Holiday Hustle Gift Exchange Game

If you’ve ever thought a gift exchange was going way too long, this holiday hustle gift exchange is a must-try. It’s the perfect gift exchange idea for when you don’t have a lot of time or do have time but don’t want to spend a ton of time on a gift exchange.

Plus, it’s fun. I should know – I host a holiday gift exchange every year AND I’ve created over 20 different gift exchange games that millions of people have played over the years.

We’ve all been to a Christmas party with a gift exchange. I love gift exchange games, like love them.

But I also think they can get really long, especially if it’s just the same traditional white elephant gift exchange you’ve played year over year.

So this year I thought it would be fun to speed things up by adding a timer to our gift exchange and voila, a brand new fast gift exchange idea was born!

And when I say this game was fast – I just went back and watched the video I recorded of the game from start to finish. We completed the entire gift exchange with 17 of us in just over five minutes. That’s WAY shorter than any gift exchange I’ve ever done!

There’s very little you need to do a holiday hustle gift exchange, which is what makes it one of my favorite Christmas party games, especially if you want something fast!

1. Wrapped gifts – everyone who wants to play should bring one gift that will work for the majority of the group. If you’re doing this for a girls night, gender neutral or female gifts are great. If you’re doing this for a work Christmas party, gender neutral is great. Here’s a list of great white elephant gifts you can send out with invites! Or you could pick one of these gift exchange themes and have everyone bring a themed gift!

2. Extra gifts – I always recommend having a few backup gifts for people who forgot, didn’t get the “bring a gift memo,” or didn’t want to play because they hate gift exchanges then decided they did last minute. This is obviously optional.
3. Large hourglass timer – you need a 1-minute hourglass timer for this game that everyone can see. Or you can use something other than an hourglass one, but it needs to be one that is highly visible to everyone. I also recommend a non-breakable plastic one, compared to glass. We used this one, and it was perfect!
4. Numbers – you need one number for each person playing. The easiest way to do this is to just count how many people are playing, write the numbers on a piece of paper, and cut or rip them up. Put these numbers in a bowl, bag, or hat.

The basic idea of this gift exchange is that everyone only has the amount of time in the hourglass timer to complete whatever action they choose on their turn.

Here’s how the game is played.

1 – Get the Game Setup

Before you can play, you need to get the game completely setup and make sure everyone knows how the game works. This game moves very fast so it’s important to make sure everyone is clear before the game starts.

1. Have everyone place their wrapped gifts on a table that’s at the front of the room and have everyone sit somewhere they can easily get up and get to the gift table.
2. Place the jumbo hourglass on the table next to the gifts where it can easily be seen and easily be accessed by everyone.
3. Have everyone choose a number randomly from the bag/hat/bowl you put the numbers in earlier. This will setup the game so you’re ready to play!

2 – Play the Gift Exchange

Once everything is setup and everyone understands how the game works, the rules, and what number they are – you’re ready to actually play. And like I mentioned, this game moves fast so make sure everyone is 100% ready to play before you start.

1. Someone (not #1) flips the hourglass, and the person who has #1 goes to the table, chooses a gift, opens it and shows it to everyone, then flips the hourglass back over. Whatever action they choose has to be done before the time in the hourglass runs out.

2. The person who has #2 immediately chooses whether they want to pick a new gift to open or if they want to steal the gift the first person opened. Once they’ve made their decision and completed the action, they flip the hourglass over. Whatever action they choose has to be done before the time in the hourglass runs out, even if they don’t have the full minute.

3. Continue onto the person who has #3, #4, and so on until everyone who has a number has had a turn to choose to pick a gift to unwrap or to steal from someone else. Whatever they choose, their action has to be completed before the time on the hourglass runs out.

4. Once everyone has had their first turn, do the second chance round mentioned above for anyone who didn’t complete their chosen action before the timer ran out. Go in order of their original numbers until everyone has unwrapped a gift.
5. Once everyone has unwrapped a gift, people keep whatever gift they have in hand or can trade with someone if they’d prefer!

One of the most important parts of this game to keep things moving is to implement stealing rules that everyone understands from the beginning. Here are the rules we used to keep things going smoothly.

1. You can’t steal something immediately back from the person who stole it from you. You could steal it back from them a few rounds later if your gift is stolen by someone else, you just can’t turn around and ask for it back (like no tag backs).
2. The second time something is stolen, it’s frozen and out of the game. So the third person to have a gift (two steals plus the first person who actually open the gift) gets to keep it.
3. If you’re gift is stolen, you get to choose to steal from someone else or unwrap a new gift.
4. You’re not allowed to steal during the final “second chance” round of the game, only unwrap one of the remaining gifts on the table.

Here are a few other important tips to keep in mind as you’re explaining the game and playing this gift exchange game with your family and friends.

1. Make sure people know what number you’re on whether it be by everyone yelling it out, a host yelling it out, or the person whose turn it is yelling it out. People should be paying attention to when it’s their turn to go, but this helps things run a little smoother.

2. Everyone who opens a new gift needs to show the gift to everyone BEFORE they flip the hourglass. We had a few instances where people were moving so fast they didn’t show the gifts and people didn’t know what had been opened. So make it a rule that you have to show off what you opened before flipping the timer.

3. Keep the gift wrapping simple. I noted this above, but it’s important to mention again because if you have extravagantly wrapped gifts where people have to untie ribbons, unwrap multiple layers, etc. they’re going to run out of time. Keep it to gift bags, gift boxes you can just open, and one simple layer of paper.
4. Have people hold what they actually got out in front of them or on their laps after it’s been unwrapped so people can see them. This makes the stealing part of this game possible.

5. Anyone who is out of the game (with a twice stolen gift) should remove themselves from the immediate area OR just place their gift behind them so you don’t have people trying to steal gifts that are frozen.

Game FAQs

If you like gift exchanges, I have plenty to choose from. These are some of our most popular gift games!

• Dice gift exchange – this gift exchange is played using just one a die and is one of our most viral ones!
• Scrooge your neighbor – if you do an annual gift exchange with the same people, you have to try this one!
• Christmas never have I ever – this gift game inspired by the classic game never have I ever will everyone switching to try and win a gift!
• Heads or tails gift exchange – another variation on the classic gift exchange except this one is based on the flip of a coin!
• Santa’s helper gift exchange – part secret Santa, part gift exchange, this is one of my favorites!