economy, providing job opportunities and commercial growth.

In essence, Christmas is a celebration that transcends its religious origins to become a global festival of love, joy, and community spirit. It’s a time when the world seems to pause, and people come together to celebrate life and love. The traditions, symbols, and rituals associated with Christmas add to its charm and deepen its significance, making it a truly special time of the year.

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9 Fun Christmas Gift Exchange Ideas for Family and Friends

Make holiday present-swapping even more festive than usual!

The big day is right around the corner, and you know what that means. It's time to start decking the halls (and the tree !), mailing out the holiday cards and, yep, digging into that most challenging Christmas task of all: finding the ideal gift . Or gifts, to be precise. Doesn't it seem every year like your Christmas list just keeps getting longer? Friends, extended family, neighbors , co-workers —you've got to find perfect presents for them all, which can be a real budget-buster. This season, why not try a gift exchange idea instead? In addition to often saving money, energy, and time, this holly jolly tradition makes the actual act of giving and receiving a lot more festive.

Take the gift exchange ideas we've gathered up here. They're all about as easy to accomplish as simply stashing goodies under the evergreen, but because most involve some kind of game element, these exchanges up the enjoyment for all involved. From the White Elephant exchange, a holiday favorite that adds a bit of a competitive flavor to the proceedings, to the Cobweb exchange, an oldie-but-goodie children's game dating back to Victorian days, these are all sure to add some zest and zing to the Christmas gift-giving ritual.

Secret Santa

Stressed about what to buy every member of your huge family, or each co-worker in your office? Take the pressure off with Secret Santa , a game that cuts the frenzied, over-the-top gift-giving down to a thoughtful offering for one person. The idea is for the group to set a price limit and then toss names into a bowl, with everyone drawing one name—the name of the person they'll be buying for this year. To keep the fun going, no one should reveal the name they've picked until the holiday gathering, when they give the person their present. It's all easy-peasy and much more reasonable than trying to figure out what to get the whole crew for Christmas. Plus, if you're stuck for a Secret Santa gift idea, Target has a great selection of perfect presents!

Cookie Swap

Santa Claus isn't the only one who loves cookies at Christmas , and this idea lets everyone enjoy a smorgasbord of scrumptious styles without spending a fortune at the bakery. Before your annual seasonal soiree, ask your party attendees to bake up a big batch of their favorite cookies and bring the delicacies with them. Tell them everything from sugar to gingerbread , plus shortbread , lemon creme , snickerdoodles —any kind they want to make—is fair game. The more types the merrier! Then, everyone can nibble and nosh on all the different cookies at the get-together, and even take a sampling of the leftovers home.

Best of the Year

An ideal gift exchange for your gal pals , Best of the Year starts off with a party, just like the Cookie Swap. But instead of baked delights, you and your guests bring one gift that is the "Best of the Year," a product that really wowed you in the previous 12 months. It can be anything, as long as it's relatively inexpensive , like beautiful nail polish, a particularly good book, or a yummy box of gourmet tea. Stick the presents under the tree and dole them out in no particular order, with everyone receiving one. The really nice thing about this exchange is that it goes a long way toward ensuring the recipient will enjoy what they unwrap, instead of getting stuck with a less useful item they'll toss in a closet and forget.

Regift Exchange

Speaking of Christmas presents you'll never use, this exchange is geared toward getting rid of them. Do you only take showers and were given bubble bath? Or maybe you've received kitchen gadgets and don't cook, or gardening gifts and have an admittedly brown thumb. Just because you can't use it doesn't mean someone else doesn't want that present from last year (or the year before that). Better for both the planet and your wallet than buying new things, this exchange can even have a hilarious theme, like regifting only the weirdest items. Or, the gang can take that one really strange thing (llama-shaped doorstop, we're looking at you) and regift it from person to person year after year.

White Elephant

This one is a classic for a reason: White Elephant is a sassy, silly way to keep the exchange lively. Once again, gift-givers should agree on a pre-determined limit for spending. Choose a theme if you'd like, such as boozy goodies or DIY presents . At the party, everyone should draw numbers and open one package, in numerical order. Unless, of course, a participant would prefer to steal a gift from someone who already has one. The person who lost their gift unwraps another and the game continues until everyone has a present. Also called Dirty Santa and Yankee Swap, White Elephant is perhaps best played when Christmas cocktails are served.

