Gift Exchange Ideas for Kids

Swaps for ages 4 to 10 where every child ends with one gift and nobody loses an opened one.

Gift Exchange Ideas for Kids

  1. Find the Helper With Your Symbol1. Adults and older cousins each take one or two gifts and stand in different rooms or corners of the yard. 2. Every helper wears a paper badge with a symbol for each gift they hold: a bell, a tree, a snowflake. 3. Each child draws a symbol card. 4. Children look for the helper wearing their symbol and say the password the host chose, such as "happy holidays". 5. The helper hands over the gift and walks back with the child. Ages 4 and up. Spare gift: one helper wears an extra symbol and holds the spare. Players: 4 to 20. Time: 12 min. Props: a wrapped gift each, paper badges and matching symbol cards.
  2. North Wind, South Wind, Whirlwind1. Children sit on chairs in a circle with a gift on each lap. 2. The caller says "north wind" and every gift moves one lap to the left. "South wind" moves it one lap to the right. 3. On "whirlwind" the children put the gift on their chair, stand and walk two chairs to the left. The gifts stay where they are. 4. The caller gives ten calls in any order, with a pause between calls. 5. After the tenth call, the gift on your lap or chair is yours. Ages 6 and up. Spare gift: it sits on an extra chair in the circle; the caller moves it on each call. Players: 6 to 24. Time: 10 min. Props: a wrapped gift each and a circle of chairs.
  3. Craft Kit in a Paper Bag1. Each family packs a paper bag with everything for one small craft and a note that shows the finished thing. 2. Fold the bag tops over and staple them. Number the bags. 3. Children sit at the craft table. An adult walks around with numbered slips in a bowl, and each child draws one. 4. Everyone opens their bag at the same time and makes the craft there and then. 5. Finished crafts go home with the child who made them. Ages 5 and up. Spare gift: the host packs one extra bag. Players: 4 to 16. Time: 25 min. Props: a packed craft bag each, numbered slips, glue and scissors on the table.

Next step Christmas party games for kids

How it works

These gift exchange games for kids have no stealing. Every child ends with exactly one gift, and each entry says where the spare gift goes for a child who forgot.

Read the full guide

Pick by who is coming

Children of four to six do best with Draws for children who cannot read yet: a sticker, a color or half a picture leads each child to a gift. From about seven, the Hunt-for-your-gift games add a riddle or a map. For a classroom, open For a whole class of 30: every swap but the week-long secret pal one is finished inside a lesson.

Children's Christmas gift exchange ideas

Nothing in the list needs a holiday, so each swap works in December as it stands. Sing It Around, Hold on the Last Word takes a carol, and Find the Helper With Your Symbol uses bells, trees and snowflakes.

  • The adult planning the swap sets one price cap for every family.

Questions and answers

How do you do a gift exchange with kids who cannot read?

Use pictures in place of names and numbers. In Animal Sticker Tickets each child pulls an animal card and finds the gift with the same sticker. Two more draws in that group work the same way, with paper mittens and with a hand stamp.

How do you run a kids gift exchange for a whole class?

Run several small draws at once. In Table Groups Draw at the Same Time each table has its own pile and its own numbered slips, so thirty children finish inside one lesson. The teacher keeps wrapped extras in a drawer.

What if a child forgets to bring a gift?

Plan one spare before the party. Every entry in this list says where the spare goes: an extra sticker card in the bag, an extra riddle card or a mailbox the teacher fills.

What can kids bring to a one-kind swap?

Everyone brings the same sort of thing: a jigsaw, an art supply, a small stuffed animal, a book, an outdoor toy or a craft kit in a paper bag.

