Fun Christmas Gift Exchange Ideas

For any type of Christmas gift exchange, whether it be with a work group or immediate friends and family, it is always best to buy a gift that anyone can use - no gender specific gifts. That way, anyone will be able to take your gift home and be perfectly happy with it; I am sure many guys have unfortunately ended up with a pair of fuzzy pink slippers that got re-gifted or thrown in the trash and many ladies have ended up with some sort of power tool that will end up rusting in the garage!

Movie Night Bucket - For this Christmas gift exchange idea, find a popcorn bucket. You can either ask for one at your local theater, or buy them at your local video rental store. When I've done this, I head to Blockbuster. They have them near the register with a bag of popcorn in them. Then, get a bag of popcorn (if your bucket did not come with any) and pick out some assorted types of movie candy - Milk Duds, Sour Patch Kids, Chocolate Covered Raisins, etc.

While you're out, you also need to buy a well-liked movie (only if you know the group you will be exchanging with well; you do not want to get something like Sex and the City and end up at a trade with very conservative people who would never watch that movie in their lives), or to make this gift even more all-around-appropriate, just pick up a gift card to your local movie rental location - Blockbuster, etc. You can put enough on the card for one or two movies, depending upon how much you are supposed to spend.

Take your popcorn, gift card, and candy and put it in to your movie bucket. To make it more festive, you can tie a big bow around the bucket. This is a great gift for everyone; and, if you shop responsibly and find good prices on everything, you can definitely get away with this gift for around $20-$25.

'50's Treat - Many supermarkets/grocery stores still sell six packs of the (1950's style) old fashioned, glass bottled Coke and Dr. Pepper products. So, head to your local store and pick up one of those six-packs (usually, they come in a cardboard holder). You will also want to get some individually wrapped candy (Dum Dums, Tootsie Rolls, etc.) and a roll of thin ribbon.

At home, tie pieces of the candy to the bottles of Coke (or, whatever your beverage of choice is), and stick candy inside the soda (cardboard) holder. To add a bit more to this gift, you can put a copy of a 1950's classic movie (think something like Grease) in the holder, too. This is a great gift for people of all ages; price will vary depending on whether or not you add a movie, but even with the movie, you will still spend around $30.00.

Restaurant Gift Card - The holidays are always a busy time of year for everyone, so this Christmas gift exchange idea will help to make a meal or two easier for your recipient. Gift cards are always a very common idea, but when people are running around to finish up some Christmas shopping and errands after a long week at work, going home to cook dinner is the last thing they want to do. So, go to a nearby popular restaurant and get a gift card for enough to cover at least one meal. Make sure to price out the menu to decide how much you should put on the card, and go somewhere that you know everyone would be able to find something they would enjoy eating. (I would steer clear of something like sushi in this instance; as I mentioned before, you want your gift to be something common that anyone would enjoy. Many people do not like sushi, so stick with somewhere that serves a wide variety of everything - Chili's, Friday's, etc.)

Ticket Event Basket - This is a great Christmas gift exchange idea if you have a larger budget. Find a sporting team near you (can either be a local team or a nationally known team; check out www.espn.com), and buy tickets (make sure you purchase at least two) to an event. You do not have to get the best seats the stadium offers; any seats that you can afford would be great for this gift. Most people love being able to go out and do something with a friend or family member.

To make this a bit nicer than just handing out a gift card, get a small basket and fill it with items that pertain to the tickets. For example, if you bought baseball game tickets, put a small pack of baseball cards, a small pack of sunflower seeds, Cracker Jacks, etc. in to a basket and place the tickets in the center of everything. This gift will vary in price depending on what type of event you buy tickets for and whether or not it is a national or minor league team. Just shop around; even if you cannot afford nationally known teams (NFL, NHL, NBA, MLB), do not worry about it. Most of those teams have minor league teams, too. And, going to some sort of sporting event for free (because of your gift) is always better than spending a boring day at home.

You can also do some sort of local event tickets for this Christmas gift exchange idea, too. If there is some sort of play, circus, fair, etc. going on, you can buy tickets to that event and just make the gift basket pertain to one of those ideas. Just make sure to buy enough tickets so that the recipient can take at least one person with him/her.