Cobweb Party

First popularized more than a century ago, this game for children involves tying the end of a skein of yarn to a gift. Unwind the yarn through the house: under rugs, behind bookshelves, around stair railings—just about anywhere you can think of, as long as it doesn't present a tripping hazard. Use a different color of yarn and repeat for each guest. Make it as difficult as you can for the kiddo, so the suspense builds as they follow the trail to their gift. Just make sure to get age-appropriate presents for this clever take on a treasure hunt, whether they're four , six , eight , any age in between , or even older , too.

Musical Gifts

Another game that's great for children, Musical Gifts is similar to musical chairs. This version has the kids sitting in a circle and passing a present around as a Christmas carol plays. When the music stops, the person holding the gift gets to keep it and leave the circle. The revelry continues on until everyone has a gift, which they can then open. If you want to go big this year, you can splurge on pricier presents for the kids, or just stick with nifty stocking stuffers . Whatever they get, they're sure to enjoy it even more thanks to Musical Gifts.

Want to keep the gift exchange super simple? Go for the Grab Bag option, which is great for neighbors , or any group that doesn't have the time or inclination to go through an elaborate gift-giving ritual. Set your theme and your price range, and have everyone place a present in a Santa sack (so much more attractive than using something like a garbage bag, eh?). Then it's all about choosing numbers and pulling out gifts in order. Be sure to put on a Christmas movie in the background, or maybe some good ol' country Christmas songs , and light up the tree to ensure everyone is in the appropriate holiday spirit.

Whether you break out the Christmas questions —or do a whole trivia-and-gift theme around something like...wait for it... Star Wars !—this is a game that truly will be fun for the whole family. Begin by electing a moderator (who gets to pick the first present) to ask the questions. Whoever answers correctly gets to select the next present, and so on, until everyone has one and the competition ends. You can keep things extra-entertaining by giving gag gifts , too.

Jill Gleeson is a travel journalist and memoirist based in the Appalachian Mountains of western Pennsylvania who has written for websites and publications including Good Housekeeping, Woman’s Day, Country Living, Washingtonian, Gothamist, Canadian Traveller, and EDGE Media Network. Jill is the travel editor for Enchanted Living. Learn more about her journey at gleesonreboots.com.

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The Joy of Gift-Giving: The Excitement and Warmth of Christmas Traditions

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This paper discusses the positive and negative aspects of Christmas and whether it is generally a good or a bad holiday.

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Essay On Christmas for Students

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Essay On Christmas: The winter season marks the beginning of festivities for people all around the globe, especially Christians, who celebrate the festival of Christmas on 25 th December every year. Christmas commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, the ‘Messiah of the People’. The day reminds people to follow in his footsteps of love, peace and kindness.

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Short Essay on Christmas of 100 Words

Christmas is a religious holiday celebrated by Christians worldwide. The holiday celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ and is typically marked by gift-giving, family gatherings, and festive food. For Christians, Christmas is a time to reflect on the teachings of Jesus and to celebrate the hope of salvation offered through his birth.

Christmas is a festival celebrated worldwide with great joy and happiness. It is a festival for Christians. On this day, Jesus Christ was born. People exchange gifts, greetings, and blessings on this day.

10 Lines on Christmas in English

Christmas is a time of happiness and joy. It is a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Families get together and exchange gifts. They celebrate by eating Christmas dinner and singing Christmas carols. It is a time to be with loved ones and friends.

In today’s society, there are many different types of families. There are traditional, single-parent, blended, and adoptive families. Each family has its own unique set of challenges and rewards.

A married couple with children typically heads traditional families. These families are often considered the “typical” American family and usually have the most traditional values. Single-parent families are families where the parents are divorced, widowed, or never married. These families often face more challenges than traditional families but can also be very close-knit and supportive. Blended families are families where the parents are divorced and have re-married. These families can be complicated, but they can also be very loving and supportive. Adoptive families are families where one or both of the parents are not the children’s biological parents. These families can be very diverse, but they often have a strong sense of family unity.