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All 30 games

Draws for children who cannot read yet 6

  • A Stamp on the Hand, the Same Stamp on a Tag 1. Set out as many different ink stamps or stickers as there are children: a star, a moon, a leaf, a fish. 2. As each child arrives, an adult stamps the back of their hand and stamps a blank tag with the same shape. 3. The tags are mixed and tied to the gifts while the children play something else. No child's own tag goes on their own gift. 4. At swap time each child looks at their hand and finds the gift with that shape. Ages 4 and up. Spare gift: stamp one extra tag and keep it on a spare gift; a late guest gets that stamp. Players: 4 to 16. Time: 10 min. Props: a wrapped gift each, washable ink stamps or stickers and blank tags.
  • Animal Sticker Tickets 1. As gifts arrive, an adult puts a different animal sticker on each one and drops the matching sticker card into a bag. 2. Each child pulls one card from the bag without looking. 3. A child who pulls the animal on the gift they brought puts it back and pulls again. 4. On "go", everyone walks to the gift table, finds their animal and sits down with it. 5. Open together on a count of three. Ages 4 and up. Spare gift: add one wrapped extra with its own animal before the cards go in the bag. Players: 4 to 20. Time: 10 min. Props: a wrapped gift each, two matching sets of animal stickers, cards and a bag.
  • Color Dot on the Wrapping, Color Square in the Bag 1. Cut two paper squares of each color pattern: plain red, red with a stripe, plain blue, blue with a stripe, and so on. 2. Tape one square of each pair to a gift and put its twin in a bag. 3. Children take turns pulling a square, youngest first. 4. Each child carries the square to the table and holds it against the gifts until it matches. 5. If the match is their own gift, they swap squares with the next child in line. Ages 4 and up. Spare gift: make one more pair of squares than there are children. Players: 4 to 16. Time: 10 min. Props: a wrapped gift each, colored paper, tape and a bag.
  • Paper Mittens, Left on the Gift and Right on the String 1. Cut paper mittens in pairs and color each pair with its own pattern: dots, zigzags, one big heart. 2. Clip the left mitten of every pair to a gift. Peg the right mittens on a string at child height. 3. In turn, each child unpegs any mitten they like. 4. They find the gift wearing the other mitten of the pair. 5. Everyone holds up both mittens before opening, so the adult can see each pair is right. Ages 4 and up. Spare gift: peg up one more mitten than there are children; its pair sits on a spare gift. Players: 4 to 24. Time: 12 min. Props: a wrapped gift each, paper mittens, clothespins and a string.
  • Puzzle-Piece Tags From Old Cards 1. Cut the fronts of old greeting cards in two with a wavy line, a different wave for each card. 2. Tape one half to each gift, picture side up. Put the other halves in a basket. 3. Each child takes a half from the basket and looks for the gift whose picture finishes theirs. 4. An adult checks the fit, then the child sits with the gift. 5. A child who finds their own gift trades halves with the adult's spare. Ages 4 and up. Spare gift: cut one extra card and tape its half to a spare gift. Players: 4 to 20. Time: 12 min. Props: a wrapped gift each, old greeting cards, scissors, tape and a basket.
  • Your Shoe Marks Your Gift 1. Every child takes off one shoe and leaves it by the door. 2. While the children are in another room, an adult stands one shoe on each gift, never on the gift its owner brought. 3. The children come back, hopping or in socks, and look for their own shoe. 4. The gift under your shoe is yours. Shoes go back on before anything is opened. Ages 4 and up. Spare gift: a child who brought nothing still leaves a shoe; it goes on the spare gift. Players: 4 to 20. Time: 10 min. Props: a wrapped gift each, with the giver's name written underneath.

