Not really, but this is one of the ways that my extended family saves money during the holiday season. Ever since my sister and I came to the age where we could understand and accept not getting a present from every relative we could think of my family has met on Christmas Day and done a white elephant gift exchange. If you are have never participated in this type of gift exchange it works by everyone putting the gifts they brought in the center of the room. Then everyone takes turns getting a gift and as the exchange progresses they have the option to steal gifts, but only twice. A spending limit is placed on the gift, somewhere between $30-50 and each person tries to come up with something that will be fought over by the rest of the family.
Nothing brings a family together like trying to steal gifts from each other.
This usually allows for better gifts to be given because instead of shopping for 20 people on a budget, you are able to focus on one really cool thing. While gifts are nice, and thoughtful gifts are even better this provides an opportunity to interact with your relatives and spend some time avoiding a bit of the commercialism that can take away from the Christmas spirit.
Another way to save would be to assign everyone a Secret Santa. Then on Christmas day there could be the fun of trying to figure out who gave everyone what. The advantage here is that you can focus on a personalized and hopefully meaningful gift for one person instead of a vague desirable gift for the whole family.
I enjoy our family tradition, it helps us focus on each other when we are together, and helps to relieve some of the stress of the holidays.
I have been looking forward to our exchange all year, and more importantly the pies that come with any family gathering.
I hope this helps with your holiday planning, and let us know anything else that your family might do to try and hold down the cost of Christmas.