Each of these families has its own unique set of challenges and rewards. Traditional families may face challenges such as balancing work and family responsibilities, but they often have a strong sense of stability and support. Single-parent families may face financial challenges, but they often have a close bond with one another. Blended families may have to deal with complicated family dynamics, but they can also learn a lot from each other. Adoptive families may face challenges, such as adjusting to a new family dynamic, but they often have a strong sense of love and support.

Ultimately, each family is different, and each family has its unique rewards. I am excited to see what the future holds for blended and adoptive families, and I know they will continue to thrive and grow.

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Origin of Christmas

In 4 BC, on the coldest of nights, a baby was born to Mother Mary and Father Joseph in the small town of Bethlehem. It is believed that this child was the son of God and had incarnated as a human to end the world’s misery. Many Christmas folklore suggests that on the night of the birth of Jesus Christ, an angel descended from heaven to the shepherds of Bethlehem and said, “I bring you the great news that will bring joy to all people”. As the news of this event spread, wise men and kings from far and wide set on a journey to Bethlehem. When baby Christ was born, he was surrounded by shepherds and sheep in the stable. Three wise men, called ‘the Magi’, paid Jesus a visit and gave him gold and other valuable offerings.

Although Christmas is celebrated on 25 th December every year, the preparations and merriment start much before that. The festive season begins with Thanksgiving, which is celebrated on the fourth Wednesday of every November. People eat a traditional Thanksgiving dinner and express gratitude for a good harvesting season and other amenities of life. After Thanksgiving, people start preparing for Christmas. This includes buying presents for their near and dear ones, making Christmas cards, decorating their houses with lights and ornaments, and setting up a Christmas tree. People usually decorate a pine tree with stars, candy sticks and light bulbs. The Christmas tree symbolises a fresh and rekindled spirit for the upcoming new year.

On the day of Christmas, people visit their family members to exchange greetings and gifts. A special mass is held in Church, called ‘The Holy Communion’. Children are especially excited for this day as they get to eat loads of cake, candies and other delicious treats that make up the Christmas feast. After Christmas dinner, people gather around the Christmas tree to exchange presents. It is a tradition to pack Christmas presents in socks. Common folklore suggests that every Christmas at midnight, a saint named Santa Claus visits each household and leaves presents for well-behaved children under the Christmas tree.

To please Santa, children go carolling and sing the famous Christmas carol, “Jingle bells, jingle bells! Jingle all the way!”. Since Santa Claus is dressed in red and white attire, these colours are associated with Christmas, and people dress in red and white themselves. Other common Christmas traditions also include performing Christmas-themed plays that spread the values of love and kindness. On the occasion of Christmas, every church decorates the chapel and sets up a ‘manger scene’ to commemorate the events of Jesus Christ’s birth.

Institutions like schools also host grand Christmas celebrations every year. Before the beginning of winter vacation, there was a well-organized cultural program in my school. Every student of my school participates in this cultural event. Various competitions, like a carol-singing competition and skit competition, capture this festival’s essence. A grand Christmas tree is set up in the school hall that the students decorate. We also have a huge feast on the school premises, where we eat a lot of delicious food. Finally, some teachers dress up as Santa Claus and give each pupil a present.

There is a lot of singing, dancing and merrymaking on this special day. After we are done with our celebrations in school, we ride the school bus to the town orphanage to spend some time with the needy and wish them a ‘Merry Christmas’. We also give Christmas presents to the orphanage kids as that is the real value of Christmas – spreading joy and love among our fellow people. We then return to our homes to spend time with our families and friends. Christmas Day is one of the most fun days of the school year, and I will never miss it!

Paragraph on Christmas

Although Christmas is mainly a Christian festival, it is celebrated by people everywhere in the world, irrespective of their culture and religion. It is a festival that spreads joy and brings people together. Christmas is a reminder that one does not need to be rich to be happy. Rather, the jewels of love and companionship make life fulfilling. Christmas is also the time to recollect the teachings of ‘the Great Messiah’ and try to embody his teachings of love, peace and harmony in our lives.

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