Passing games to music or a story 6

  • Blanket Tunnel Pass 1. Two lines of children sit facing each other with their knees under one long blanket or two sheets. 2. Every child holds a gift under the blanket, where nobody can see it. 3. While music plays, gifts travel hand to hand under the blanket: down one line, across the end and back up the other. 4. When the music stops, each child keeps the gift in their hands and pulls it out. 5. Small soft-wrapped gifts work best. Ages 4 and up. Spare gift: slide it in at the end of the tunnel before the music starts. Players: 6 to 16. Time: 10 min. Props: a wrapped gift each, a long blanket and music.
  • North Wind, South Wind, Whirlwind 1. Children sit on chairs in a circle with a gift on each lap. 2. The caller says "north wind" and every gift moves one lap to the left. "South wind" moves it one lap to the right. 3. On "whirlwind" the children put the gift on their chair, stand and walk two chairs to the left. The gifts stay where they are. 4. The caller gives ten calls in any order, with a pause between calls. 5. After the tenth call, the gift on your lap or chair is yours. Ages 6 and up. Spare gift: it sits on an extra chair in the circle; the caller moves it on each call. Players: 6 to 24. Time: 10 min. Props: a wrapped gift each and a circle of chairs.
  • Pass on Every Page Turn 1. Children sit in a circle, each holding a gift that is not the one they brought. 2. An adult reads any picture book aloud and holds the pictures up. 3. Each time a page turns, every gift moves one child to the left. 4. On the last page the adult says "the end" and the passing stops. 5. The gift in your lap is yours. A child holding their own gift swaps with the reader's helper. Ages 4 and up. Spare gift: the reader's helper sits in the circle holding it and trades with any child who needs to. Players: 5 to 20. Time: 10 min. Props: a wrapped gift each and a picture book.
  • Pass on the Drumbeat, Turn on the Double Beat 1. An adult holds a drum, a pan and spoon, or just claps. 2. On each single beat, every gift moves one place to the left. 3. A quick double beat means the direction changes. The next single beats pass to the right. 4. The drummer plays slowly, speeds up, then slows down again. 5. A long drum roll ends the game. Keep the gift you are holding. Ages 5 and up. Spare gift: the drummer's helper holds it in the circle. Players: 5 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: a wrapped gift each and something to beat.
  • Roll the Big Die, Pass That Many 1. Children sit in a circle with a gift each. Use a large foam die or a tissue box with dots drawn on. 2. The youngest child rolls. Everyone counts the dots aloud and passes their gift that many places to the left, one place per count. 3. The die moves to the next child, who rolls for a pass to the right. 4. Keep going, left then right, until every child has rolled once. 5. After the last roll the gifts stay put. Ages 4 and up. Spare gift: it joins the circle on an empty cushion and is passed along like the rest. Players: 4 to 12. Time: 12 min. Props: a wrapped gift each and one large die.
  • Sing It Around, Hold on the Last Word 1. Pick a short song every child knows by heart. 2. Sitting in a circle, everyone sings and passes their gift to the right on each beat. Practice once with no gifts, clapping the beat. 3. On the last word of the song everyone holds still. 4. Sing it three times, a little faster each time. 5. After the third time, keep what you hold. Ages 5 and up. Spare gift: an adult sits in the circle with it, so the count still works if a child arrived empty-handed. Players: 5 to 24. Time: 8 min. Props: a wrapped gift each.

Hunt-for-your-gift games 6

  • A Riddle Card Tells You Where to Look 1. Write one riddle for each hiding spot: "I have hands but cannot clap" for the clock, "I have four legs and never walk" for the table. 2. Put one gift at each spot. 3. Each child draws a riddle card and reads it alone. 4. Children walk to the place they think the riddle means. A wrong guess earns one hint from an adult. 5. Nobody takes a gift from a spot that is not on their own card. Ages 7 and up. Spare gift: write one more riddle than there are children and put the spare gift at its spot. Players: 3 to 12. Time: 15 min. Props: a wrapped gift each and riddle cards.
  • Close-Up Photo Clue 1. Hide each gift somewhere in the room or the house: beside a lamp, under a certain cushion, on a bookshelf. 2. Take a close-up phone photo of each hiding spot and number the photos. 3. Each child draws a number and is shown that photo for a slow count of ten. 4. Children search for the spot in their photo. A child who is stuck may look at the photo again. 5. An older helper walks with each child under five. Ages 4 and up. Spare gift: hide and photograph one extra. Players: 3 to 12. Time: 15 min. Props: a wrapped gift each, a phone and numbered slips.
  • Counted Steps From the Rug 1. Mark a start cross on the floor with tape. 2. For each gift, pace out a route from the cross and write it on a card: "8 steps toward the window, turn to the door, 3 steps". 3. Each child draws a route card. 4. One at a time, children start on the cross and count their steps aloud while the others count along. 5. The gift nearest to where they stop is theirs. Routes are measured in a child's steps, so an adult tests them on their knees first. Ages 7 and up. Spare gift: pace one extra route to a spare. Players: 3 to 10. Time: 15 min. Props: a wrapped gift each, tape and route cards.
  • Find the Helper With Your Symbol 1. Adults and older cousins each take one or two gifts and stand in different rooms or corners of the yard. 2. Every helper wears a paper badge with a symbol for each gift they hold: a bell, a tree, a snowflake. 3. Each child draws a symbol card. 4. Children look for the helper wearing their symbol and say the password the host chose, such as "happy holidays". 5. The helper hands over the gift and walks back with the child. Ages 4 and up. Spare gift: one helper wears an extra symbol and holds the spare. Players: 4 to 20. Time: 12 min. Props: a wrapped gift each, paper badges and matching symbol cards.
  • Half the Group Hides, Half Seeks 1. Split the children into two groups. Group one waits in another room with an adult. 2. Each child in group two hides the gift they brought somewhere in the party room, low enough for a small child to reach. 3. Group one comes in and hunts. Each seeker stops at the first gift they find and sits down with it. 4. Now the groups change places: group one hides, group two seeks. 5. Hiders may call "warmer" or "colder" to a seeker who is still looking after two minutes. Ages 4 and up. Spare gift: an adult hides it with the smaller group's gifts, so both rounds have enough. Players: 6 to 20. Time: 15 min. Props: a wrapped gift each and a second room.
  • Room Map With Numbered Crosses 1. Draw one big map of the room on poster paper: the door, the windows, the sofa, the table. 2. Hide the gifts and mark each hiding place on the map with a numbered cross. 3. Each child draws a number from a bowl. 4. Children study the map together, then go two at a time to fetch the gift at their number. 5. Each fetcher sticks a star on their cross, so the map shows what is left. Ages 6 and up. Spare gift: mark one more cross than there are children. Players: 4 to 16. Time: 15 min. Props: a wrapped gift each, poster paper, a marker, numbered slips and star stickers.

