Many years ago our family decided to begin to use a “Secret Santa” style sibling gift exchange to accommodate our ever growing family. Our system gradually took on “themes” to make the gift giving process more entertaining (and arguably more challenging). Themes were determined by intermittent discussion throughout the year with the most eccentric theme frequently taking the cake (the most infamous being a Teddy Roosevelt Christmas).
After some thought, our family trialed a new system for secret Santa theme picking this past year using Apples to Apples! We simply drew four random cards from a shuffled deck and enjoyed the ensuing debate over the best theme. We voted between four noun cards (oral surgery, used car lot, Jackie Chan, biogenetic engineering), but card selection can be modified to fit your needs. Consider alternating noun and verb cards each year, consider eliminating the voting system and just drawing one card a year, whatever suits you best! Themes can sometimes be too adult for young children, but we involved younger family members by letting them draw the cards. Consider utilizing Cards Against Humanity cards if you want to step up the humor or x-rating a bit!
We our system helps you chose some fun (and absurd!)
Christmas or gift giving themes! We had a great Used Car Lot Christmas, already looking forward to next year!