One-kind swaps 6

  • Art Supply Swap by Hidden Leaf Numbers 1. Each child brings one wrapped art supply: a pad, crayons, washable markers, modeling clay or a paint set. 2. An adult writes a number on every gift and a matching number on a paper leaf. 3. Hide the leaves around the room in plain sight. 4. Each child finds one leaf, then claims the gift with that number. A child who finds their own number swaps leaves with a friend. 5. After opening, everyone tries their supply on one shared sheet of paper. Ages 4 and up. Spare gift: number one extra and hide its leaf too. Players: 4 to 20. Time: 15 min. Props: a wrapped art supply each, paper leaves and a long sheet of paper.
  • Book Swap With a Drawn Hint 1. Each child wraps a book they think another child would like, in plain paper. 2. On the wrapping, the giver draws one picture hint about the story and writes no words. 3. Stand the books along a wall like a gallery. 4. Children walk the gallery once with their hands behind their backs. 5. Draw names from a hat for picking order. Each child picks the hint they like best. Ages 5 and up. Spare gift: the host wraps one extra book with a drawing on it. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 15 min. Props: a wrapped book each, plain wrapping paper and crayons.
  • Craft Kit in a Paper Bag 1. Each family packs a paper bag with everything for one small craft and a note that shows the finished thing. 2. Fold the bag tops over and staple them. Number the bags. 3. Children sit at the craft table. An adult walks around with numbered slips in a bowl, and each child draws one. 4. Everyone opens their bag at the same time and makes the craft there and then. 5. Finished crafts go home with the child who made them. Ages 5 and up. Spare gift: the host packs one extra bag. Players: 4 to 16. Time: 25 min. Props: a packed craft bag each, numbered slips, glue and scissors on the table.
  • Jigsaw Swap, Picked in First-Name Order 1. Every family brings one wrapped jigsaw puzzle in a box, new or complete and gently used. The adult planning the swap names one piece count for everyone, such as 100 pieces or fewer. 2. Stack the boxes on a table. 3. Children line up by the first letter of their first name, A at the front. 4. In that order, each child chooses a box. Nobody chooses the one they brought. 5. Unwrap together, then trade freely for two minutes if both children agree. Ages 5 and up. Spare gift: the host wraps one extra puzzle. Players: 4 to 20. Time: 12 min. Props: a wrapped jigsaw each.
  • Outside Toy Swap 1. Each child brings one wrapped thing to play with outside: a jump rope, sidewalk chalk, a ball, a kite. 2. Put the gifts in a laundry basket in the middle of the circle. 3. Roll a soft ball across the circle. Whoever it reaches picks a gift from the basket, then rolls the ball to a child with empty hands. 4. Keep rolling until the basket is empty. 5. Open together and take everything outside. Ages 4 and up. Spare gift: the host adds one extra to the basket. Players: 4 to 16. Time: 12 min. Props: a wrapped outdoor toy each, a laundry basket and a soft ball.
  • Plush Adoption Table 1. Each family brings one new small stuffed animal in a gift bag, with a card that gives it a name and one thing it likes. 2. Line the closed bags up on a table. Fold the cards and put them in a hat. 3. Each child draws a card, and an adult reads it aloud: "This is Pebble. Pebble likes naps." 4. The child opens bags one by one, with an adult's help, until they find the animal that looks like a Pebble to them. That one is adopted. 5. The last child takes the animal that is left and its card. Ages 4 and up. Spare gift: the host brings one extra animal with a card. Players: 4 to 12. Time: 15 min. Props: a new stuffed animal in a bag each, name cards and a hat.

For a whole class of 30 6

  • Class Post Office With Five Carriers 1. Each child decorates a paper bag mailbox and stands it on their desk with their desk number on the front. 2. The teacher sticks a desk number on every gift by drawing numbers from a jar, never the giver's own. 3. Five mail carriers at a time take a gift from the mail sack, find the desk with that number and drop it into the mailbox. 4. Carriers sit down, and the next five go. 5. When the sack is empty, everyone opens their mail. Ages 5 and up. Spare gift: the teacher numbers the extras for any desk whose child brought nothing, so every mailbox is filled. Players: 20 to 30. Time: 20 min. Props: a wrapped gift each, a paper bag each, number stickers and a large sack.
  • The Long Gift Train 1. The class sits in one long snaking line on the floor, shoulder to shoulder. 2. All the gifts wait in a box at the front. The teacher is the engine driver. 3. The driver hands the first gift to the first child, who passes it down the line. Then the next gift, and the next. 4. Gifts keep moving down the line. The child at the far end keeps the first gift that arrives, then the child before them keeps the next. 5. The train is full when the first child in the line holds the last gift. Ages 5 and up. Spare gift: any extra goes into the box with the rest, so the box holds one for every child in the line. Players: 12 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: a wrapped gift each and a big box.
  • Secret Pal Week With a Friday Reveal 1. On Monday each child draws a classmate's name from a jar and keeps it secret. The teacher writes down who drew whom. 2. On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday each child leaves their pal a small kindness: a drawing, a kind note, a tidy desk. 3. On Friday every child brings one small wrapped gift for their pal. The adult planning the week sets one price cap for everyone. 4. Gifts are handed out by the teacher. Each child gets three guesses at who their pal was. 5. Pals stand up one by one to be thanked. Ages 7 and up. Spare gift: the teacher's list shows which child would go without, and a wrapped extra with that name on it goes in the pile. Players: 12 to 30. Time: 20 min. Props: a wrapped gift each, name slips, a jar and the teacher's list.
  • Table Groups Draw at the Same Time 1. Before the day, the teacher sorts the gifts so that each table group gets a pile that came from a different table. 2. Put one pile and one cup of numbered slips on every table. 3. On the signal, each child at a table draws a slip. Number 1 chooses a gift from the pile, then number 2, and so on. 4. Every table runs its own draw at once. 5. When each table has finished, the whole class opens on a count of three. Ages 5 and up. Spare gift: the teacher keeps two or three wrapped extras in a drawer and adds one to any short pile. Players: 20 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: a wrapped gift each and a cup of numbered slips for every table.
  • Two Circles, the Inside One Walks 1. Half the class sits in an outer ring. The other half stands in an inner ring, each holding the gift they brought. 2. Music plays and the inner ring walks around. 3. When the music stops, each walker hands their gift to the seated child they are facing. 4. The rings change places. The new inner ring picks up the gifts they brought and does the same. 5. Now every child has given one gift and been given one. Ages 5 and up. Spare gift: the teacher joins a ring with it if the numbers are odd or a child has none to give. Players: 12 to 30. Time: 12 min. Props: a wrapped gift each and music.
  • Walk the Aisles, Sit at Another Desk 1. Every child puts their gift on their own desk and pushes the chair in. 2. Music plays, and the class walks the aisles in one direction, hands by their sides. 3. When the music stops, each child sits at the nearest empty desk that is not their own. 4. Play three stops so that everyone has moved well away from where they began. 5. After the third stop, the gift on the desk in front of you is yours. Ages 6 and up. Spare gift: the teacher puts an extra on the desk of any child who brought nothing before the music starts. Players: 15 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: a wrapped gift each and music.